Author Topic: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee  (Read 842 times)

Offline KBurke23

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HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« on: Monday 13 July 20 13:09 BST (UK) »
Hello!  First timer here from the US so open to all suggestions please!  My sister in Canada and I are seeking information on our paternal grandmother who died in Dundee in 1983.  Any information would be helpful in doing our family tree but in particular, we are looking for obituaries.

Our grandmother was born Margaret McNally McKay on Aug. 29, 1899 in Pollokshaws to Maggie McNally and William McKay.  They did not marry. 

Our grandmother gave birth to our father, Alexander Reid McKay in Glasgow on Feb. 7, 1923.  We have his BC but no father’s name was listed.  Our father immigrated to Canada in 1948 and died in 2008 in Niagara Falls where most of our family now still live. 

Back to Scotland.  In 1926 in Glasgow, when our father was 3, Margaret married John James Harris (born 1898, died Feb. 1, 1941 in a drowning accident in Rosyth Dockyard, Dunfermline).  Margaret died at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on July 17, 1983.

Margaret and John had 6 children born in Glasgow and Dundee between 1928-1939.  John Thomson Harris, James Harris, William McKay Harris, John Henry Harris, Margaret Harris and David Elder Harris.  We know 2 children passed away, John Thomson Harris (born 1928 Glasgow/died 1929 Glasgow) and John Henry Harris (born 1933 Glasgow/died 1996 Dundee).  We are hoping to find some of our father’s half-siblings still living. 

Any help in finding obituaries or other directories would be very much appreciated. 

Kind regards,
KBurke23


Offline chempat

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 18 July 20 08:07 BST (UK) »
Welcome to rootschat, KBurke23.

I am assuming you have looked for births, marriages and deaths on scotlandspeople.

W M Harris born 1931, married 1956, has no death showing for him, so either died elsewhere or is still living in Scotland. (This one was the first one I had a quick look for)

rootschat has a no livings person policy so we cannot help you with that, or try to find anyone else still living.

Have you looked to see if any of them are in anyone's trees on e.g. Ancestry?

Newspaper coverage on obituaries is very patchy - have you taken out a subscription to british newspaper archives :  http://www.rootschat.com/links/01pqg/
or tried a free search (and 3 free lookups) to see if anything is showing?

Offline DonM

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 18 July 20 11:09 BST (UK) »
British Newspaper Archive
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Dundee Courier is there up too 1999.
Also check the Fife Herald and for Glasgow area look in the country of Lanarkshire (smaller papers)
IMO its worth a one month subscription.

After 1999 the Courier is in the Central Branch Library - Dundee. 

Glasgow - Herald is Google Newspaper Archive (free)
https://news.google.ca/newspapers

Obits were never a big thing in Scotland so you might see a notice or nothing at all.

Don
I have turned off all email notifications, thank you.

Offline KBurke23

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 18 July 20 12:19 BST (UK) »
Hi chempat!  Thank you for replying.  I am on ancestry and my heritage and have searched other sites for the Harris family but have not found much of anything.  Yesterday I did learn my father’s first cousin in Canada who I recently found had contact with William at least 10 years ago.  Will keep trying!  Regards.


Offline KBurke23

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 18 July 20 12:33 BST (UK) »
Hello Don.  Thank you for replying.  I tried the Glasgow Herald before and had a hard time maneuvering the site but I will attempt checking the names and links you gave me.  Thanks. 

Offline CraigM63

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 18 July 20 16:48 BST (UK) »
Scottish Indexes has a Sheriff Court's paternity case decree for a Maggie McNally, laundress, living at 107 Harriot Street, Pollockshaws, against a William McThay, mason, living at 28 Factory Street, Pollockshaws, the child having been born on 29 August 1899. This will have lead to an entry in the Register of Corrected Entries naming William as the father of Maggie's child. If you view the original entry in the Register of Births on ScotlandsPeople, there should be a notation in the far left hand column, which indicates an entry in the Register of Corrected Entries, and there should then be a link to the corrected entry above the image of the original birth registration. Sometimes it isn't linked, but an e-mail to ScotlandsPeople will usually result in a quick response with the corrected entry attached.

https://www.scottishindexes.com/courttranscript.aspx?courtid=58026039   

There may well be one for your father as well, but because he was born in 1923 his birth year is still within the 100-year limit for not being able to view births online on ScotlandsPeople. You could try e-mailing them and asking them very nicely if there is an entry in the Register of Corrected Entries for his birth, which would at least tell you there is the possibility of finding out who his father was. To go further you would then need to either wait until January 2024 to be able to view his birth registration online, or find someone who can visit a ScotlandsPeople centre in Scotland to look this information up before then.

I'm not sure even if there was an entry in the Register of Corrected Entries whether this information would have shown up on your father's birth certificate. It certainly wasn't shown on the copy of my grandfather's birth certificate that we had in the family, in which he was born in 1909 and had obviously had a need for a birth certificate for some reason in the late 1940's when it was issued. In this case it wasn't until I started looking on ScotlandsPeople just over two years ago that we found out who his father was.

Offline KBurke23

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 18 July 20 17:09 BST (UK) »
Hello Craig.  Yes, that is definitely my great grandmother Maggie and my grandmother Margaret, the child, born in 1899.  We have seen the BC.  But it is William McKay and not McThay who in 1921 immigrated to Canada.     So that sounds like he was questioning the paternity!  I believe he was in the military but not sure at what time period.  Both eventually married others, my GGgm in 1903 and my GGgf in 1907.  Thanks so much.  I will check out what you said about the correction.  Thanks again! 

Offline CraigM63

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 18 July 20 17:23 BST (UK) »
McThay might be a transcription error in the Sheriff's Court paternity decree, which is apparently quite common. My own grandfather was described as a female child in his decree.

Maggie probably pursued William in the Sheriff's Court for financial support, and the sheriff decided on the balance of probabilities that he was the father. The decree will not only name him as the father, but also give details of any financial settlements. My great grandmother featured in two decrees, in different parts of Scotland, before she finally married. I have managed to trace the family she had with her husband one further generation through search results and a process of elimination on ScotlandsPeople, and I know that my father has at least one living cousin somewhere in Scotland, but that is as far as I have been able to go.

Good luck with your search!

Offline KBurke23

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Re: HARRIS family from Glasgow and Dundee
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 18 July 20 18:23 BST (UK) »
That’s very interesting and definitely worth me searching more.  Thanks again and I hope you find info on your cousin as well.  Beth