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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Chloemacks on Friday 28 December 12 20:00 GMT (UK)
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Hi everyone,
I'm really stuck... I've been doing my tree for a few months and am tracing my own maiden name (Fowler). I have traced it back to Wigtownshire in Scotland where I have found:
Alexander Fowler (B. 1813 in Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire) married Margaret Skimming (B 1813 in Wigtownshire)
His father is a William Fowler, B. 1788 in Bengon (Bangor I think), Ireland.
I am now completely stuck!!!
Any help at all would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance :)
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Hi Chloemacks
To help us help you better, what specifically are you stuck on? For example, Have you the actual marriage record & Census for Alexander & his wife & children? Do you see his father in any Census or know when he died? What was Alexander's mother's name (from Alexander's post-1855 death record)?
Cheers
AMBLY
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Thanks for your reply :)
I actually couldn't find a birth record for Alexander Fowler...
I found a James Fowler who was born in the same place (Old Luce/Glen Luce) within a few years of him and assumed that must be his brother and that his parents were therefore William Fowler and Sophia Morland.... I might be wrong though but it's hard with no record of birth :-\
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I've just found his death certificate and his parents were indeed William & Sophia. I'm not sure how to find out anything more about them though?
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Hi
Edit: your 2nd reply crossed - great, you've got his death cert ;D
I'll post what I was about to anyway!
Alexander was born prior to the 1855 commencement of civil registration in Scotland, so there is no Birth Certificate as such. If he was christened in the regular church, there may be a surviving record of that event, which would normally name both parents - but if he was from a non-conformist family there may be less chance or no chance of a record of his baptism. I see he was also married prior to 1855, so again no marriage certificate, only a parish record which may or may not exist and which would not be expected to name parents if it did (sometimes you get lucky and a father is mentioned).
But, if I'm seeing the right man on Census, he died well after 1855 - therefore his death certificate is the place to begin as hopefully it will have the names of both his parents (albiet which information is down to the reliability/knowledge of whoever informed of his death).
Have you a complete list of Alexander & Margaret's children, full names and birth order? A naming pattern may emerge (often helpful in Scottish reseaerch) - though to fully ponder that line of research you'll need to know who Margaret SKIMMINGS parents were too!
Cheers
AMBLY
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Thanks Ambly!
William was born in Ireland, I've just found his death certificate too but sadly there is just a line through the box for his parents names. He was born in Bangor though, are Irish records harder to come by? There don't seem too many on Ancestry.com
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Civil registration in Ireland started in 1845 and 1864 and for earlier dates you'd need to search for church records (although not many survive for such an early period). You'll need to know both the family's religion and where they lived to see what records still survive (not all are online however).
There are some Fowlers from Bangor, County Down listed here but since William died in Scotland they may not be the same family.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/SURNAMES/F/FosFoy.htm
Have you found William Fowler and wife in any Scottish census records? Any other children for them? If so, would be worth tracing other descendants for clues.
Have a look at Introduction to Irish Records (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,442233.0.html) and My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start? (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,498742.0.html).
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Edit: aghadowey (above) has been more specific on the difficilties but this is what I had ready to post too:
That's a complete shame about William's parents names not on the certificate :'( - I guess his 2nd wife Elizabeth may not have known their names - was she the informant of her death?
Research in Ireland is difficult! The further back the times are, the more so. I have lines back to Ireland that have come to a complete halt at Stranraer and little hope of getting over the divide :'( You'll need to gather as much information as you can from the Scottish side of things to establish as much as you can about William, every little thing you can find - and that includes about his first wife too, also his religion, his children, an MI if one exists....
He may have been born in Bangor (Down)
He may have been born in Bengour (Cork)
And no doubt there may be other places with a similar name!
The only child I can see to William & Sophia on the IGI are two sons both named James (one christened 1813, the other 1817) presumably the earlier one died and the 2nd was given the same name.
http://shrinkalink.com/60498
I wonder if this is the same house - Genoch Lodge, that William was listed at in 1851/1861? Does it look that old a house do you think? (historically Wigtownshire, now under Dumfries Galloway)
Cheers
AMBLY
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http://shrinkalink.com/60498
I wonder if this is the same house - Genoch Lodge, that William was listed at in 1851/1861? Does it look that old a house do you think? (historically Wigtownshire, now under Dumfries Galloway)
Cheers
AMBLY
Just butting in here to say, that I think that Lodge may have been around in 1851/61. If you look at the neighbours in both censues you might get more of an idea of it's location.
PS. What does the 'big house' look like?
(I might have a look myself ;))
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I think this is the big house - Genoch Mains:
http://shrinkalink.com/60499
and:
http://www.cast.org.uk/D-J.htm
"Genoch Mains: C19 farmhouse; to SW is a conical-roofed circular doocot (c.1800)"
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I've just spent ages looking but come up with very little, so thanks for those links Ambly. It doesn't look to be a very grand house to have a Lodge .... :-\ Assuming it is the right place, now you have a date of c 1800.
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Thank you so much everyone! I will carry on my search, I guess things often come to a standstill when you find an Irish relative though :'(
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He was an egg collector so perhaps he lived/lodged in a farmhouse? Is there any other way of reading Scottish records? Scotland people is very expensive! I assumed it must be Bangor as it is so close to Dumfried & Galloway, perhaps the accent made it sound like Bengon?
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Does anyone know how I would go about finding out what religion they were?
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Have you found baptisms for any children?
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Hi there, thanks for your reply :) I'm not sure where I would look for baptisms? Thanks
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You need to search for local church records and see if there's any trace of the family.
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Thanks, I think they must have been Church of Ireland (protestants) but do the churches have their records online? Will they have BMD records too? Thanks :) :)
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I meant to search for baptisms in Scottish records for any of the family born in Scotland to see if you can find where they attended church. Scottish vital records are online through Scotland's People (pay per view) website.
Civil registration in Ireland began 1864/1845 and few churches have records back to 1800 and of those that do not all are available online.
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Replying to an old post regarding Fowler family in Bangor (County Down). On ny husband's tree I have a Francis W. Fowler, married in Bangor a couple of years before 1892. The bride's surname was Agnew and it appears the family emigrated to Northbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts USA around 1911. Hoping this is helpful.
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Replying to an old post regarding Fowler family in Bangor (County Down). On ny husband's tree I have a Francis W. Fowler, married in Bangor a couple of years before 1892. The bride's surname was Agnew and it appears the family emigrated to Northbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts USA around 1911. Hoping this is helpful.
A Francis Fowler (no middle initial) married a Sarah Anne Agnew but the marriage took place in 1876 in Newtownards which is more than a few years before 1892-
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/marriage_returns/marriages_1876/11175/8094570.pdf
They had a son Francis William Fowler in 1890 in Bangor-
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1890/02446/1909814.pdf
Daughter Jane Fowler born 1887 in Bangor-
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1887/02542/1941172.pdf
There is however a Francis Fowler born 1896 in Bangor- parents Francis Fowler and Margaret McNeilly-
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1896/02187/1827772.pdf
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Francis W. Fowler, wife Sarah and several children in Bangor area in 1901-
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Bangor/Ballyholme/1251520/
Can't see them in Ireland in 1911 census.
The records for Massachusetts in general and Northbridge/Worcester County in particular are excellent and much information will be found online.