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Curiously there is an Angus Nicolson who married Rachel Martin who died in Marishadder in 1869 aged 75 (see Scotland's People records). Her parents were Alexander Martin and Ann Lamont. They had a son John who was informant of his mother's death.

He appears to have died in 1864 aged 75 and his mother's name appears to be MacLean.

Steve Martin
Canberra

The Nicolson refers in every likelihood to the maiden name of the person's mother. Two other possibilities are the Minister who was the parish priest of the church where the child resided or a doctor. I'd only punt the first two though.

There is a lot of marriages between the Nicolsons and the Martins. I've read the Martins had some sort of affiliation with clan Nicolson. Didn't store it though.

There are Nicolsons of Scorrybreac (the clan leader) and others of Lonfearn. Probably numrerous other places in Trottenish.

Margaret Martin who died 9 February 1867 at Valtos Stenscholl named 2 of her first 4 children according to the Scottish naming tradition. That leaves Alexander's parents as either Murdoch or Martin MARTIN. There were numeros Martin Martins!

If you accept the Martin Martin who was married to Alexina McLeod and who emigrated to Prince Edward Island in July 1858 on the James Gibb ship - is one of Alexander and Margaret's children, then Alexander's father may have been Martin MARTIN.

As deaths were common (say 1/3 of children born) using the known living childrens names as a guide to parents' parents' names is not 100%. But if a child died it was fairly common to rename the next child after the deceased child.

Relying on the accuracy of ages in death certificates for birth dates is also fraught and likely to result in errors.

There are 2 common naming patterns for children used in Scotland in C19. Son 1 Father's father's name Second son mother's father's name. First daughter father's mother's name. Second daughter mother's mother's name. The order could be reversed and the mother's parents were given precedence. However, whichever was used then followed either pattern.

There are also naming patterns for subsequent children ...

If a child dies before (say census) records are kept or moves away it can be difficult to use the pattern.

This explains the inconsistency in apparent ages of some children between census.

Someone may be able to use this information to find Alexander's parents names.

If not, theres a lot of Martin genes floating around in Martins.

I have joined the Martin Y dna project recently and am awaiting my Y dna results to determine my ggg grandfathers parents. I did Y111, but in retrospect would have done Y37 for starters.

Anyone game to find out the Martin Y dna line (doesn't say anything about Margaret Martins lineage). To get any meaningful Y dna you must have an unbroken Martin MALE line. Doesn't work with females, or unbroken male lines.

If so, make sure the person tested is the most ancient connection in terms of generations, not the most recent generation as you need a certain number of centimorgans - DNA measurement of length - to accurately trace ancestors.

Steve Martin
Ainslie, Canberra
ex. Navarre, Victoria

Margaret Martin's surname is Martin I believe. She died on 9 Feb 1867 in Valtos. See Scotland's People website. Death cert available. Her fqther wqs Mqrtin Mqrtin qnd her mother was Mqrion Macleod.

Her husband reads Alexander Martin I believe.

The sister would then be Margaret Martin (nee MARTIN), aged 39, married to Angus Martin (41) from Kilmuir, unless she was travelling under her husband's surname. There were 4 children of Angus Martin oof Kilmuir: Margaret 19, Archibald 13, Angus 8, and George 7.

MATHESON        Ann             23    Conista  Kilmaluag      Lord MacDonald
    576

P/N  £4-6-8
MATHESON        Marian          44    Glenhinnisdale    Lord MacDonald
   577                      Flora             24
                              Alexander       23
                              Catherine       20
                              Marian           17
                              Catherine       14
                             Margaret        10
                             Christy             5

Marian a widow.  Very poor family   P/N  £25-2-7
MATHESON        Kate            30    Stenscholl     Lord MacDonald
   578                     Angus           26    (Brother)

P/N   £10-0-0

MATHESON        Murdo           31    Glenhinnisdale  Lord MacDonald
    586                     Janet              21    (Wife)
No aid

Steve