Paxton / McKane / Goodale

[linda c]

I have Elizabeth McFarlane/Paxton  babt 1831 on the 1851 and 1861 census with her mother Helen Paxton in Dumbarton. I have baps for Elizabeth, Margaret and William Paxton which fit the census entries but the mother is given as ELIZABETH Goodale rather than Helen.
I can't find a marriage for Goodale and Paxton. Was she not married but gave the children his name?

To add to my confusion, in the 1871 census Helen is listed as living with her son William but now gives her name as Helen McKane. I have not found a marriage for Paxton/Goodale and McKane either.

Can anyone help please?

[Millmoor]

If I have located the census entries to which you refer it would appear that William Paxton married Agnes Forrester in Greenock in 1865. If so it would be worth seeing his marriage cert to find the names of his parents.

Might this be Helen in 1881 in Greenock?

Ellen Paxton Widow 73 b Dumbarton
John McKane Brother Married 60 Ship's carpenter b Dumbarton
Agnes McCreadie Granddaughter 4 b Greenock

I also note the following death in Greenock in 1886

Helen Paxton / Helen McKean Age 70 mmn Murray. Age is a little out but McKean could be confused with McKane?

William

[Millmoor]

Further to my previous post there appears to be a death for William Paxton in Greenock in 1896 ( a newspaper article says he fell down the stairs). The death index on SP gives his mother's maiden name as McKean.

William

[MonicaL]

Linda, what is the name of your Elizabeth Paxton's father from her marriage or death reg? If this is not available, have you followed up on siblings such as William to see what his records show for their parents? He married Agnes Forrester in 1865 didn't he?

From her census entries, Elizabeth is showing as born in Dumbarton c. 1831

William looks to have found the details to let you confirm things further.

Monica

[MonicaL]

To add to my confusion, in the 1871 census Helen is listed as living with her son William but now gives her name as Helen McKane. I have not found a marriage for Paxton/Goodale and McKane either.

In Scotland, women never lose the right to use their maiden name after their marriage. Not unusual to see widows or married women go by their maiden name. This is the reason why maiden names for women feature so strongly in Scottish records and why both married name and maiden name were used in the way they were.

Monica

[Millmoor]

My feeling is you can probably eliminate Elizabeth Goodale from your enquiries. Looking at the OPRs the couple William Paxton and Elizabeth Goodale had a number of children baptised but these took place in the seaside town of Dunbar. Dunbar is in the county of East Lothian. This is on the east coast of Scptland. Dumbarton , where your Paxtons were born, is in the county of Dunbartonshire in the west of Scotland .

If I have the correct Elizabeth Paxton/ McFarlane she married Neil McFarlane in Greenock 26 Oct 1851. This was prior to civil registration commencing in Scotland. It might be worth purchasing this marriage record from Scotland's People but often these may have little detail. This couple seem to have lived in England after 1861 and so Elizabeth's death record will not have parents named.

A lot of the Old Parish Records have simply not survived. There simply may not be baptism records for the Paxton children you are looking for. My feeling is that  William Paxton's marriage cert and death cert is the best available source of parents' names and that the death cert for Helen Paxton I referred to in an earlier post is worth pursuing. Scottish death certs , assuming the informant knew the information, have much more detail than English ones and should name her parents and who she was a widow of.

William

[Forfarian]

I agree with Millmoor. Elizabeth Goodale has nothing to do with your Paxton family in Dunbartonshire.

William Paxton and Elizabeth Goodale/Goodall had nine recorded children, all baptised in the parish of Dunbar, East Lothian
George, 1812
Ann, 1814
Elizabeth, 1817
Margaret, 1817
Andrew, 1822
Jean, 1825
John, 1827
William, 1829
Elizabeth, 1831
and a further child, Janet, baptised in Athelstaneford, East Lothian in 1835.

In the 1841 census at Burnside, Dirleton, East Lothian is a household consisting of
William Paxton, 45
Elizabeth Paxton, 45
Margaret Paxton, 20
Jean Paxton, 15
Janet Paxton, 5
all born in East Lothian

and in a neighbouring household are
Elizabeth White, 88
George Paxton, 25
Andrew Paxton, 16
John Paxton, 13
William Paxton, 11
Elizabeth Paxton, 10
all born in East Lothian.

Apart from Andrew, who would have been 18, these ages are exactly right for the family of William Paxton and Elizabeth Good*l*.

I also note the baptism of Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Goodall and Elizabeth White, in Innerwick, East Lothian in 1790, so there is not much room to doubt that these are five of the nine children of William Paxton and Elizabeth Good*l*, living or staying with their maternal grandmother.

In 1851 Elizabeth Paxton, 20, born Dunbar, and her sister Janet Paxton, 16, born Athelstaneford, are living together in Spott, East Lothian. QED.

[linda c]

Many thanks to all, you have been most helpful. You have given me a lot to think about.