Alexander Grierson

[wyanga]

 Would there be any newspaper or local reports that might have reported the death of Alexander Grierson in the period between 1851 and 1855 at Barnacabber . Dunoon Kilmun  Parish.
   Alexander is in the 1851 census , listed as a pauper mason at Barnacabber. Official death records start in 1855 and there is no listing for him.
His wife Helen is listed under her maiden name of Mckellar at Ardentinny, living with a sister Catherine Thompson . a daughter Sophiw Grierson is also listed there. as a widow in the 1861 census.
 I believe that Alexander Grierson must have died between the 1851 census and befoe deaths were registered in 1855.
Wyanga

[wyanga]

Just to add,
      If there are any records from the Church at Ardentinny they just might record a death.
I believe that this was the Church used by the Glenfinert estate. Barnacabber was the farm for Glenfinnert Estate, and Alexander worked as a mason on the renovations at Glenfinnert in the 1840's
Wyanga

[CaroleW]

Additional info not included in post

1851 shows him as 88yrs old - Helen was 46

[Forfarian]

It's always tricky trying to find deaths before 1855.

If he was a pauper mason it's unlikely that the newspapers would have reported his death, but I have checked anyway and found nothing in the British Newspaper Archive.

It's unlikely that a pauper family would be able to afford a gravestone, but it may be that the family prospered later and eventually commemorated him on a gravestone. I do not know, however, if there are any online sources of gravestone incriptions in Dunoon and Kilmun. In 1997 the Scottish Genealogy Society published a booklet of Monumental Inscriptions in Kilmun churchyard, so maybe someone who has a copy of this would be willing to check for a record there of Alexander Grierson's death.

As for church records, Ardentinny is in the parish of Dunoon and Kilmun. The only extant pre-1855 burial records from this parish are from 1755-1772.

Sometimes the Kirk Session records include accounts, and such accounts record payments for the use of the mortcloth (a cloth used to cover the coffin during a funeral service) which may name the deceased person. The surviving Dunoon and Kilmun Kirk Session records are online at www.scotlandspeople.go.uk. I took a quick look at some pages of the minutes, but did not see any record of mortcloth payments there. There are records of mortcloth payments in the Kirk session and Heritors' minutes (CH2/456/4) but the ones I saw did not name the deceased. You may like to make a more thorough search of these records in case I missed something.

There is one other possibility. A pauper, after 1845, is specifically someone who receives assistance from the Parochial Board, and parochial board records, if they have survived, are a very useful source of all sorts of information including the death of the pauper. I do not know whether or not the parochial board records of Dunoon and Kilmun have survived, and if so where they are, but I would start by asking Argyll and Bute Council Archives https://liveargyll.co.uk/facility/archives/

Failing all this, you'll just have to do like the rest of us and record his date of death as 1851/1854!

[wyanga]

CaroleW,
 There seems to be a discrepancy with their ages in the 1861 Census.
  Alexander's age in the 1841 census is given as 70 whereas 10 years later in 1851 he is 88.
 Also Helen was born 1802 so she would have been 49 in 1851. Still a large difference in ages.
Wyanga

[wyanga]

Forfarian,
              Thank you for your detailed reply, I may just have to let him rest in peace.
 They were my Gt Gt Grandparents and Alexander is a bit of a mystery. In the 1841 Census his birth place is given as Wigan but I have been unable to find a birth record for him about 1770.
 I have Helen's death record as 28th May 1862
 A daughter Helen migrated to Australia in 1857 and is my Gt Grandmother, the second daughter Sophia also migrated in 1867
 Wyanga
 

[CaroleW]

Ages in 1841 were rounded down to the nearest 5 yrs.  If he was 88 in 1851 his age should have been shown as 75 in 1841

in the 1841 Census his birth place is given as Wigan

The 1841 did not show actual birthplaces.  The transcript says Scotland

The 1851 says Wigton Dumfries

[CaroleW]

I have Helen's death record as 28th May 1862

Death registered as McKellar & also as Gregorson - mmn Campbell

[Forfarian]

in the 1841 Census his birth place is given as Wigan

The 1841 did not show actual birthplaces.  The transcript says Scotland
The 1851 says Wigton Dumfries

Even that is a bit odd.

Wigton is a small town in Cumberland, England.

Wigtown is in the county of Wigtown, aka Wigtownshire, in Scotland. The county of Kirkcudbright aka Kirkcudbrightshire lies between the county of Wigtown and the county of Dumfries aka Dumfries-shire.

www.scotlandsplaces does not know of a place called Wigton/Wigtoun/Wigtown in Dumfries-shire.