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Messages - ChristineCK

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1
Family History Beginners Board / How do I confirm which person is mine?
« on: Monday 14 July 25 22:24 BST (UK)  »
I'm looking to confirm the parents of a William Kerr who was born around 1776 in Beith, Ayrshire. He died in 1842 so no useful help on his death record.

Two William Kerrs were born in Beith within a couple of years. Is there any way I can confirm which is mine?

William Kerr 1 born in 1776 to Robert Kerr and Margaret Caldwell
William Kerr 2 born in 1778 to Robert Kerr and Jean Barr

My William had a daughter whose name on her gravestone is "Margaret Caldwell Kerr". This would lead me to the earlier of the two Williams.

Does that count as 'evidence'? Where else could I look for evidence? William was a grocer so there are unlikely to be any other documents about him?

I'm new to tracing this far back so any pointers would be much appreciated.

Thank you

2
Ayrshire / Re: Robert Miller, Coal Master, Knowehead, 1798 - 1855
« on: Tuesday 27 May 25 17:13 BST (UK)  »
Andrew and Jean.

3
Ayrshire / Re: Robert Miller, Coal Master, Knowehead, 1798 - 1855
« on: Tuesday 27 May 25 17:05 BST (UK)  »
Quote from: CaroleW on Tuesday 27 May 25 16:43 BST (UK)
Have you downloaded the death cert to get his parents christian names

Yes I have, thank you. The names of his wife and children are correct so the record you found is definitely him. I hadn't found it before because family stories told me his mother was a Templeton so I was stuck.

I see he died of consumption. Poor guy. I'd love to find an ancestor who lived a comfortable life and died a good death. Robert's wife Janet died in a fire. Her dc states "body badly burned" which is just so depressing.

But I guess we must be made of tough stuff to have survived all these generations.

4
Ayrshire / Re: Robert Miller, Coal Master, Knowehead, 1798 - 1855
« on: Tuesday 27 May 25 16:21 BST (UK)  »
Wow, I thought his mms was Templeton, not Cuthbertson. But that's definitely him, correct wife and children. Hmm. Thank you

5
Ayrshire / Re: Robert Miller, Coal Master, Knowehead, 1798 - 1855
« on: Tuesday 27 May 25 15:28 BST (UK)  »
Oh, in the 1851 census he's at Redstone coal pit as a miner. So I guess if he had delusions of grandeur being a master he didn't last long. He was still mining aged 54. What a life.

6
Ayrshire / Robert Miller, Coal Master, Knowehead, 1798 - 1855
« on: Tuesday 27 May 25 15:22 BST (UK)  »
Hello
My 4x great grandfather Robert Miller (Ayrshire 1798 - 1855) erected a rather elaborate family gravestone in Irvine in 1834. The inscription reads-

Robert Miller Coal Master Knowehead
And Janet Murdoch his spouse
In memory of their son
Andrew Miller who died 7th January 1834

etc etc

Everyone in our family tree for ever has been a plain old coal or iron miner so I'm curious about Robert calling himself a coal master rather than a miner. He had enough money to buy and engrave this stone, it has a poem engraved on the reverse too so if you paid by the letter in the 1830s he wasn't scrimping.

I wonder if anyone might have any insight into what Robert's work might have been like, whether he was in fact higher up the ladder than then average coal miner?

I know that in 1830 he was living in Shewalton, on the gravestone dated 1834 he says Knowehead/ Knowhead, by the 1841 census he's in Kirkland, Dreghorn and is a miner rather than a master. I don't know if there is anything particularly interesting about those areas?

Robert died early in 1855, I guess just before statutory registration, so I don't have anything more.

I just like to imagine as much as I can what their lives would have been like. We're not important enough to leave detailed records about individuals, so I find small details like master rather than miner curious.

Thank you

7
Lanarkshire / Re: Searching for William Carey in the early 1800s
« on: Wednesday 14 September 22 14:51 BST (UK)  »
I contacted the Mitchell a while back to ask if they would have records I could check but they said there was nothing for the time period. Does that seem wrong to you? I just believed them. Maybe I should go back and ask again, or maybe they meant there was nothing for the particular year she died there.

I might go back and ask again, I'm not really in a position to go in and look myself easily which is why I wanted to check that there was a good chance of finding something before I made plans.

8
Lanarkshire / Searching for William Carey in the early 1800s
« on: Wednesday 14 September 22 10:15 BST (UK)  »
I think I might have gone as far as I can here, but maybe someone can give me a tiny clue.

We're trying to pin down an elusive Irish family link and I think this is my guy, but I can't prove anything.

His name is William Carey or Kerry, he must have been born in the late 1700s.

We know a fair bit about his son James Carey who was born in the Glasgow area around 1815 (evidence from census records, no birth certificate). We have a death certificate for James (1871) showing his parents as William Carey and Marion Wyllie. We know Marion died in the poorhouse in Glasgow in 1869 and was a widow by this time. We have traced James and his family in all the relevant census records but William and Marion don't seem to be anywhere near them.

William and Marion's sons James and John are in Kilmarnock by 1835, having spent time in Paisley. John was due to be married to a Jane Pattison but he was late to the wedding so James married Jane instead, and then spent 6 months in prison when the deception was found out.

We know from the letter the Minister wrote to the Sheriff about the wedding that "The Kerrys are natives of Ireland", but all of the census records show James as born in Glasgow. So it must have been his parent who was born in Ireland?

Are we now just so far back in the mists of time that this Minister's declaration is the closest we'll ever get to an Irish link? All of the people in question were brick makers or coal miners, nothing to make them stand out and appear in many records. Apart from the dodgy marriage obviously!

9
Census and Resource Discussion / Re: Understanding an 1841 census record? Don't understand the symbols
« on: Sunday 10 July 22 11:50 BST (UK)  »
He died in 1848/9, we've got a burial record. Sadly he was buried on the same day as his wife and the children all ended up in the poorhouse.

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