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Hi,

I have Kennedy ancestors who lived in Content Street in Ayr in the 1840s. Robert Kennedy was a shoemaker, born in 1804 and married to Helen Burnie (or possibly Birnie) born abt 1811 in Ayrshire .  Robert was in Glasgow by 1851 and a widower. I can't find a death date for him or his wife on scotlandspeople and was wondering if Helen might be buried in Wallacetown churchyard - or perhaps Newton on Ayr?

I suspect times were difficult, and there might not be a headstone, but even a burial record would be helpful. Robert and Helen are my great-great-grandparents.

MoragC

Hi,

I used to work in an editing job which focussed on British biographies. The Alers Hankey surname appeared either in the Peerage or in the Landed Gentry, so a copy of Burke might help, as usually even distant relatives are listed as long as they are descendants of one of the title or land holders.

MoragC

Frances,

John Joseph Corlett was living at 5 Willow Terrace in the 1891 census. He is near the bottom of the page, so what I found before was the next page, where the two grocer's assistants are listed. I never though of trying a previous page! So that answers one question.

And your information may also give a lead to the Kewish who built number 5. Maybe he built several of the houses there, but by 1891 5 Willow Terrace has been sold. The other numbers with the name Kewish against them certainly intrigue me, and suggest that as a possibility.

I'm not sure where to go next with that one, but perhaps back to the censuses to see if a Thomas or E. Kewish turns up who is a builder.

Family History is certainly like detective work!


MoragC

Frances,

I'll be over for two weeks in May, so can check that out then.

Thanks for the tip.

MoragC

In 1930 John Thomas Costain and his family moved to 5 Willow Terrace, Douglas, where John ran the shop (grocer's) on the ground floor.  My mother remembers an old baker's oven down in the basement and suspects that the shop must have been a baker's previously.

Does anyone know who had the shop in the 1890s or the period from 1901 to 1930 - or able to give me any tips on how to trace this information? JT Costain was in Liverpool as a baker's shop manager in the 1901 census, but Mum tells me that he worked at 5 Willow Terrace for the then shop owner before he was married  -which means some date before 1903.

Another question - JT Costain's wife was a Kewish, and while they had the shop at Willow Terrace, a Colonel Kewish popped in, and  explained that he had been involved in building it some years before.

Mum would love to know who he was and when the building was erected? I have found noone in my Kewish  researches who was a Colonel, although several were builders.

Can anyone help?

MoragC