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I have recently found the birth records of William Grant and his siblings as follows:

Church:  St Mary Magdalene, Taunton, Somerset
Charles Gordon Grant, born 25 Feb 1788, baptised 24 Apr 1788 and 14 Jan 1801
William John Grant, born 14 May 1789, baptised 24 Nov 1792 and 14 Jan 1801
Maria Vincentia Grant, born 3 Nov 1792, baptised 23 Nov 1792 and 14 Jan 1801
Ellen Gordon Grant, born 20 Dec 1795, baptised 14 Jan 1801
In each case the parents are given as John and Ann.

The following may be the marriage of the parents:

Church:  Shadwell, St Pauls (location:  London, East End)
John Grant and Ann Cottell, 13th July 1784

St Pauls at Shadwell had connections to the Royal Navy, I guess due to its location on the Thames.

Below is the full description of the family connections from William Grant's Naval biography:

Quote
William Grant was born 14 May 1789, at Taunton, in Somersetshire, and died 1 Dec 1845.  He was son of Capt. John Grant, who obtained a medal for his services in the 40th Regt. during the first American war, and who afterwards, when belonging to the Prince of Wales' or Leicestershire Fencibles, fought in Ireland during the rebellion of 1798.  One of his cousins, Wm Cottell, Lieutenant R.M., was mortally wounded on board the ROBUST 74, at the defeat, in the latter year, of a squadron under Commodore Bompart; and another, the late Capt. Jas. Cottell, R.M., who died in 1842, served in the TONNAT at Trafalgar.  He has left a brother, a Surgeon in H.M. 10th Regt., now at Calcutta.
This officier entered the Navy, 13 Sept, 1805...
He went on half-pay in Sept. 1815. having been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 11 of the preceding Feb., and did not again go afloat.
Lieutenant Grant married in 1837.
Unquote

CM
Sydney, Australia

Thank you for your suggestion re the Kirk Session.  It's just the sort of tip I was hoping for.

I have only been able to find the birth of James Robert (Davidson) Meldrum in the Catholic records.  In fact I only found this record by good fortune when I happened to notice that Scotland's People had Catholic Records and thought I'd check for the sake of completeness.

I can't post the records themselves on Rootschat due to copyright but I've summarised them below:

S.C.A. Births MP 31/1/1/3 99- Preshome, St Gregory's
Birth - 18 Feb, 1853
Baptism - 18 March 1853
James Robert Meldrum, said by the mother Margaret Davidson to be the son of James Meldrum born in Buckie on 18/2/1853 was baptised by me on 18th March the same year.  The sponsor was Elspeth Desson or Kyssack (?).  The mother (prot.) engaged to bring up the child Catholic.  John Sutherland

S.C.A. Births MP 16/1/2/1 43- Buckie, St Peter's
Column 1: (obscured) Feb 1853
Column 2: 18 Mar 1853
Column 3: James Robert N (where N = natural, ie illegitimate)
Column 4: James Meldrum, Buckie
Column 5: Margaret Davidson
Column 6: John Sutherland

I read that illegitimate births were quite common amongst farm servants at this time in the north of Scotland, partly due to the lodgings provided by the farm owners.  All the same, maybe Margaret Davidson was ostracised by her Protestant Church so she had her son baptised Catholic instead.  I'm only guessing.  (?)

I'm not sure whether James Meldrum (the father) was Catholic or not.

Best regards,
BHSyd

I am trying to confirm which particular James Meldrum was the father of my great-grandfather James Davidson Meldrum.

James Davidson Meldrum’s birth record is as follows:

b. James Robert Meldrum, 18/2/1853, Buckie, Banffshire
Father - James Meldrum (Buckie)
Mother - Margaret Davidson
Christened - 18/3/1853 as Catholic although mother was protestant
Christening registered at parishes of St Peter’s at Buckie and St Gregory’s at Preshome
Illegitimate (natural)

Eight years later in the 1861 census, this young James Meldrum was living at Keith with his mother, her husband John Lyon whom she married in 1857 and their children.  Without doubt this is my great grandfather James Davidson Meldrum since later in life he variously gives his mother as Margaret Davidson and Margaret Lyon.

Going back 10 years to 1851, Margaret Davidson is listed in the 1851 census as follows:

Address: Auchinbaidy (Auchinbaidie), Alvah, Banffshire (farm of 100 acres)
Margaret Davidson, age 21, house servant, b. Forglen, Banffshire

The 1851 census also records a James Meldrum living about 10 km to the west near Aberchirder as follows:

Address: Monedie, Marnoch Parish, Banffshire (farm of 270 acres)
James Meldrum, age 23, agricultural labourer, b. Marnoch, Banffshire

It seems vey likely that this James Meldrum is the father of James Davidson Meldrum.  For example, Margaret Davidson and this James Meldrum may have happened to work/reside at the same farm sometime during 1852.

I have tried checking the 1851 census in Banffshire and its adjacent counties for other men named James Meldrum but there are not any obvious potential fathers of James Davidson Meldrum as follows:

Other adults named James Meldrum in Banffshire
Age 20, tailor, Somentone, Kirkmichael, Banffshire (living with sister)
Age 42, farmer of 5 acres, Glennieston, Gartly, Banffshire (wife and family)

Adults named James Meldrum in Aberdeenshire
Age 54 at Aberdeen North, married, harbour labourer
Age 48 at Insch, married, farmer of 30 acres - 30 km from Alvah
Age 31 at Strathdon, servant, grieve (farm overseer) - 55 km from Alvah
Age 25 at King Edward, married, farm labourer - 9 km from Alvah
Age 24 at Insch, married, farm labourer - 30 km from Alvah
Age 23 at Cairnie, farmer’s son (at home) - 22 km from Alvah
Age 18 at Insch, servant, agricultural labourer - 30 km from Alvah

Adults named James Meldrum in Inverness
Age 40 at Abernethy & Kincardine, farmer (living with sister & niece)

There were no adults named James Meldrum in Moray or Nairnshire.

I am trying to confirm that the James Meldrum who lived at Marnoch in 1851 is the correct father of James Davidson Meldrum.  This James Meldrum lived the remainder of his life in the Marnoch area, in particular at Aberchirder.  He did not leave anything to James Davidson Meldrum in his will.

James Davidson Meldrum lived in Australia for most of his adult life.  On official documents he recorded his father’s occupation as farmer.   He did not practise as a Catholic.

I have already researched the family connections of James Meldrum and Margaret Davidson in some detail so I don’t need any assistance on that side of things.  But any suggestions on how to confirm that I have the correct James Meldrum would be much appreciated.

Best regards,
BHSyd

Dear Robyn & Sue,

Thank you for your suggestions.

Margaret Philomena Treanor is indeed Louis Hahn's wife but we can't find any record of her living with Louis after around 1891.  She died at a sister's house in 1929 and was buried at Rookwood with her parents and sisters, no mention of Louis on the headstone.

We don't have any record of a second given name for Louis.

Louis Joseph Hahn (b. 1894) is a nephew of Louis Hahn (b ~1855).

We have checked the Louis Hahn who died in NZ in 1926 aged 74.  He came originally from Lithuania so he's not our Louis.  The hotel keeper Louis Hahn who is mentioned in various Westland NZ newspapers is related to the Louis from Lithuania, so once again he's not our Louis.  From what I can piece together, this NZ hotel keeper's full name is in fact John William Louis Hahn.

Anyway we can't make any headway in finding Louis after 1891 which is why I thought shipping records might be useful, but I'm not very familiar with the NSW outbound records.

By the way, Louis' parents were Englebert (Engelbert) Hahn and Anna Aloisia Theresa Maria Kremer.  They came originally from Eltville in the Rhineland.

Best regards,
CM