Elizabeth Marion MACKAY b. abt 1875 Toronto. Who's her mother?

[wivenhoe]

Are you descended from Elizabeth Marion MACKAY through a son?.

Does family history include reference to her having an accent?

[fyremoon]

Are you descended from Elizabeth Marion MACKAY through a son?.

Does family history include reference to her having an accent?

Hi Wivenhoe,
 
Yes I am, Robert George Mackay WALLER was my grandfather's father.

I've thought about this too, but no-one alive knows now. Robert Alexander may have retained an Irish accent too, for all we know, but he died before my grandfather was born.

My grandfather didn't talk much about his childhood so whether he had much, if any, contact with his paternal grandmother Lily/Lillian, is unknown, let alone if she had an accent. If she did in fact arrive in Australia as a young child, she may not have retained a Canadian accent... but hopefully the death cert comes through and includes how long in the colony.

[fyremoon]

From the marriage certificate, WALLER-MACKEY, 1895, can you please list all the information for Robert WALLER.

What is the marriage document that you have?.

Is it a transcription.......typed information.

Is it from the civil register........handwritten and all the writing is the same, signatures not different.

Is it an image of the original church register.....hand written, and different writing eg signatures.

I think you need to see the death certificate. It should record "years in the colony" which might assist in locating the MACKAY arrival.

Hi Wivenhoe,

The marriage document I have is a transcription and has as little detail for him as it did for her:

GROOM: Robert Alexander WALLER
Status: Bachelor
Place of birth: (None Recorded)
Occupation: Labourer
Age: (None Recorded)
Usual Residence: Manly
Father: (None recorded)
Occupation: (None recorded)
Mother: (None recorded)

But the information on it does match what else I have for him.

What are we looking for here, with Robert's information?

[brigidmac]

Of course she could have invented a father so you have to look for births to single mothers too

And the age could be played with too ..

Hopefully the death certificate will be more useful .

[fyremoon]

Of course she could have invented a father so you have to look for births to single mothers too

And the age could be played with too ..

Hopefully the death certificate will be more useful .

Yes, food for thought!

[fyremoon]

I've been wondering about the "Congregational Parsonage" church in which they married, because Marrickville is a long way from Manly, especially in those days... I had never heard of it, and don't know what religion it is but assumed it was quite unique for them to marry all the way over there.

I've also gone back to look at the family notices again for Lillian Marion WALLER:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17393946?searchTerm=%22Lillian%20Waller%22

Something I had not explored before, was the 3rd entry under the family notices for her funeral - the notice from the L.O.L for Sister M. WALLER. Could she have been a member of the Loyal Orange Lodge, Sister Marion Waller? Is that somehow connected to the Congregational Parsonage?

Is there a Canadian connection with the L.O.L? Were the Mackays Scottish protestants originally?

I'm not sure how to proceed with this line of enquiry, more whether it will get me any closer to finding out who Lillian's mother is, but if anyone has any information about these things, let me know.

[Lisa in California]

Toronto, Canada was mentioned as her birthplace. Something to keep in mind…there is the possibility that she was born in a neighbouring small town and just said Toronto.  I’ve run across people who named the closest “large” town rather than give a name that was most likely unknown.  However, that usually happened for folks who lived in the same province or state not for someone who was so far away from home.

[fyremoon]

Toronto, Canada was mentioned as her birthplace. Something to keep in mind…there is the possibility that she was born in a neighbouring small town and just said Toronto.  I’ve run across people who named the closest “large” town rather than give a name that was most likely unknown.  However, that usually happened for folks who lived in the same province or state not for someone who was so far away from home.

Yes, I thought this as well, especially internationally. We would probably just say "Sydney" for example, instead of name one of the suburbs where we're from, if telling someone in another country.

I don't know anything about finding birth records in Canada though - which is why I posted on this forum. Any suggestions?

[Lisa in California]

I’ve been following this topic but haven’t ingested all of the details.  I will have time tonight to look over the details to see if I can help.  I hope to be back in a couple of hours.

PS. I am especially interested as a number of my own ancestors lived in (and around) Toronto.