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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: davemc on Wednesday 15 August 12 22:17 BST (UK)

Title: Can anyone help
Post by: davemc on Wednesday 15 August 12 22:17 BST (UK)
Can anyone help with deciphering this please. the second word in the top line is Reid, i think the first is Robert.

Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Isobelruss on Wednesday 15 August 12 22:21 BST (UK)
Robert Reid
general labourer
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Alexander. on Wednesday 15 August 12 22:22 BST (UK)
Robert Reid
General labourer (Dec[eased])

Mary McPhail prev[iously]
Reid M.S. Nais..y


The surnames are difficult...

Alexander
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Viktoria on Wednesday 15 August 12 22:29 BST (UK)
Last line after  Reid looks like M S (Maiden surname?) then the last looks like maid with two letters, perhaps to denote whch kind of maid ,kitchen, parlour, lady`s, etc.
The puzzle is ,
  The puzzle is her maiden name is Reid and married name McPhail, what is the relationship between these two as his name is Reid ?
                                                  Viktoria.
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Alexander. on Wednesday 15 August 12 22:33 BST (UK)
Last line after  Reid looks like M S Maid then the last might b short for house, to differentiate between say a ladies` maid, nurse maid, kitchen maid etc. Just a guess. Viktoria.

M.S. stands for Maiden Surname. Apparently Mary was first married to Robert Reid, then after his death to Mr. McPhail. But her maiden name is unclear.
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Anni B on Wednesday 15 August 12 23:27 BST (UK)
Can you give us a bit more info?  Whose parents are these, what's the date and where was the record made?
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Colin Cruddace on Wednesday 15 August 12 23:39 BST (UK)
I'm not convinced that her maiden surname begins with 'N'. It is very different to the 'M', so it might be something like Travers.

Colin
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: davemc on Wednesday 15 August 12 23:46 BST (UK)
Can you give us a bit more info?  Whose parents are these, what's the date and where was the record made?
They are the parents of Ann Reid, this was her wedding to my great x2 grandfather in 1883 in Dundee.
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Anni B on Thursday 16 August 12 00:59 BST (UK)
davemc, Sorry, should have checked my SP account before I got involved :-(   
thought I had a few credits going spare but apparently not....
however, how about Harvey for the maiden surname?
the letters a r v e and y all appear in the rest of the text and look the same?
just a thought.
 
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Isabel H on Thursday 16 August 12 09:37 BST (UK)
I've straightened up the writing to make it easier to read.
Mary McPhail prev. Reid, MS Na_____
I thought the next letter might be i, but there's no dot, so maybe r?
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: shanreagh on Thursday 16 August 12 09:57 BST (UK)
I've straightened up the writing to make it easier to read.
Mary McPhail prev. Reid, MS Na_____
I thought the next letter might be i, but there's no dot, so maybe r?

Is it Nais..d?
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Archivos on Thursday 16 August 12 10:38 BST (UK)
Naisey?  The y is a bit strange, but so is the end of Mary!
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: josey on Thursday 16 August 12 10:44 BST (UK)
This is yet another occasion on which I wonder why SP did not scan at higher resolution. As you have paid for the scan I would contact them and ask for a more legible copy.  I've played a bit in paintshop which helps to see the pen strokes.

I think Anni B is on the right lines.  It certainly looks like a N to start with but then a r v e y. I found NARVEY & NARVIE in Scotland on familysearch.

Josey

PS what's the date of this marriage? Whoops, didn't read the marriage details posted earlier.
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: MonicaL on Thursday 16 August 12 10:56 BST (UK)
Writing is awful isn't it  :-\

davemc, at all times when images from SP are hard to read, you can contact them to request an enhanced image for the sections you are having a problem with - see www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=1210  SP are very quick to respond to this type of query.

From what I can see, Ann Reid married a George McNicoll in Dundee 1883. From the family's 1901 entry, Ann McNicoll shows as born c. 1865 in Aberdeen. Hard to find anything to corroborate this so far.

Dave, have you double checked Ann's death cert (1916 Edinburgh?) to see what it says about her parents? When someone is this hard to find on births for this period post the start of official registration in Scotland, it can sometimes mean that the names you are seeing may not be what they were (if someone, for example, is trying to hide their illegitimacy).

Monica
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: Isobelruss on Thursday 16 August 12 11:04 BST (UK)
I think after General labourer it says dec for deceased not day in which case Mary could have remarried hence the McPhail.
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: davemc on Thursday 16 August 12 13:12 BST (UK)
I am amazed by all the replies to this, Thanks. I downloaded the death entry (below) and although its clear it doesn't tie in.
Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: MonicaL on Thursday 16 August 12 17:05 BST (UK)
Something is up isn't it on the names for Ann's parents  :-\

I think I found her and George in 1891 - strangely mis-indexed as Reid!

George Reid 25, traveller (hawker) b. Arbroath
Annie Reid 24 b. Aberdeen
John Reid 2 b. Dundee

Address: 13 Overgate, Dundee

So, as far as I can see, George McNicoll is relatively straightforward. Ann, wife, is a bit of mystery before her marriage in 1883....

Monica

Title: Re: Can anyone help
Post by: josey on Thursday 16 August 12 17:36 BST (UK)
As Monica says, Ann & her mother are certainly a bit of a mystery. I have looked on the transcribed censuses on ancestry but not found a suitable Ann born ca 1865 or Mary born ca 1840 - 45 [under McPhail or Reid] with each other before 1883. Nor a Robert Reid.