Tracing vanished ancestor

[Neale1961]

Yes, I had assumed Docherty had died too, which is why (on the other thread, before you posted marriage details) when looking for the right Docherty I wrote wasn’t confident the only possible one was the correct one.

Unfortunately the name is so common! And I’m still looking for more detail.
There is a death for a Patrick Docherty of the right age in Oct-Dec 1908 Northumberland (reg Newcastle)

But there are also military records which I wonder are his.
What I found was a pension record – it is behind a paywall, so could only pick up bits of it.
This is the one that caught my interest
Patrick Docherty  - Driver - 34 Battery RFA no. 126300
Mother Catherine 54 Errol St Glasgow
(dependent child Michael Docherty in Dublin Fusiliers 19176)

[Neale1961]

There was also something else that made me think…I found a birth for a Francis Green, Jun 1912, maiden name Conroy. His death record stated residence as Bedlington Bank Top, which is where Green lived at the time. A left field theory, but I wondered if he was possibly the illegitimate child of Green and Ellen Conroy (Margaret’s mother). She would have been widowed at the time. Only the birth certificate will show.

What a tangled web. 

[mulberry-rose]

It is very frustrating! I’m grateful that I even have Docherty’s name, at least. That’s something I never thought I’d get.

Margaret is listed as married in 1911 so that implies to me that he died inbetween that period? But then there is no death record… 

Another thing I remembered, in Green’s military record, there is no marriage date written down nor Margaret’s name. There is a Mrs Rooney “Guardian”, but I cannot tell if this is Ellen or Margaret.

Maybe Margaret/Ellen was his guardian? 

https://imgur.io/a/REuLr5f

[Neale1961]

I believe the guardian Mrs. Rooney is his mother-in-law. Looking at the dates and other detail, it has been written after Margaret has died.
Is that the only page that survives from his WW1 army record?

[sancti]

1911 census

Street Address   5 Old Gate Row Bebside

Household Members (Name)   Age   Relationship
John Rooney 55 Head
Ellen Rooney 47 Wife
Maggie Dockerty 22 Daughter
Ellen Rooney 15 Daughter
Joseph Rooney 11 Son
John Rooney 8 Son
Ellen Dockerty 4 Granddaughter
James Dockerty 2 Grandson
James Devine 22 Boarder
Patrick Green   34   Boarder

[sancti]

When he enlisted in 1914, he stated he was a widower with 3 children

Next-of-kin info

Guardian Mrs Rooney Bedlington, Northumberland

Younger brother Francis Green and sister, Mary Ann Campbell, Montgomery Place, Newton, Glasgow

[mulberry-rose]

Is that the only page that survives from his WW1 army record?

Ellen being the guardian makes the most sense. Especially since she is listed as “Mrs” too. And given Maggie likely died at this point. I sometimes doubted the time period as ggmother’s name was not mentioned as next of kin, so I thought it would be before she was born. I wonder if she’d been given up at this point, which is why she’s not listed.

There are a lot more pages that survived, unfortunately some are hard to read.

https://imgur.com/a/6wwu8hQ (They are not in order)

[sancti]

Who were the 3 children he referred to on his enlistment 1914?

What happened to them?

[mulberry-rose]

Who were the 3 children he referred to on his enlistment 1914?

What happened to them?

His stepchildren Ellen (1906) and James (1908) Docherty. And my ggmother (1914)

Ellen and James were taken in by their grandmother Ellen Rooney/Conroy and lived at Bedlington Bank Top, Northumberland. James died in 1917 and was buried St Cuthbert’s, Bedlington. Ellen survived and did not marry, but stayed local.

My ggmother was taken in by a neighbour and raised by her as Ellen Conroy refused to take her in. Ggmother still knew of her biological family and interacted with sister Ellen but she didn’t consider Margaret or Patrick her parents. She didn’t talk about them.

I theorise he might’ve also fathered an illegitimate child, Francis, in 1912, as mentioned a bit above. But this baby died at birth.