I am perplexed as to fate of one of my family John Melrose. He was born in Manor, Peeblesshire, Scotland in 1827, son of James Melrose and Jane Ballantyne. In 1852 he married Mary Middlemass, and you can see him in the 1861 Scottish census, described as a linen draper master, with children Agnes (7), James (5) and John (3). Later that year he had another daughter Jane Ballantyne Melrose. That however is the last record I can find of him.
However Mary Middlemass is easy to track. In 1871 she is living on a farm with her grandparents, along with all 4 children. In 1881 she is living with her mother and daughter Jane in Peebles, where she is described as married, and living on private means. In 1891, she is living just with daughter Jane in Peebles, where again she is described as married and living on private means. In 1901 however, she is by herself in Peebles, and described as widowed and living on private means.
Next she moves to New Jersey, where she lives with her son James. You can see her in the 1910 federal census, living in Trenton Ward 13, Mercer, New Jersey, described as widowed. Also there are city directory entries around that time, where she is described as the widow of John Melrose. I have not found her death entry however.
Another small piece of evidence that John was alive at least in 1877, is that his daughter Agnes died in childbirth that year. John is not described as deceased on Agnes's death record.
At the same time I have found an entry in the 1870 federal census for John Melrose a tailor from Scotland, living in New York Ward 09 District 14. It is a curious entry, because living with him are an inferred set of children and an apprentice, but if you look at the children, none of them seem to be anything to do with his Scottish family, being born in New York. However if you look at how they are entered, the children also plausibly lack a family name - every other entry on the page has a line for the family name, and these have none. My research skills so far are not up to finding the origin of this "family", or the fate of any of them. I am suspecting that the children are not Melroses, and somewhere there might be an 1860 census with them. I have not found any of them in subsequent records.
What do people make of this? Have I located my John, but if so what happens to him? Who are the people he is with? I am hoping someone more skilled than me might point me in the right direction.
