Mystery of the Grieving Patton Heiress

[Ruskie]

LJ - Scottish death certificates can give a wealth of information including husband, both parents (if known of course) etc. The certificates can be downloaded instantly from Scotland's People.

Catch is there is a fee involved, and you have to buy a certain number of credits so unless you have other Scottish people to look for, you'll have leftover credits which eventually expire.

There may be a kind rootschatter who has a enough spare credits to look up this death or you. You can post a request on the appropriate Scottish board and include a link to this thread - I'm sure someone will help you.

[karenlee]

That's how I got the information on the 2 that I posted Ruskie....... I had some left over credits from one of my eternally fruitless searches for my Annie BURNIE in Scotland...........so I used them to check those 2 deaths that L-J thought most likely..... there are heaps more deaths for Mary GILCHRIST and that is assuming she didn't ever get around to marrying.

Karenlee

[karenlee]

You're a bit confused about my method of proving relationships etc......
Karenlee

Gosh, that sounded horribly condescending.......... and was not meant to be.  Apologies if it was taken as such............ Just re-read the last few messages and thought how terrible that must have read to some people.

Karenlee

[Ruskie]

oops - I should've read more carefully Karen 

"Would a death record in Scotland typically tell us anything which could help us? " 
I honed in on this by LJ 

[Lumber-Jack]

Hi Karenlee, no need for apologies, I found nothing condescending.....rather yor were being your usual very helpful self in what is becoming a very difficult nut to crack. And thanks Ruskie for letting me know about the content of death records. I will make an investment when we hone in on a couple but Karenlee says there are still many out there....we should keep the 1918 in our hip pocket for now. Thanks too Karenlee for shelling out on the other two!

To ease my confusion I too drew a tree! Here are my responses to your post Karenlee:

Mary , the grand daughter in the Howieson household in the 1851 is 9 years old which makes her born c1842 in Old Monkland , Lanarkshire. She could be a Howieson by one of the sons or some other name by marriage of one of the daughters. As Janet is one of the daughters and she married Alexander Gilchrist , then this Mary could  have been her daughter Mary( presumably Gilchrist) but we know that she was born in Bothwell and  is age 3 in the 1851 and 13 in the 1861. So the Mary in the 1851 Howieson household is a niece to Janet. (In 1882 she would be 39-40 and therefore, by age, much less likely to be a candidate for our Mary than Janet's daughter, Mary, who would have been aged 33-34 and still stretching the boundaries of probability of being our Mary who claimed to be 27,  or 32  if you add 5 under my confused reporting theory).
As a neice to Janet, the  granddaughter Mary in the Howeison household in the 1851 is probably the daughter of  Janet's brother Alexander born 1814 who married Isabella Brown (broun) in 1835 and had daughter Mary in 1841 ish.

Given all the coincidences of presence in Refuges mentioned in the Quarrier file , the proximity of the Dalbeth refuge to her "mother's " home in Baillieston  and the citations for places of birth (Bothwell and Holytown), I have to agree with you that Alexander and Janet GILCHRIST's Mary is  very likely  to be our "Bothwell Mary" and Henry's mother.

I therefore fully agree with your strategy  to find parents for Janet GILCHRIST nee HOWIESON in order to find the person that "Bothwell Mary" referred to when she said she had family ( mother ) living Baillieston or Rankine's Land area.

Janet GILCHRIST's parents were William HOWIESON and Elizabeth JENKINS.  William died in 1864 and you have not found Elizabeth's death yet.  Both William and Elizabeth were born about 1790 so that would make her about 80 in the 1871 census if she is still around.
Alexander GILCHRIST -- father of "Bothwell Mary" appears to be the son of James GILCHRIST and Isabella HENDERSON.  Isabella is still around in 1841 and 1851 but James appears to have died pre the 1841 Census.  Isabella would have been born about 1786 so she would have been very old in 1871 (85) or 1881 (95).

So the "Baillieston Mum" candidates are getting scarce and very old.....which begins to shake my faith that we have the right Mary! And Henry's birthbook has an entry Mrs Ghilchrist 25 December....was this his Mum's birth date, christening date, gift date ( ie Xmas 1882 or 83) or the other Mrs Gilchrist who worked I believe with the Quarrier organisation?

Finally, just how accurate were Scottish census records back in say 1851....English one's certainly in the 1840s could only be relied on with +- 5years rounding.

Yes Karenlee (and others probably reading this with some dergree of compassion!) we are on the same page but the leaves are geting hard to turn. I wonder if an archivist associated with Dalbeth has any info on her? I will try and follow this up if there is a way.

Best wishes, L-J

[karenlee]

L-J

If there was in fact a Mrs GILCHRIST who worked for the Quarrier Organisation, it could well have been her that put the notation in the book that Henry carried with him from Scotland to Canada.... maybe she was one of his primary carers at the Institute?? 

I will check up on that other will for you later today..... I have to do some family stuff first... given that I spent yesterday with "Bothwell Mary" --- and loved every minute of it....

Karenlee

[karenlee]

L-J

The Mary GILCHRIST death 1918 Lanark was daughter of Thomas and Grace nee HAMILTON.

So no luck there either, and there are only 2 more possible Mary's that did not marry, one in Ayrshire and one in Midlothian.  I did consider that maybe, as much of her family seemed to be in Ayrshire, she could have returned to them before she died.   

But then again, I wonder if she didn't marry at some point either?

What do you think?

Karenlee

[Lumber-Jack]

Karenlee ,
 Well we know all about Mary GILCHRIST death 1918 Lanark  the daughter of Thomas and Grace nee HAMILTON.
because you already had found her baptism record:
18/08/1850 GILCHRIST MARY THOMAS GILCHRIST/GRACE HAMILTON FR1863 F Lanark /LANARK 648/ 0060 0325
and  tracked them until 1871 when it appears that Grace dies and in 1881 Thomas has a new wife Charlotte.. they seem to stay around Govans.  Because Thomas is still very much alive in 1882 it doesn't seem likely that these are our  Mary's parents if Mary's statement to the Inspector that her father had been long since dead is  the truth.

I sure hope that other RootsChatters now or later searching for rellies like Gilchrist, Hamilton and Howison benefit from this hard work of yours!

I delved into the Quarrier narrative of facts to seek out the other Mrs Gilchrist with the following result typed into my text:

She also treasures his little “Birthday Date Book” issue, which has a moving dedication on the inside cover:
“Hendrey Ghilchrist, from his mother   God is Love    March 21 1882”
And it includes a number of birth or christening dates with an inscription from the donor:
“Mrs Ghilchrist December 25th”

Henry’s birthday book was not standard Quarrier issue. Although there may be confusion with his natural mother, we believe the donor was Mrs Gilchrist, a Quarrier helper who chaperoned the Second Party of Children to Canada, leaving 26 May 1882 on the S.S. Hanoverian. Mr H.L.Hastings, Editor of The Christian (Boston, USA) writes in his account of that voyage in the North British Daily Mail:
“Accompanying Miss Quarrier (Isabella) was Mrs Gilchrist just returned from a mission to the soldiers at Gibraltar, whose broad Scotch “brogue” and strong Scotch sense were equally useful in managing the children, over whom she watched with loving care.”
Mrs Gilchrist probably comforted Henry while he was in Cessnock.
Henry’s natural mother probably wrote the dedication as families were always notified of the child's emigration and were invited to say their farewells in the week before departure.

So I think that red herring is off the books!

I am still pursuing the Dalbeth archives route....I wonder if our Mary is buried in St Peters.

Later, L-J

 

[karenlee]

L-J

Do you thibk it's worth my checking the Mary who died Ayrshire ...even if it's just to eliminate her as well?

I have just enough credit left for one more........   or should we wait??

Karenlee