William MacGregor, agricultural labourer of Cromdale parish

[Geordie daughter]

I'm hoping someone may know how to break down a brickwall of mine. I am trying to find out who the parents of my dad's earliest ancestor in his maternal line, William MacGregor, are, but have met with little success so far. According to most of the census returns for him and his family, he was born in Dundee some time between 1797 and 1806. He and his wife, Janet Innes, married in Cromdale in 1831, so there are no parents indicated on the marriage record. He died sometime between 1871 and 1881 when Janet appears as a widowed head of household, but I have been completely unable to unearth his death record, which would have the necessary information. I've have tried every variation of his surname I can think of, but all the likely Williams whose records I have accessed have turned out to be the wrong man. Are there perhaps any other records available on Scotland's People that could shed light on who his parents might have been?

[ColC]

There are six Williams on SP born Dundee between 1795 & 1810, have you discounted all of them?

Colin

[ColC]

There is one death in the county 1871-1881
WILLIAM MCGREGOR age 78 - 1879
St Peter, I assume the one in Dundee?

There is a possible death there for Janet later.

Colin

[ColC]

I have just noticed that they seem to have remained in the area they were married. Janet is there in 1881.

1851 Cromdale and Inverallan
William Mcgregor 52
Janet Innes   41
Janet Mcgregor   41
Christina Mcgregor 16
John Mcgregor   14
Jessie Mcgregor   11

So these are more likely deaths?

MACGREGOR   WILLIAM   73   Died    1874   Cromdale and Advie

MCGREGOR   JANET   82   Died    1888   Cromdale and Advie

Colin

[Geordie daughter]

Hi Colin
Yes, to the best of my knowledge, all of the family (excepting John, who I know ended up in Edinburgh) remained in the area for the rest of their lives.

I thought the William Mac who died in Cromdale and Advie would be THE one, as he fit all the parameters (the Janet MacGregor who died in 1888 is mine, btw) but he turned out to be farmer William MacGregor, married to Janet GRANT. There were two possible hits using the McGregor variation, one in Inverurie, and one in Inverallan, but when I accessed them, both wrong too. Mc- and MacGrigor produced no entries at all.

As you've seen, there are a fair number of possible births for him in the time frame I have, the most likely one being the 1801 birth with parents William McG. and Janet Lindsay if I'm going by names that go down through the family, but at this stage it's merely conjecture!!

 

[MonicaL]

William was quite consistent with a birth place of Dundee wasn't he.

Have you seen this possible entry from 1797 Dundee https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XBZF-55T

What were Janet Innes's parents' names? From the censuses, her mother Isabella Cruickshanks showed as living with them for a time.

Is this the family in 1841?

www.freecen.org.uk/search_records/5a15246ff4040b9d6e3147e7/john-mcgregor-1841-morayshire-cromdale-1837-?locale=en

Monica

[MonicaL]

Just looking through the indexes on SP for deaths between 1871-81 in Moray.

There is only one possible entry that looks mistranscribed (or at least, I have never seen this name!):

SWETON McGregor (a male)
Aged 80
1879
128/B2 49
Inverallan

I wonder what the name is supposed to be? Worth checking with SP directly perhaps?

Monica

Added: There is one! but he died in 1872 www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDL-Y8CV  A son by the same name born c 1843.

[ColC]

The only two deaths in Inverallan I can see on SP are age 20 (1871) & 34 (1873)?

However that is where he was in 1871 so maybe the age is wrong on the record, it might be worth checking with SP?

Colin

[Geordie daughter]

Hi Monica, yes, I think only once was his place of birth given as Inverness-shire. I'm almost beginning to wish he had been, though, as it might have been easier to track down his parents!!That 1797 birth is one of the possibilities: although the name Duncan didn't crop up at all in later generations, one of William's daughters was named Christina (yes, you got the right family in the 1841 census).

Janet's "reputed" father was Charles Innes, and her mother Isabella Cruickshanks, as far as I can tell, remained single until she died. Janet was born in Abernethy parish.

Colin, I was beginning to wonder about mistranscribed/interpreted ages too. It seems completely ridiculous that he should spend most of his adult life in one parish and yet disappear elsewhere to die. The family were living in Grantown from 1861 onwards and it's not exactly the kind of place you could lose yourself in.