Spelling of name

[TonyT]

I am trying to find who the parents of my Great-Grandmother, Janet Murray McVey were.
According to her death registration, she was born abt 1826 in Glasgow, Scotland
The only record I could find in the IGI is a
Janet Morah McVey, b-29 Jun 1825 in Glasgow.

Would anyone know if the name Morah is possibly Gaelic for Murray??

Thanks, Tony

[Burrow Digger]

First off the IGI is in no way complete.

Second, All scottish records are held in scotland by the Scottish registry office.  Very few of them are on the Family search IGI.

And third, Its could simply be a misspelling or been wrongly transcribed - that happens a LOT in genealogy.

Your best bet would be to register with the Scotland People website, and pay for a subscription.

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

BD

[JAP]

Hello Tony,

I see that haven't made many posts on RootsChat.  RootsChatters love to help so don't hesitate to ask.

First of all, just to comment that spelling was very variable in past times (don't bother thinking about Gaelic spellings!).  Often it was nothing more than what the parish clerk (or registrar after the start of Statutory Registration - in 1855 in Scotland) heard and attempted to write down phonetically - and it often depended on the accent of the person who said the name to him!  MCVEY, for instance, could well have been written as MCVEY, MCVAY, MCVEAGH, MCVEIGH, MCVAE, MACVEY and no doubt all sorts of variations I can't think of!  Do take variable spellings in your stride    I have one name I'm researching where I'm fast approaching 100 spelling variations!

Secondly, just to expand on what BD has said.  ScotlandsPeople at:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
is actually not a subscription site but a pay-per-view site.  Do read all the helpful material on the SP site.
There is a good post on optimising SP searches here on RootsChat starting the following thread:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,43916.0.html
and further useful posts on that thread.

I would also add that the IGI is a very useful first step in searching (what's more it's free) - especially as Statutory Register births and marriages (though not all marriages were registered) in Scotland from the start of Statutory Registration (1855) until about 1875 have been extracted into the IGI.  Also, there are sometimes extracted entries in the IGI which aren't on SP (pre-1855, SP has Old Parish Register entries from the Established Church of Scotland; the IGI also has in some instances entries from registers of breakaway churches); both sources - SP and the IGI - are useful.

Now to return to your specific question.

I would think that Janet Murray MCVEY and Janet Morah MCVEY are very likely to be the same person (Morah is certainly a very inventive spelling of Murray!).

Where did Janet die?  If in Scotland, her father's name and occupation, and her mother's name and maiden surname, would appear on the certificate.

The parents of Janet Morah MCVEY born Glasgow 1825 are listed in the IGI (extracted entry - from a parish register) as John MCVEY & Mary GILMOUR (from the IGI, this couple married in 1822 in Barony, Lanarkshire).

In Scotland, given names tended to recur in families and often children were named after their grandparents; and a middle name of a child often comes from the maiden surname of the mother of one of the parents.  I note that the IGI has a likely person for Janet's father John - John MCVEY, b 3 Jan, bap 6 Jan 1799, Barony Lanarkshire, parents John MCVEY & Janet MURRAY.

Well, that's enough for now but please don't hesitate to post more questions.  And if, when you do, you provide as much information as you have, that will help us to help you.

Best of luck,

JAP

[aghadowey]

Maybe 'Morah' is suppsoed to be something like Moira, Mariah or  Morrow....

[JAP]

PS: Tony, you will be able, for a fee, to view/download the image of the parish register entry for the birth of Janet Morah MCVEY from ScotlandsPeople.  It may well have no more information at all than is in the IGI (that's the luck of the game) but there's always the possibility that there could be further information e.g. it might give the father's occupation, it might give a precise place of residence, and it might give the names of witnesses/sponsors which might (or might not) help.
JAP

[TonyT]

Hi JAP, for some reason when your latest post came through it wiped out the reply I was typing, so here I go again.

First of all, thank you for your reply and also BD and aghadowey.

Little Nell suggested that I read a post by Boongie Pam and she also mentioned the thread that you mention.

I did check out ScotlandsPeople site and see that it is a pay for view.

As soon as I get some info together I will try a search with them.

Janet died in Canada but her parents names weren't listed.

I have been using the Scottish naming pattern as a guide line to matching family members.

I did find on the IGI the two possible parent connections, i.e. John McVey and Mary Gilmore and John McVey and Janet Murray.

I was going for the McVey /Murray connection until last night when I found the listing of two births on the IGI, naming Hector Thomson and Janet McVey (McCey)as the parents and the children names were, Mary Gilmore Thomson and Catherine Cochrane Thomson, born Glasgow.

I will post this now before it disappears again, as I am a slow typer.

Thanks again,
Tony

[JAP]

Hi Tony,

There was a post today, I recall, about retrieving draft posts when they seem to have disappeared into the ether ...  I usually just persevere to-ing and fro-ing and usually find what I've drafted ... when I can't, I get very grumpy 

Anyway, your naming patterns in your post above sound perfect (don't worry about variable spellings)!

All names and dates which follow are from extracted entries in the IGI.

John MCVEY and Janet MURRAY have a son John MCVEY (b 3 Jan, bap 6 Jan 1799, Barony Lanarkshire).

John MCVEY (jnr) marries Mary GILMOUR, 31 Dec 1822, Barony.

They have Janet Morah (presumably this is a nutty spelling of Murray) MCVEY, 29 Jun 1825, Glasgow; we don't know where Janet came in the family - records perhaps not complete -  but it seems she was named after her Dad's mother, Janet MURRAY, which is great.

Janet MCVEY marries Hector THOMSON, 31 Dec 1844, Glasgow (Hector presumably being the Hector THOMSON bap 21 Nov 1824, Lochwinnoch Renfrew, parents George THOMSON and Catharine COCHRANE).

The first daughter of Janet & Hector is Mary Gilmore THOMSON b 3 Oct 1845, Glasgow; perfect - first daughter is named after her mother's mother.

The second daughter of Janet (surname mistranscribed? as MCCEY) & Hector is Catharine Cochrane THOMSON b 10 Dec 1846, Glasgow; perfect - second daughter is named after her father's mother. 

You could not wish for more!

JAP

[TonyT]

Hi again, just received your post as I was getting ready to send this.

That is great to hear your news about
John MCVEY and Janet MURRAY having a son John MCVEY.
I didn't find that on the IGI.

And that is the correct Hector Thomson who married Janet.

A puzzle solved. Thank you so much for your help.

With that info I should be able to check the SP's records to confirm the IGI data.

Now I only have to find out who Hector's father's parents were.

I thought I had tracked them  and his family down but I was told by a descendant of the family that I was researching, that the George I found had died a year after he was born.    At least I had gained some knowledge of searching records, so I figure it wasn't a complete waste.



here is info that I posted on the Larnarkshire thread.

As you can see, it seems that they were a bit nomadic, going by the fact the children being born in different towns/villages.
That is if my findings are correct.

George Thomson (b-abt-1798) married Catherine Cochrane.
Catherine was c-29 JUL 1798 at Lochwinnoch, Renfrew
I believe Catherine's parents were, Hector Cochrane and Katherine McLean
From the IGI records I have found the following information.
George and Catherine married on 16 May 1822 in Lochwinnoch, Renfrew.
As far as I can tell, they had the following children;
1.William Thomson -c-29Jun 1823 in Lochwinnoch, Renfrew
2. Hector Cochrane Thomson -c-21 Nov 1824 in Lochwinnoch, Renfrew
3. George Thomson -b- 18 Sept 1829 in Old Kilpatrick, Dunbarton and c-04 OCT 1829 - Old Kilpatrick, Dunbarton
4. Margaret Thomson -b- 5 July 1831 Barony, Lanark
5. Catherine Thomson -b-15 Dec 1833 Barony, Lanark

As I mentioned to Nell, I found a family with some of the same names in the 1841 census but they are living with a Samuel and Margaret Thomson.
It doesn't say if they are the parents or not.

As I mentioned to Nell, I was wondering if perhaps George and Catherine died and the children were taken in by their uncle and aunt?

So far I can't find them in the 1851 census.

I know that Hector married Janet in 1844 and they came to Canada in 1848.

I haven't found any info that Hector's siblings stayed in Scotland or perhaps they also migrated at a later date.

I am going to do a search on the 1851 census again, with luck, I can locate them and then I will try a search on ScotlandsPeople.

Thanks again for your help,
it is very much appreciated.

Tony

[JAP]

... That is great to hear your news about
John MCVEY and Janet MURRAY having a son John MCVEY.
I didn't find that on the IGI.  ...

The IGI has John MCVEY marries Janet MURRAY, 28 May 1797, Barony Lanark

A parent search (John MCVEY in the father boxes, Janet MURRAY in the mother boxes, select British Isles as the region) finds the following children:
*John MCVEY b 3 Jan, bap 6 Jan 1799, Barony Lanark
*Agnes MCVEY b 6 Jan 1800, Glasgow Lanark
*Robert MC VEY b 10 Oct 1801, Glasgow Lanark (the entry for Robert is an LDS member submission)

JAP