Sergeant Alex Milne Postmaster of Torphichen

[DudelsackHogg]

I wasn't sure if Mary Berry and James Milne were actually married because of the way Alexander's 1872 birth was indexed with the surname Berry only.

There is a marriage showing in Aberdeen though in 1865 which looks like Mary Berry and James Milne's marriage www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTJX-KXS Easy enough for you to check and compare her parents' names against it.

This is also correct. Her name is recorded as Berrie on the marriage certificate but her parents as Berry. SP has it indexed with both variations.

[MonicaL]

That is great  You are jumping back now to the next generation. Andrew Gardner is easy enough to find in the censuses in Fifeshire with parents Robert and Jane/Jean. Let us know if you need to help with anything else
.

Monica

[DudelsackHogg]

I found something a little puzzling.

Both William Milne 1879 and Alexander Flett Berry are listed as “illegitimate” on their birth certificates.

I double checked the marriage 1865 and everything seems correct - James Milne is described as a tinsmith journeyman bachelor and Mary Berry’s parents add up.

William’s birth certificate seems to offer more information but it’s written by the same registrar as before and I’m struggling to read it.

[MonicaL]

Ahh...him again 

I think it reads something along the lines of:

Mary Berry widow of James Milne Tinsmith xxx who died xx years ago.

This fits with what we were seeing really. James and Mary married in 1865, had two girls and show in 1871 together. By 1872 Mary is giving birth to Alexander with no father mentioned and his birth is registered under her maiden name only. So you would think James had died sometime between the census and Mary falling pregnant with Alexander.

Monica

[Forfarian]

Just to add that William's place of birth is Fleming's Land, Foundry Lane, Dundee. (You can probably tell that I have seen a lot of that Registrar's handwriting!)

[DudelsackHogg]

Brilliant. Thank you.

Forfarian, I am glad you have read lots of that registrars hand writing. It’s been a great help.


I looked up Helen Brichtaney

She died of Typhus on July 31st corrected to July 13th 1881.

I still have no idea what happened to the children. I also need to investigate the Blackscroft address - sounds like it was a pretty grim tenement given the number of families listed living there.  If there was a typhus outbreak, I guess Helen was not the only one to die from it.

The 1881 census

282/4 117 Blackscroft

Andrew Gardner 38
Helen Gardner 36
Jane Gardner 13
Catherine Gardner 10
Isabella Gardner 7
Helen Gardner 5
John Gardner 6 Mo

I actually studied in Dundee - the Reading Rooms were on Blackscroft , many fuzzy memories from nights out there. I had no idea my relatives were living there 120 odd years before me, I find that amazing and I feel a stronger connection to them because of it.

Thank you everyone and have a good weekend.