Hi,
I have been trying to do some work tracing my Great Great Grandfather John McKenzie. The info I had to start with was Great Grandfather John McKenzie had run away from home at a young age to join the navy and that his father was also called John McKenzie and had been an Estate Gardener. His mother was called Margaret McKenzie (nee McIntosh) and possible year of birth as 1878 all of which I obtained from his death certificate dated 1960.
This has led me to some clues, some confirmed, some possibilities which I have uploaded to this location
https://1drv.ms/f/s!Aq0bCFis4CsXhzjQIIRBoNySLENiConfirmed
- I found my Great Grandfathers birth certificate which does confirm his father as a Gardner, his father as John McKenzie and his mother as Margaret McKenzie (nee McIntosh) and his DOB being December 1877 in Edinburgh, Scotland and lists his parents marriage date of the 14th of January 1876 in Newcastle Upon Tyme. I can't find a record of this marriage anywhere though, so it is either lost or more likely never occurred and they were not actually married.
- Royal Navy Record which confirms place of birth and birthday.
- Marriage certificate, which confirms his father John McKenzie was deceased in 1908 and his mother was still alive.
Clues
- 1881 census which has a John McKenzie living in Fife Scotland working as a Gardener with a wife Margaret McKenzie aged 28 and a son John McKenzie aged 3. It has the birthplace of John McKenzie as Cullen, Banffshire and as an age of 45. Margaret McKenzie as being born in Inverness, and John as being born in Edinburgh.
- 1891 census which has a John McKenzie living in Hertford England working as a Gardener with a wife Margaret McKenzie and a son John McKenzie aged 13. John McKenzie is still 45 which suggests he is not the same person, but oddly Margaret McKenzie is 10 years older, as is John McKenzie which seems to link up. Also John McKenzie is listed as being born in Fordyce Banffshire which isn't far from Cullen, Margaret McKenzie is listed as being born in Oben which is quite far from Inverness, and John is listed as being born in Edinburgh.
- 1891 census which has a John McKenzie from Edinburgh aged 13 on a training ship as a "boy under detention".
Where I hit a stumbling block is I can't be certain any of the clues are accurate. Both the 1881 census and 1891 have remarkably similar data. It could be the age was recorded incorrectly for John McKenzie in 1881 and he was actually 35, or they could be different people. I am relatively confident the training ship census is the correct John McKenzie, so my question there would be could the same person appear in two different census records for the same year?
My next stumbling block is that John McKenzie is an extremely common name, so I have found quite a few having been born in Bannfshire in both the 1836 year and 1846 so I can't isolate the person. Also I can't really find a Margaret McIntosh having been born in Oban or Inverness in 1853. There are some links but nothing definite. The missing link is the marriage certificate for John McKenzie and Margaret McIntosh where I could get their parents names but no records can be found. The other thing I tried was see if I can find a death certificate for John McKenzie, but assuming there is something accurate about the 1891 census I only know he would have died between 1891 and 1908 (as he is marked as deceased on the marriage certificate of his son) there are far too many John McKenzie deaths during that period.
With all the information I find myself rabbit holing and was just wondering if anybody had any advice on what I should specifically focus on to help lead me to John McKenzie and Margaret McIntosh's parents?
Thanks
David