Unusual Surnames

[Davefiona]

I thought that when I found My ancestress Margaret Ravalue that I would have no problem tracking her down due to her unusual last name. I was dead wrong. She listed her name as Ravelue on the marriage bans.On the Birth certificates of her children the name changes to revilliod. Also each child has a variation of the same name . On her death certificate her maiden name is listed as Revilliod. Her fathers name is either John or Francis. On her marriage bans his name is John. but on her death certificate it is Francis. I know that she was in about 1811 by subtracting her at at death from the year she died. I have searched on the IGI and in the 1881 Census.

I have found 2 marriages where the name revilliod is used
Francis Revilliod Married  Ann Matthew at Bath Abbey 1790.
Francis Revilliod Married Margaret Robertson  at Canongate, Midlothian Scotland 1809. I presume that this couple are Margaret's parents.

Margaret lived in Edinburgh until she died in a poor house.
Any help in tracking down this family would be greatly appreciated
 

[runner]

Could you tell us what her husband's name was?
 Someone may have looked for his, or a siblings line and have some information on him which could help.
Its not too uncommon for the person registering a death to be unsure or unaware of the deceased's fore name. My sister-in-law called her mother-in-law 'Mrs' until the day she died yet they got on well.
I didn't know my Grannie had a name until she showed me a photograph of herself & her sisters with their names written on it. Quite a shock it was too.
Francis may have been her fathers given name but if there were others in the familty with the same name John could have been adopted as an alternative or 'Pet' name.

Russell

[Davefiona]

Her husbands name was William Dryden they had 4 children William, Willamina
Martha and John. My ancestors come through John. I think she had a sister named Mary who married some one called Peter. I have a bit of information on the Drydens.   

[runner]

Hi

I now understand your frustration!!! One point about her surname is that the spelling Revelloid comes up where some of the others don't would point to Revelloid rather than Revellis etc being  the most likely.
 Even the Drydens are not easy to track down but I think that there may be some pointers in the choice of middle names for William (Henry) and Martha (Wilson Buckle). Exploring these side issues may lead you back to Margaret again.

Perhaps someone else may have chewed this one over and come up with an alternative approach.
Its so disappointing when birth certificates don't give the answers you need.

Sorry I couldn't offer more

Russell

[JAP]

Davefiona,

This looks like a hard one - though one feels it shouldn't be!  From the IGI and Google, it seems that REVILLIOD is apparently a Swiss name.  Google and the IGI find occurrences in Geneva - the Palais de Nations i.e. the European seat of the United Nations is on ground donated by the REVILLIOD family.

Just to summarize:
Extracted entries from the IGI.
Francis REVILLIOD m Margaret ROBERTSON 1809 Canongate

Margaret RAVELUE (father John you say) m William DRYDEN 1829 St Cuthberts

Mary RAVILLIOD (father Francis a/c IGI) m Peter Calder GRANT 1832 Edinburgh Parish

William DRYDEN and Margaret had:
William Henry bap 1831 Canongate (Margaret's surname as REVELLIS)
Williamina b 1848 Edinburgh Parish (RAVILLIOD)
Martha Wilson Buckle bap 1852 Edinburgh Parish (REVILLIOD)

You say Margaret DRYDEN dies (when?) in a poorhouse, father's name Francis REVILLIOD (his occupation?).
Have you explored whether there are any Poorhouse records?  Some of these have amazing information.

Have you viewed all the above entries in the parish records just in case there is some clue there?

I had a quick search in the National Archives and in the National Archives of Scotland with no success (though I didn't try every possible variant).

I couldn't find anything on FreeCEN - but it's not complete and, again, I didn't try every possible variant.

Sorry,

JAP

[Izzy]

Hi Dave,Fiona
When I went to LDS church to look for my ggggrandparents marriage in cannongate 1818 I wrote
the info it give down there witness was Daniel Rivollo
he was a wire worker living at 124 cannongate might be
one of yours good luck.
Isabel

[Davefiona]

Hi All,
        Thanks for the help that I have received so far. I found out that Margaret's father owned a shop in Old Broughton. Also Margaret was a florist assistant in Leigh when she was married and the shop was owned by the Robertsons. Her father was deceased by the time that she was married. the Marriage was witnessed by a Mr Robertson.

My new question is where do i find out about shop ownership.

Cheers Dave G

[runner]

Hi Dave

Lots of towns and cities had Trades Directories published. Businesses could pay to be included in the Directory so there may be a Directory for the areas you are looking for. Some of them are on-line. Others you might have to look at in the local archive. Try Googling for 'Trade Directories' with the approximate dates and see what comes up.

Russell

[Rena]

How does a French sailor named Francois (Francis) sound to you? His surname sounds something like 'Revee-leon'

Name  Revillon, Francois
Ship Name:  Scipion
Rank:  Aides Canonniers de Marine
 October 1805 HCA 32/1171

I entered a wildcard * = "Revil*" on this website and got many variations :-

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/

Good luck,
Rena in England
=

I thought that when I found My ancestress Margaret Ravalue that I would have no problem tracking her down due to her unusual last name. I was dead wrong. She listed her name as Ravelue on the marriage bans.On the Birth certificates of her children the name changes to revilliod. Also each child has a variation of the same name . On her death certificate her maiden name is listed as Revilliod. Her fathers name is either John or Francis. On her marriage bans his name is John. but on her death certificate it is Francis. I know that she was in about 1811 by subtracting her at at death from the year she died. I have searched on the IGI and in the 1881 Census.

I have found 2 marriages where the name revilliod is used
Francis Revilliod Married  Ann Matthew at Bath Abbey 1790.
Francis Revilliod Married Margaret Robertson  at Canongate, Midlothian Scotland 1809. I presume that this couple are Margaret's parents.

Margaret lived in Edinburgh until she died in a poor house.
Any help in tracking down this family would be greatly appreciated