I am desperately trying to suss out how to trace past my 4 x Great Grandparents on my Fathers Fathers Fathers etc side. I am very much a beginner to all of this but I find myself totally stuck and i dont know if this is where I have to give up already - they were born circa 1800 and it feels very 'soon' to meet a dead end.
From my 3 x GG I can see his parents were Charles Galbreath & Marion Graham
From there I was able to find their marriage 'certificate' which i believe is simply more of a declaration as it simply reads CHarles & Marion, Houston, Renfrewshire were married here 1927. No parents details or anything else helpful.
I then go on to census records from 1841. The details and ages do vary but what seems to be persistent is Marion completing the census stating she was born in Islay, Argyll. Argyll means so much to me and I have no other connection to it so I think this is why I am so obsessed to find i do actually have a 'real' connection to the place.
From their ages on the census entries I guess they were both born circa 1800 - 1808. I can find no records whatsoever of Marions birth. I have Marions death cert which states she died 1888 aged 84. Which would make her born 1804.
For Charles there are 2 born around that time. One born 1800 and one 1801. One in New Kilpatrick and one in Campbelltown. I dont have a clue how to work out what one (if either) he is. I can find no record of his death but they had a son registered on the census as aged 1 in 1951 and Charles at that point has disappeared off of the census and Marion lists herself as a widow.
In the 1841 census there is also a Mary McMillan living with them who I assumed was one of their mothers but now do not have any idea why I thought that - I think it was perhaps from suggestions from other persons family trees on Ancestry
Between 4 census entries between 1841 and 1871 there were 10 children. Only the first 3 i can find birth records for. The other 7 I cannot find even within the years before or after. Is that usual?
Is there anything you experts could suggest?
Many many many thanks!!!