Alexandina or Alexandrina Shand

[aspin]

I have taken steps to look for this little girl but cannot find her I have found a Alexandrina Shand living in Glasgow also and another Aye but they are not mine
Alexandina Shand as shown from a relative of mine as the daughter of Isabella Forbes born 6.7.1860 at Latheron Caithness

Isabella Forbes was the daughter to John Forbes and Margaret Gordon born 20.10.1840 she would have been about 20 when the baby was born later Isabella married a Thomas Aitkin and emigrated to America
Any help out there would be welcome can I ask were adoption around at that date or did people give their little ones to someone who could bring them up as their own
Elizabeth

[Forfarian]

I see an Alexanderina Forbes, illegitimate daughter of Isabella Forbes, born in Latheron on 6 July 1860.

Where did you find a reference to her as Alexanderina Shand?

There was no formal adoption in the 19th century. Illegitimate children were often brought up by their grandparents, and it isn't unusual for them to stay with the grandparents even if the parent has subsequently married.

Alexanderina Forbes, 20, born Latheron, is listed in the 1881 census as a housemaid in a hotel in Dunbeath.   

[aspin]

Thank you once again for your help did you get this from scotlandpeople

I've just found a relative through my DNA and she had passed this on to me
I see the spelling is different of Alexandinna

I have an Alexandrina in my McKenzie family related to the Forbes so I added as the same
Alexandina came from my DNA relative
Thanks again
Elizabeth

[aspin]

So She wasn't known as Shand that's why I couldn't find her
 
Elizabeth

[Forfarian]

Sorry, I don't quite follow you. Why did you think her name was Shand?

I got the birth information from the IGI at FamilySearch and the 1881 census from the CD-ROM transcription by the LDS. If I were going to follow her up in my own tree I would also look at the originals on SP to make sure that there were no indexing or transcription errors.

Don't read anything into spelling. It could be Alexanderina, Alexandrina, Alexandra, Alexandria, Alexina or any number of other variants, and it's probably different on different documents. I would use Alex*a to search on SP because that will find all the feminine variants but none of the masculine ones.

If her father's name was Shand, she could appear on other records as Alex*a Shand. It's quite common for illegitimate children to appear in different records with different surnames - sometimes the father's and sometimes the mother's.

If I were you I would look for her in FreeCEN. Use the old version https://freecen1.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl because it's much more user-friendly than the new version. See if you can find her in the 1861 and 1871 census.

There are two deaths of Alex*a Shands born 1860 plus or minus two years on SP. There are five Alex*a Forbes of similar age. Two have mothers who were not Forbes, one has a middle name of Fraser which seems unlikely to be yours, and it so happens that I have at some point looked at the page including the one in Montrose who died in 1889, so I can tell you that she isn't yours either.

So that leaves three
Alexanderina Dickson or Forbes, died in Glasgow Dennistoun in 1920 aged 61, but she is probably Alexa Forbes who married James Forbes in 1890 in Glasgow Kelvin.
Alexina Shand, died 1924 in Huntly aged 63, but an Alexina Shand was born in Huntly in 1860.
Alexandrina Pert or Shand or Yeats, died 1946 in Montrose aged 86, but an Alexanderina Pert married David Shand in Montrose in 1899.

So unless her age at death in the SP is out by more than two years, she didn't die in Scotland.

[aspin]

Thank you for that information I have got her birth and census from S/P
I will give it a try
Elizabeth

[MonicaL]

There is this entry in 1871:

John Forbes 58 Fisherman & crofter b. Lybster, Caithness
Mary Forbes 48...as transcribed. Likely written up as Marg. on original?
Margaret Forbes 15
Jean Forbes 13
Adamina Forbes 10
William Forbes 6
Alexanderina Shand 9 Grandaughter b. Dunbeath, Caithness

Address: Inver, Dunbeath Estate

As Forfarian has mentioned, maybe Shand was the surname of the reputed father?

Monica

[aspin]

Thank once again my relative will be pleased I did tell her about you at Rootschat and all the work you good folks do
Elizabeth