3x Great Grandmother Ann Fimister

[Kevin Malley]

Hi
Struggling to find BMD for my 3x Great Grandmother Ann Fimister. Her husband James McDonald died in 1874 his record states widower of Ann Fimister. They had only one son to my knowledge John McDonald born around 1852 in Inverness. In 1861 census son John aged 9 is living with paternal grandmother Jessie McDonald nee Garden in Inverness.
The fact I can't find a birth record for son John or a marriage record for James and Ann makes me suspect he was illegitimate?

[Milliepede]

I wonder if she died when John was born 

Do you have James as a widower in 1861/1871?

[CaroleW]

Which James McDonald death was he in 1874 - age 63   67  or 77?  When & where was he born?

When son John married - does his marriage cert confirm Ann's name as Fimister

[Kevin Malley]

I have James (Steamboat Agent) as a boarder at an Inn in Tobermory owned by a Mrs McPhail in 1871 census. He is condition is unmarried, would that mean never married?

James death 14/7/1874 43years old, Carrick St, Glasgow.

[Kevin Malley]

Son John's marriage

15/8/1876
in Lennoxtown to Annie McCahill

Parents
James McDonald Steamboat Agent decd
Annie McDonald M.S. Filster? decd

[CaroleW]

Are you sure you have the right 1861 entry?  If Jessie McDonald was James's mother then she was a child when she gave birth.  In 1861 she is 45 - born 1816

James McDonald is 46 on the 1871 entry & 43 on the death entry

[Kevin Malley]

Also James condition is unmarried in 1851 census.
Back then he is a lawyers clerk (22) living with his mother and siblings at  Plainfield Cottage, Inverness

[Kevin Malley]

Jessie grandmother is around 55 then not 45 in 1861 don't know why it's off 10 years. She was born around 1805 in Auldearn, Nairnshire.

James was born 5 Sep 1830 in Inverness

[Neale1961]

I have been looking from a different angle, as John McDonald born 1852 does seem to be illegitimate.
I was looking for any Ann Fimister in 1851 census who might be a possible mother.

I can see a 13 year old girl, and a 50 year old house servant.
I wonder if the girl Ann (born 11 Nov 1837) is possible, as she would have been 15- 16 when John was born.

Ann FIMISTER is the daughter of Isabella FIMISTER (age 40) widowed shopkeeper of Young Street Inverness. I am not sure that this Anne ever married - in 1881 census she is still living in Young St with her mother and sisters, working as a dressmaker. She is not with her mother in the 1861 or 1871 census.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181180438/anne-femister

I also wonder about a May FEMISTER who is age 36 and a seamster living in Davies Square, Inverness. She is with her 76 yr old mother (pauper), and a child who appears to be May’s illegitimate child - Robert THOM age 5. This May Femister does not seem to marry either, and is found on later census living with her son Robert THOM.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181185841/may-phemister