Margaret Helen McRae Robertson Cowper

[Tina1208]

Hi

I am looking for any information on the very elusive lady named above - she was my grandmother and seems to have disappeared into thin air after 1940. She was born in 1906 in Nairn and her name was Margaret Helen McRae. Her mother was Hughina McRae and her father was Alexander McIntosh. Hughina disappears after 1907 and Margaret (known as Peggy) went to live with her father's family in Buckie. They were William and Jessie Robertson (Alexander McIntosh was Jessie's nephew).

Peggy names William and Jessie as her parents when she marries Robert Watson Cowper in 1927.  Peggy and her husband have 3 children before Robert dies in 1940. After then she just evaporates. Her eldest two (Robert - my dad - and his sister Jessie) go into care. Until just a few weeks ago I knew nothing about the existence of a third child - Georgina Cathro Cowper born in 1939. Sadly all three of Peggy's children have died.

I have been trying to trace Granny for almost a decade with no luck. No trace of a remarriage or  death record. She was last known to be living in the Pollock area of Glasgow although she was born and raised in Nairn/Buckie.

Any help or info would be gratefully received

Tina

[CaroleW]

Hi

So Margaret was the illegitimate daughter of Hughina and Alexander - is that correct?

[CaroleW]

There is a 1907 marriage between a Hughina Macrae and John MacKay/Matheson in Lochalsh

Have you ruled out the 1970 death for Margaret Helen Robertson aged 64 in Auchterader

or the Mary Helen Cowper death in Glasgow 1964 aged 58 

[Tina1208]

Hi

Yes Margaret was Hughina and Alexander’s illegitimate daughter. I think Alexander was killed in WW1 but I am not absolutely certain

[Tina1208]

I have checked every variation of her name and have not been able to find any record of her death. I now know that she died between 1940 (when she reported her husband's death) and 1962 when her youngest child married and she was shown as deceased on the marriage certificate. It even got to the point where I checked every woman of the right age - give or take a few years - that died during those years.

I even found a fourth child no-one knew about who has also sadly died in recent years. The plot thickens!

[CaroleW]

Re my reply above - did you check out those 2 deaths I mentioned?

[Tina1208]

Hi

Yes checked both of those and she was not one of those. I sat at a computer screen for about 4 hours at the records office in Edinburgh until I was going cross eyed

[jennywren001]

Hi,
I know you said she was down as deceased on the 1962 marriage certificate but the death below looks interesting. Have you had sight of this one?
Jen