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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Lanarkshire => Topic started by: Maryella on Thursday 20 September 12 21:25 BST (UK)
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My grandfather, John Lachllan McKay, was born in Lanarkshire, in about 1893, his fathers name, was Hector, property owner. My son and I, have searched extensively over the last years, and we cannot find a birth certificate for my grandfather, we dont even know if he was an only child.........can anyone suggest anything for us? we even joined ancestry.com.
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Hi Maryella
Welcome to Rootschat! :)
What records do you have for John and Hector? Do you have a marriage cert for John - who were the witnesses? Did either of them leave the country at some point?
Let us know what you know in detail, it will make it easier for us to help you.
For the most part, searching Scotlandspeople for records will be more helpful for Scots ancestors.
Kind regards, Arranroots ;)
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Hi...thankyou.....I only have my grandparents marriage certificate, they were married in Kent...we've searched that out...my grandfather was in the Royal Navy in the 1914-18 war, and he did jump ship when my father was 4 months old, hence my father didnt really know anything about him. We have contacted the MOD, and had a lot of information about him, even his birthdate, but no home address, or birth certificate. My son has travelled to Kent, to search out military information, but still no birth certificate, so we had more or less given up.
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Hi Maryella
What I was hoping is that you would share what info you have, in order that we can assist! ;D
I have failed on an initial look to find the family but there are various possibilities, which can be ruled in or out with further information. Witnesses on marriage certs might be aunts or uncles, for example.
Let us know more of what you know & we'll happily help.
Kind regards, Arranroots ;)
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Closest birth record I can find is this one but you will have to view it on Scotlandspeople to confirm parents names
1894 MCKAY JOHN LAING at CAMBUSLANG GLASGOW CITY/LANARK
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thankyou so much...but I was unable to find that on the Scotlands People site...I got so far, then I had a notice saying that the web browser couldnt find anythiNG??.......so now im stuck ??? ???........byeee
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Keep trying because that is the website that provided the above info
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ok...thankyou..byeeee
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This could be the marriage of the parents of the above child
1888 MCKAY HECTOR and LAING HELEN JEFFREY at TRADESTON GLASGOW CITY/LANARK
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You can discount the above John as he died 1894
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ok...thankyou so much for your help so far....byeeee
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Hi there.....my son has gone back to the Ancestry site, and now firmly believes, thet the McKay family that lived in the street behind my grandmother in Cardiff, is the family we need to trace....so..Alexander Lennox Mckay would have been my great grandfather, whose wife was Janet Lennox........so...my grandfather, Lachlan, has other siblings.......Jane and William born in 1841.....Eupha(very unusual) born in 1843.......James born in 1849....Jessie born in 1849.....Lachlan born in 1851.....Alexander lennox born in 1860...Lilios Ruth born in 1860....Hugh Charles born in 1864.......my gret great grandfather, Lachlan was born about 1817 in Barony Lanarkshire.............maybe I need to look at the Census's now..........thanks for your help.....
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Hi Maryella
Everyone here on RC likes to help people to make sure that they are following the right line of ancestors. It is easy to go off track sometimes, so you need some key facts along the way from main documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates to make sure this doesn't happen.
You mentioned earlier that John Lachlan McKay, your grandfather, gave the name of Hector Mckay as the name of his father on his marriage cert? The surname McKay is fairly common, likely to be lots of possible entries with that surname, and varying spelling of it. You didn't mention his wedding year but around the time of WW1 if you thought he was born in the early 1890s? What age did he give on his marriage cert?
Not sure how you are jumping from these dates to births in the 1840s :-\ The other confusing thing for now is you mentioned the marriage for John Lachlan took place in Kent, but you mention now a McKay family living close to your gran's family in Cardiff.
Monica
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For background, from the details you included in the last post, this is the family of MacKay that you mentioned, of Lauchlan MacKay and Janet Lennox, on the 1871 census:
Lanchlan Mackay 54, Wholesale Stationer Employing 52 Men, 18 Women 17 Boys 21 Girls In All, b. Glasgow
Janet Mackay 52
Jessie Mackay 22
Lauchlan Mackay 20
Ann Kerr Mackay 16
Lilios Ruth Mackay 11
Alexander Lenox Mackay 10
Hugh Charles Mackay 7
Ann Mackenzie 24, servant
Mary Watson 27, servant
Address: Wellpark, Partick, Govan, Lanarkshire
Also, for background, is this the family you think connect with your John Lachlan born c. 1892?
Alexander Mackay 29, colliery [?fireman] b. Scotland
Cathern Mackay 23
Lilly Mackay 4
James Mackay 1
Rose Mackay 3/12
John Mackay 23, brother coal hewer b. Scotland
Deborah K Pullen 16
RG12/4382/82/76 - Newport Wales
A further entry for this group from 1901, by now in Cardiff, with a John born 1892 and an Alexander - RG13/4987/21/34. No sign of Alexander there with wife Catherine and children in the household.
Monica
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Hi Monica...thankyou so much for the information....ok...the confusion had arisen from my parents marriage certificate, we felt that there were some made up info there, as it stated my grandamother being 21 at that time, and after finding her birth details, it turns out she was only 16 at the time of the marriage. We also found out, that my grandafather had been in Borstal, Kent, so my grandmother must have kept in touch with him....hence, the marriage there. We also wondered how she could have met my grandfather, who was supposedly living in scotland, because my grandmother lived in Wales, then after much more research, my son found out that a family of McKays had lived behind my grandmother, so it seemed more likely, that that was the right family. Also, in recent times, I met up with some very distant relatives, who told me that my grandfather was a boxer in cardiff, so he was obviously living there, and we know that he was a boxer, from his navy record. ...so...the details have now confirmed what my son has just found...once again...thankyou so much...byeeeee
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If I can give you any advice, might be good to start with ordering the marriage cert of the Alexander McKay and Catherine Rowlands that you have found in Wales. I can see a few trees on Ancestry for this family, but not clear whether anyone has actually ordered the marriage cert to see what it says about Alexander McKay's parents (sadly, I don't think you have yet found his family yet back in Scotland :-\). Only the marriage cert will let you try to start to find the family for this Alexander. Likely you may be looking at a coal mining family back in Scotland given the occupations showing for Alexander and his brother John in 1891...
Have you found this family of Alexander, Catherine and children in 1911?
Monica
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thankyou so much Monica.....
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I have seen a number of family trees on Ancestry.com that seem to think that Alexander Lennox MacKay married Catherine Rowlands. Alexander HUGH Mackay b 9 Sept 1861 in Aberdeen married Catherine Rowlands. Look at the 1871 census for David McKay, Mary McKay, Alexander Hugh, Mary Jane, William Sherris (my ancestor) John George Andrew and James. Then look at the 1881 census after David Mackay had died (he was a VC recipient from the Battle of Lucknow) Alexander, Mary J, William, John and James. Alexander's brother John remained unmarried, immigrated to South Africa and died in 1930. The 1891 WALES census has Alexander Hugh with Catherine and their children. The rest of the family were also in Wales living in the same place at the time including his brother (my ancestor) William Sherris Mckay who got married in Newport.
Alexander Lennox Mckay also born in Aberdeen in abt 1861 also married a Catherine. See the 1891 SCOTLAND census with "Alex L McKay", Catherine, Catherine, Maggie and Isabella.
I do not know where Alexander Hugh Mackay immigrated to. His brothers went to South Africa and his sister married William McVicars in 1881 but I don't know what happened to them either. If anyone can find Alexander Hugh and Mary Jane McVicars for me, that would be wonderful!!
Regards
Janet
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Colliery fireman = safety man.
Skoosh.
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Hi Maryella
I really hope you get my previous message. Further to what I said, if you look at the 1901 census there was another child born to Alexander HUGH Mackay and Catherine Rowlands and that was Alexander who was born in 1897 in Bristol. At the time they were in Bristol other relatives of theirs (and mine) were living there too. I can't believe the number of family trees on Ancestry that have this wrong but then again BOTH the Alexander's were born in Aberdeen in 1861 but the one was Alexander HUGH and the other Alexander LENNOX and they both married a CATHERINE!!! I don't have access to ancestry so I can't leave a comment for anyone to get it corrected
Janet
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For anyone else that is interested in this family and may see these notes, I now have the marriage certificate in Wales for Alexander Mackay and Catherine Rowlands in 1886.The cert states David as being Alexander's father ("deceased" and he died in 1880), Joseph as being Catheine's father and I have since found out that her mothers name was Elizabeth and her sister, Mary Ann, was also a witness to the marriage. John, Alexander's brother, was also a witness to the marriage
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For anyone else interested in the Alexander Hugh Mackay saga I am very pleased to say that Maryella and I have now established that we are in actual fact "cousins" and we are in constant contact, with regards to our mutual relative, Alexander Hugh Mackay born in Aberdeen in 1861. He married Catherine Rowlands and she died in 1904 in Cardiff. Alexander spent a fair amount of time in Quebec and worked for the Hirsbrunner company in Tientsin, China. He died in Tientsin in 1916. His son, Captain Alexander Hirsbrunner Mackay died in Rangoon, China in 1942. His son James died in Liverpool in 1945, his daughter Rose married and immigrated to Australia and we are still looking for Lily and John.
Janet