John Reid of crovie , gardenstown parents mystery

[Forfarian]

Exactly how is John Reid's mother's name shown on his marriage certificate?

[Forfarian]

Where is John Reid in 1851/1861/1871 as there is no Scottish entry with a birthplace of Crovie

There wouldn't be - Crovie is in the parish of Gamrie.

[ev]

Hi folks can you explain what that is freecen?

Link -
Added-
https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_records/59027edce9379091b12c9ba6/helen-johnstone-1861-banffshire-gamrie-1816-?locale=en
On this one the buttons are previous dwelling / next dwelling , at the top.


ev

[Forfarian]

FindMyPast transcription of 1851 lists John Reid, 14, and Helen Reid, 9, as son and daughter of George Watt.

I think the answer to this is probably that John Reid was illegitimate and his mother subsequently married George Watt, or maybe even set up house with him without bothering to get married.

 

[ryan37]

Exactly how is John Reid's mother's name shown on his marriage certificate?

Mothers name
Is
Recorded as Helen Johnston


Interesting and all seems to make sense

I can add that on John death in 1906 , Lerwick , he has no parents listed and his son is the witness

His deceased wife’s name is listed Aswell,

I presume his son had been in Shetland working in fishing industry and after his wife had died in 1904 he went to live with son


Can anyone find what happened to
James Reid the father of John and Helen ?

Ryan

[Forfarian]

Exactly how is John Reid's mother's name shown on his marriage certificate?

Mother's name Is  Recorded as Helen Johnston

That confirms the she wasn't married.

If she had been married to John Reid, it would have read Helen Reid MS Johnston.

If she had been married to George Watt, it would have said Helen Watt, MS Johnston.

If she had been married to both, it would have said Helen Watt, previously Reid, MS Johnston.

[Forfarian]

Can anyone find what happened to James Reid the father of John and Helen ?

That's a much taller order.

I don't think Helen Jr was really Helen Reid. I suspect an error by the enumerator just putting ditto for her surname. She was probably the daughter of George Watt and Helen Johnston.

As for finding James Reid, there are an awful lot of James Reids! FreeCEN lists 411 of them, aged 20 to 40, in the 1841 census. Admittedly only 22 in Banffshire, of whom 3 were in Gamrie, but there's no guarantee that 'your' James had stayed in Banffshire, let alone in Gamrie.

 If I were you I would try to look at the Gamrie Kirk Session records and the Gamrie Parochial Board records to see if they shed any light on the identity of this particular James Reid.

The Kirk Session records are supposed to be going to be put on Scotland's People 'soon', whatever 'soon' means.

The Gamrie Parochial Board (Poor Law) records, if they have survived, will be held by Aberdeen Archives https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/aberdeen-city-and-aberdeenshire-archives.