Missing Scotsmen ...where to look now?

[cockney rebel]

Hi there,
Using the site Scotlandspeople, I can trace my ancestor Hugh Knox Pollock back to his baptism in 1814 in Scotland.

Through this, I have the names of his parents (Walter Pollock and Isabell Knox...Isabel with various spellings) and a number of siblings, all in the parish of Houston and Killellan.

Walter Wilson   Pollock b 1807
Margaret                     b 1812
Isabell                         b 1819
John                           b 1821

I  can find neither a marriage nor the deaths for the parents.

Son Walter Wilson marrries Janet McCallum in 1831 with occ sailor but that's all I have.
He is NOT the Walter who is later a gamekeeper ...I've checked the death cert, wrong father.

As to my Hugh, he marries in 1837 in Liverpool  and is a stoker (fireman) in the merchant navy. I can't find him on a census until 1871 in Southampton Workhouse, after his wife has died.
The age in 1871/81/91 is consistent but 10 years too old but as he was lsited as a No 3 (Idiot or Imbecile) I suspect this is understandable. He dies, still in the Workhouse, in 1897.

I've had no luck with the other children.
Where else can I look for the parents and brother Walter?
Any ideas please?
Rebel

[Milliepede]

I can't find him on a census until 1871 in Southampton Workhouse, after his wife has died.

Can you find her 1841/51/61 or is she missing too? 

Guessing Hugh was away at sea - are there any merchant records for him.

[Forfarian]

Where else can I look for the parents and brother Walter?

See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=714261.0

Basically, if you can't find them on Scotland's People, the overwhelming likelihood is that any records of them in Scotland, if they ever existed, have not survived.

There are a few (very few) early registers that are not included in Scotland's People. These are the surviving registers of various minority denominations such as Episcopalian, Baptist, Congregationalist and some breakaway splinter groups of the Church of Scotland, plus any non-Christian religions.

None of these registers is available online and they are not easy to find. They are held in local authority or university archives, or occasionally in the churches or other places of worship.

To get some idea what religious groups may have existed in the 1790s, one should in general consult the Statistical Account of Scotland at https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/home.

The facts that the Old Statistical Account of Houston and Kilellan does not mention any such groups, and the New Statistical Account specifically states that there are no dissenting or seceding chapels in the parish, suggests that a search for registers of other denominations in H and K is likely to be a wild goose chase.

[Rena]

When I was researching my seafarer ancestors a couple of decades ago I saw from the British Maritime website that (as they planned to burn the records), The Canadian Maritime Industry had archived the British records.   At that time there was a section under 1881 British sailor records.

Perhaps your ancestor's name is in one of the Canadian Collections.

[cockney rebel]

Thanks for the input.
Hugh's wife is with their children in Liverpool in 1841
and in Southampton in !851 and 1861
She dies in 1864.
I have indeed found a couple of Merchant Navy records for Hugh, (with his birth date as 2 8 1816 instead of 1814) confirming his home when not at sea was Southampton,and that he first went to sea in 1828. The records at FindMyPast are from 1835 onwards, I'm not sure if there were records made prior to this.
Yes, I suspect he was at sea too, but I thought when a Census was taken an account still had to be made for all on board. Or did that perhaps not apply  in Scotland ? That could explain his abscence I suppose. 
I've tried looking for the siblings in the Censuses but not knowing if the sisters married or died, I haven*t really got a lot to go on!
Am I right in assuming "Pollock" is a scottish name ? Or perhaps originating from Ireland ?
Many thanks
Rebel

[Forfarian]

Yes, Pollock is a Scottish surname. Seems to originate from the place name.

[MonicaL]

I wonder if this could be an an earlier son born to Walter and Isabel. From the death index:

JOHN KNOX POLLOCK
Age 88
Mother's maiden name KNOX
1888
503 / 33
Row or Rhu (Dunbarton)

ADDED: I take it back! You have a son John listed as being born or christened in 1821 so that death would not fit.

Monica

[MonicaL]

There was one more child at least for Walter and Isobel. Entry showing on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk:

SARAH POLLOCK
WALTER POLLOCK/ISOBELL KNOX
12/01/1817
565 10 / 204
Houston and Killellan     

Monica             

[cockney rebel]

Thankyou for adding that extra child to my list!
I did purchase the death record for the John Knox Pollock that you found but although his mother was an Isobell, the father was a James...and of course the wrong age, but it seemed worth a try (clutching at straws again)

The first son had the second name of "Wilson".
Is there a patronymic naming system in Scotland and who would then this Wilson be?
Rebel