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My thoughts exactly @Forfarian

Reading about the multiple claims it seems like a lot of chancing the arm.

The solicitor getting nothing (the case you posted) feels quite Agatha Christie when one of the winning defendants breaks his skull 2-3 months later!

In fact @kall I’m just following your pointer and James Stewart (mason) appears in Dec 1836 with a different woman!!!! I sense a scoundrel!?

On the Dumfries St Michaels Kirk sessions 1836 there is a mention of  James Stewart acknowledging being with Agnes Thomson and being the father of her child

Amazing @kall thank you!

William and Agnes (Agnes’ parents) didn’t seem to bother about the niceties of marrying (they were admonished) so I suspected it maybe the case. I’ll go check it out.

I have c8000 not because of DNA stuff but because I merged mine and my partner’s trees.

Plus I’ve followed my birth father and my Dad who brought me up - having 3 parents adds to the body count lol.

Oh and many branches are those mega families of 15+ kids and successful parents as most survived (except for the 2 families decimated by measles).

When you have mega families who use the patronymic naming convention so you end up with 7 Henry Lowthers all born in/around Wigton within a decade you need to follow them all to know you are following the right one to war or prison or whatever.

The other drivers for my larger wider tree… (and I know it’s not huge yet)

My lot are incredibly dull - no drama, no stories- if I find someone on a collateral line with an interesting name I’ll expand out of curiosity.

Illegitimacy- when you lose whole branches early on what are you going to do? Give up this amazing hobby or workout what happened to the uncle of your 3rd cousin twice removed’s husband when he went to South Africa?

Collateral lines and distant relatives have knocked down my brick walls - my lot often ended up being servants to richer distant cousins.

Yes I was a stamp collector. This is the same kind of hobby for me. That doesn’t mean the veracity of my research isn’t good.

On Ancestry I look at the record counts on an individual - I don’t care if it is on a tree of 10000+ if it has a good record count - good means more than I have.

All my core tree have high record counts which someone can see when they search. A message will get them access. The ones with low record counts are either peripheral interests or in a time/place of minimal records.

One thing I am passionate about if anyone wants my info I’ll help. There are two points on my tree where lots of other trees get it wrong - a bigamist and a clerical error. My aim is to contact everyone who has it wrong! If they were correct I wouldn’t exist!

Sorry for the essay I have time in my hands, I just wanted to defend the big tree and how it can come about!

(I’m a 9.7 due to the way back when women I don’t know the surnames for!)

Hi All,

I don't know if I am losing my touch but I can't work out the parentage of John Thomson Stewart. Here are the snippets I know....

He is on the gravestone of William Thomson and Agnes Coltart/Coultart of Rashgill Dumfries in Tinwald graveyard. He is the last person mentioned.

"John Thomson Stewart died at Locharbriggs 28th Nov 1894 aged 58 years". It does not state the relationship to William and Agnes.

Tracing the death cert, JTS died in an a fall at night into the Locharbriggs Quarry. Terrible business! His parents are listed as James Stewart and Agnes Thomson. The newspaper reports state him as 61 years of age.

The aforementioned William T and Agnes C have a daughter called Agnes Thomson who marries a Walter Stewart (a tailor) - she is also buried in Tinwald graveyard.

In the Census in the home of William T and Agnes C you can find:
1841 - Agnes Thomson (26) and  John Stewart (5)
1851 - Agnes Thomson (40 - dau) and John Stewart Thomson (13 - grandson)
1861 - Agnes Stewart (50 - dau)* and John Stewart Thomson (25 - grandson)

In 1861 Agnes is now married to Walter Stewart and is 10 year's his senior.
In 1871 JST is now married to Henrietta Smith. In the marriage record it states parents are James and Agnes same as the death cert.

So the estmated ages of JST are all consistent.

1841: c1836 - census
1851: c1837 - census
1861: c1836 - census
1863: c1836 (marriage)
1871: c1836 - census
1891: c1836 - census
1894: c1836 (death record) - ignoring newspapers

The mystery is in I can't find his birth at all! I appreciate the records are sparce in some parishes.

I have found a William Stewart born 1835 to a James S and Agnes T in Dumfries but the image isn't the correct one on Scotlandspeople so I have reported it.

My hypothesis is that Agnes is JST's mother but I can't find a marriage or any mention of her being a widow. She is listed as unmarried in 1851. The Stewarts and Thomsons are all within a short radius - Rashgill at Locharbrigg and Tinwald c2 miles. I would not be surprised if it was an illegitimacy but nothing coming up in the paternity records - where as her sister Mary is there with her daughter.

I have lots of newpaper snippets due to the violent death and he was fighting to be a beneficiery of a famous estate in New York. If anyone knows anything about the "Stewart Estate" and where to source legal records for claiments that would at least show who he thought his parents were!