Missing MacGregors

[ev]

Looking at the record it does say born Scotland , and married.


ev

[Geordie daughter]

The record now makes complete sense of a story my Gran told me when I was a teenager, of her hunting for mussels on the rocks at the foot of Lions Head in Table Bay, Cape Town, with her dad, as a young girl. I had always assumed the family were holidaying there but in fact they were probably visiting her uncle! W.T. has been hiding under my nose all these years and I never knew it. I don't think my Dad was ever aware of having a great-uncle in Cape Town, as W.T. died the year he was born.

[Geordie daughter]

Patrick was briefly in the 12th (Prince of Wales' Royal) Lancers Regiment, but from 1902 onwards seems to have been in and out of mental health institutions, poor soul. I stumbled on the full details of his burial record this morning; he was actually residing at Bangour Village Hospital (aka Edinburgh District Asylum) when he died, and was buried at Ecclesmachan nearby (as per the info you gave me previously, ev). His name is on the family's gravestone at Dalry Cemetery, Edinburgh, though, so I don't know whether his body was moved there later or whether he was just commemorated on it.

William Taylor may have gone out to Africa around 1913. A W.T. MacGregor, age 42, b.1871, travelled out on the Dover Castle from Southampton on 14 June of that year. The ship's destination was given as Beira, Mozambique, but W.T.'s intended future permanent residence was stated to be Rhodesia which would fit, as John MacGregor was there by around 1911. W.T.'s occupation was that of Railway Clerk, as was John MacGregor's, so it all seems to be adding up nicely.   

[Geordie daughter]

Colin, I went looking for traces of Jessie in Bournemouth this morning, and (as is usually the case with this hobby) turned up her sister Isabella's death notice in The Scotsman instead. It killed several birds with one stone, and confirmed you had found the right Jessie: Isabella Henderson MacGregor Murray died at "Parkside," Richmond Park Road, Bournemouth in 1931, and she was "the dear wife of Thomas Dunn Murray, late of Joppa, Edinburgh." Jessie, presumably, had joined the couple in Bournemouth and more than likely stayed on after her sister died to look after Thomas. Thomas himself died in Bournemouth in 1937.

[ev]

I see Thomas and Isabella married 1893 St Giles Midlothian(SP).
Probate for Thomas Dunn Murray(died 13 Jan. 1937) to daughter(?) Atholl Isobel Murray or Oswald , widow(born 1895 Newington Midlothian ?).
Marriage John Alexander Oswald / Atholl Isobel Murray , 1924 St Andrew(Edinburgh).

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ9-3ZL9


ev

[Geordie daughter]

Thank you for that info, ev, it's incredibly helpful! With your and Colin's help I finally seem to be breaking down the various brick walls that this branch of the family have presented me with for so long.