Looking for help tracing my relative born in Islay circa 1804

[SarahMacleod]

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!!!

[jcmac]

Sarah,
Replies on other "Scotland" page now blocked.
The disruption in the Church of Scotland @ 1840 resulted in many congregations breaking up with many moving to new Free Church of Scotland churches. From @1843 - 1855 > children are baptised (and re-baptised) in the new Free Churches throughout Scotland.
The Scotlands People have these Churches listed under CH3.
If children are not recorded in a CH2 parish then you should always consider CH3 parish records in this period.
jcmac.

[Forfarian]

For the avoidance of duplication of effort, the previous thread about this family is
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=846900.0

[raonull4]

hi late seeing this post,
i note from the 1841 census
you think 70yr old Mary may be Marions mother
and on the same census theres a son Arthur,
Killarrow birth records for 3 children born
to Arthur Graham and Mary McMillan,
though theres  no Marion its a possibility
those are her parents,
the 3 births are 1798/1799/1801
with a possible 4th child Marjory born 1804
with no mothers name given

[SarahMacleod]

Thank you so much Raonull4. Yes that sounds like them. I started to wonder if Marjory was indeed Marion as throughout the census’s she does use variations of her name - Marion, mirren, Mary Ann.

I recently visited Paisley Poor Law Indexes which was amazing as they have some incredible records or benefit applications which were like the census but much more detailed.

From there I found that ‘Marion’ called herself Mary Ann in 1851 and had applied for financial help as her husband Charles had gone to Canada and died 2 weeks after arriving. This was 1849. She listed him as being 46 years old and states he was born in Killarow as was she and she was 45 years old. No details of parents just that both were dead.

[raonull4]

hi
if they used the scottish naming patern
then John and Catherine would be Charles's parents,
Arthur and Mary Marions parents,
sadly i can t find a Charles with matching parents
on the info i have.
the marriage of Arthur and Mary was "7th Dec 1796 Killarrow,

[SarahMacleod]

There was a Charles Galbreath born 1802 on Gigha and his parents were John Galbreath and Mary Gillchrist but again I’ve no way or working out if that could have been him.

It’s so frustrating as I’m so desperate to trace back my Galbraith name and it really stops with them as I can’t go anywhere without knowing more about Charles