Isabella Stuart nee Edward - Moray

[Craigellachie2019]

Hello all
I have been searching Scotlandspeople trying to whittle down when my 4th gr grandmother Isabella Stuart nee Edward died.  She married John Stuart in Drainie on 21 Jun 1798.  His gravestone was erected by her and reads Isabella Edward and Stuart is spelt with a u.  Generations after used 'ew' so I have been using both to search. I have also been leaving out her first name in case it became Bella.   John died in 1848 - and his headstone said he was 70.  I have searched OPR's and Statutory Deaths from 1848 - 1890.  I believe I have her in an 1841 census aged 60 so rough birth age 1781.  I have been using birth year from about 1763 - 1783.  I have used the cemetary index at Kinnedar but there is no year for her burial - she appears to be buried with her husband under the headstone she erected in 1848 as it is the same grave number. I have checked Libindx and there is no luck there.  I have bought 3 certs - an 1864 aged 79, an 1858 aged 72 and an 1863 aged 81.  None are right.  In Stat Regs I have 4 possibilities 1858 aged 76, 1880 aged 1782, 1876 aged 97 and 1867 aged 95 - this one probably not right.  However the first 2 are Abernathy & Kincardine and last 2 Inverallan.  OPR's have nothing that fits.  I have searched Abernathy & Kincardine and am confused as to where that actually covers.  Inverallan looks like it is more up in the highland area.  Can anyone advise anywhere else I can search without having to buy more certs?  Some have her dying in 1864 with no record to back it up - and I haven't been successful in searching that year.
Thanks in advance
Anne Stewart (AlannaGrace)
(PS its late here so I hope I have given enough information for someone to point me in the right direction as I am about to turn off for the evening.  I believe they had Isobel in 1801, John (my 3rd gr grandfather) in 1802, William 1805, Janet 1807 and Anne in 1812)

[Forfarian]

I have searched Abernathy & Kincardine and am confused as to where that actually covers.  Inverallan looks like it is more up in the highland area.

It depends on how you view things!

Inverallan is one of three parishes that were amalgamated to form the united parish of Cromdale Inverallan and Advie. It is partly in Moray and partly in Inverness-shire. The main settlement in the parish is Grantown-on-Spey, which was founded in 1776 and is in the Inverallan part of the combined parish. Cromdale village is a few miles further down the River Spey and Advie a little further still.

Abernethy and Kincardine is another united parish, next door to Cromdale Inverallan and Advie on the south and south-east. The main settlement in Abernethy is Nethy Bridge, and in Kincardine arguably Street of Kincardine. Loch Morlich lies in the Kincardine part of the united parish.

Don't make the mistake of confusing this parish of Abernethy with the parish of the same name near Perth, or this parish of Kincardine with the county of Kincardine, which lies on the east coast around Stonehaven, or with the parish of Kincardine in Ross and Cromarty, near Tain; or the parish of Kincardine in Perthshire, or the village and bridge of Kincardine in the parish of Tulliallan in Perthshire.

As to 'highland', both parishes are similar in character, though Abernethy and Kincardine is slightly upriver of Cromdale Inverallan and Advie, and includes more of the Cairngorms than does the latter.

See https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/viewer/osa-vol13-Parish_record_for_Abernethy_and_Kinchardine_in_the_county_of_Inverness_in_volume_13_of_account_1/ and https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/viewer/osa-vol8-Parish_record_for_Cromdale_in_the_county_of_Inverness_in_volume_8_of_account_1/ for background and lots of useful information

[Craigellachie2019]

Thank you Forfarian.  I bought some more certs this morning registered at Abernathy & Kincardine and still can't find her.  I've used up my recently purchased 40 credits so will put it aside for a while. Very frustrating. 

[Rosinish]

Have you been using free censuses to see if she's on any post 1851 as not many deaths were recorded pre 1855 (statutory records) anywhere in Scotland.

Where do her children end up after marriage, could she have been with them elsewhere?

Annie

[Craigellachie2019]

Yes Rosinish I have - but no good.  I doubt she would have remarried as she would have been roughly the same age as John and she declared him 70 in 1848.  I have found births, marriages and deaths for most of the family leading back to this couple, so a bit strange if no-one bothered to record her death. Maybe as more data is entered something may turn up.  I see Scotlandspeople often posting that they are adding more online.  They were all fisherfolk so mainly lived along the coast - and most at Lossiemouth.

[Forfarian]

They were all fisherfolk so mainly lived along the coast - and most at Lossiemouth.

I'd be a bit surprised if a fisher woman from the parish of Drainie turned up either in Cromdale Inverallan and Advie or in Abernethy and Kincardine. But stranger things have happened.

PS you do know, I presume, that you can search for the death of a married woman on SP using both her maiden and her married surname? I wouldn't like to see you using up your credits to look up deaths of all and sundry Isabella Stewarts of the right sort of age.

Having said the above, none of the four Isabella St*arts born 1780 plus or minus 5 years who died in in Cromdale Inverallan and Advie or in Abernethy and Kincardine is listed under another surname. It seems odd that none of them had two surnames, but unless there is an indexing error, which you won't find without buying the certificates, it looks as if their maiden surnames (if any) were not recorded in the registers.

Who are the 'some' who have her dying in 1864?

Have you discounted the Isabella Stuart, aged 83, born Drainie and living in Lossiemouth in 1851 with her grandaughter Ann Stuart, aged 14?

[Craigellachie2019]

Hi Forfarian
I had earlier discounted the 1851 census with Isabella 83 and Ann granddaughter 14 because I thought that made Isabella too old.  I believe I found her in an 1841 census with her husband and two children and she and John were aged 60 giving rough birth age of 1781.  83 would make her birth year 1768 which I thought was a bit of a stretch and would make the 1841 one wrong. 

Asking where Cromdale etc were was one reason I thought buying those certs would be wrong as I had known they were fisherfolk so thought they would hug the coast and stay close to family. 

The 1851 census you mentioned says Ann aged 14 was a nurse! I did find there was an Ann that was a granddaughter - should have been about 16 in 1851 so could be the right one.  I decided to buy more credits and purchased Ann's marriage cert of 1860 (Dec 1859) and it just says 'spinster' unfortunately.  Had hoped it may say nurse.  I had been thinking of buying the 1841 census in case there was a transcription error and their ages were 80 and not 60, but on John's tombstone, Isabella has noted he died in 1848 aged 70. 
The 1841 census I found through Ancestry with her husband and 2 children is 'Drainie' as is the one you found with her being 83.  Drainie is where most of my family lived. For 1851 my only choices are Knockando (90), St Andrew Landbryd (66), Cromdale and Inverallan (77 and 84) and Drainie (83).  1861 the only options are Abenathy and Kincardine (77) and Cromdale (89). 
I have seached Scotlandspeople indexes for any variation of Stewart (without putting a first name or initial in) under Moray and adjoining areas and find no possible deaths between 1848 and 1855. I've narrowed it down to 2 deaths now.  One in 1867 aged 95 and one in 1876 aged 97. Both Inverallan.  I think rather than buy a 6 or 7 census records I might just buy the 2 Inverallan - but now I am wondering if no-one knew her maiden name to put on the record, maybe they also didn't know her age, so the Drainie/Elgin ones could be her with the wrong age.  She and John used Stuart, but her descendants used Stewart and although I am searching under both it would have been so much easier/cheaper if they had all used the same spelling.
PS since posting I bought the 1841 census and Isabella's age is definitely 60 - no mis-transcription. If the 1851 census is her and it says she is 'blind'at 83 - I suppose she could have been sent anywhere to live with family after her granddaughter stopped 'nursing'her in Drainie.  There are really only 2 possibilities in the 1861 census age wise for a marriage in 1798 and they are 77 and 89.  Abernathy and Kincardine and Cromdale respectively. 

[Forfarian]

I had earlier discounted the 1851 census with Isabella 83 and Ann granddaughter 14 because I thought that made Isabella too old.

Yes, it does, but if she was blind and infirm and needed her granddaughter as carer, it would have been easy to get that wrong.

I believe I found her in an 1841 census with her husband and two children and she and John were aged 60 giving rough birth age of 1781.  83 would make her birth year 1768 which I thought was a bit of a stretch and would make the 1841 one wrong.

Indeed. But if you know that there was a granddaughter Ann of roughly the right age, that is a sliver of evidence for it being the right person but wrong age. 

  The 1851 census you mentioned says Ann aged 14 was a nurse!

I don't think you can interpret that as someone who had been trained as a nurse as we understand it these days. Quite apart from Ann being too young to have undergone a long formal training, the impetus for formal training of nurses came from Florence Nightingale, who first came to prominence during the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Ann was probably just the family member who happened to be caring for her grandmother in 1851.

FWIW I think that Isabella must have died before the start of civil registration on 1 January 1855, and that her death was not recorded. This is by far the commonest reason for a lack of death records. Far more likely than that she would move in her old age (especially if she was blind and frail) from Lossiemouth, where most of her family were, to Grantown, though that is not of course impossible.

[Craigellachie2019]

Hi Forfarian
Thank you very much for your advice. Since my last post I had been thinking exactly the same thing - that she died before 1855 and death wasn't registered.  I agree re the nurse.  I didn't initially read 'blind'when looking at that census but when I did I thought she was probably just acting as nurse for her grandmother as you said.  I was at Kinnedar cemetery in May - my first ever visit to Scotland - and there is definitely no mention at the grave that Isabella  is buried with John, even though their grave numbers are the same.
I think I will give up on this grandmother and leave her in peace.
Anne