Help with Charles and Isabella Erskine?

[MerRhosyn]

Hi All -

I'm looking to find out more about my great grandmother born on Sept 21 1894 as Isabella Simmonds.  She was married to James MacDuff Robertson (my great grandfather) for a brief period of time around the 1920s.

I have obtained her death certificate and she went on to marry Charles Erskine (a watchman), who was born in 1879.  His parents were William Erskine and Anne Ramsay Grant.

Charles died on May 7 1949 in the district of Fossil Park, Glasgow.  Their address at the time was 37 Scone Street, Glasgow.   Charles was apparently married to two other women before Isabella - Helen Scott and Helen Barr.

Isabella died on Feb 23 1973 in Glasgow.  The informant on the death record is daughter, whom she lived with at 31 Bank Street, Glasgow.  I can't make out the name of the daughter.

If you have any suggestions about the identity of the unknown daughter, finding out who else lived at the 1949 and 1973 addresses, where they could be buried, or possible newspapers containing obituaries I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks!  If there is other info on their death certificates that would be helpful to know, please tell me.

[MerRhosyn]

I forgot to mention that I have no information about Isabella and Charles' marriage - nothing shows up in SP, so maybe it happened after 1933?

[damnonii]

welcome to rootschat 

You can't post entire certificates here but snippets are ok.  If you can scan or photograph Isabella's death, cut out the relevant bit with her daughter's name on a photoshop programme and upload it here, we can have a go at deciphering it for you.

Newspaper microfilms are kept in the Mitchell Library and are easy to access if you want to look up obituaries. You don't even need to ask, the Herald and Evening Times reels are kept in filing drawers beside the machines.  I don't know if you're still in the area though.  I'm sure Rootschatters can help if you're not able to get there.
The nearest cemetery to Scone Street (whch is in Possil Park  is Sighthill but that doesn't necessarily mean either of them are buried there, the obituaries might mention burial details and are the easiest place to look first.  The Mitchell has burial registers for some Glasgow cemeteries.  The cut off date is 1950 though so you might find Charles but not Isabella.  I assume they are probably buried together but having previous spouses makes it a bit more iffy I don't know what the practice would have been.  If all else fails you can contact the Glasgow Cemeteries department and be very patient. 

Also their marriage definitely took place after 1933 unfortunately as Helen Erskine nee Barr died in 1943 in Possilpark. 

Hope that helps you a bit

Lora

[hume]

Hi,

Welcome to Rootschat.

Adding to Lora's find of Helen Erskine nee Barr's death in 1943, there is also a divorce of an Isabella Simmonds or Robertson and a James McD Robertson dated 1938/1939 on the National Archives website. This can be found through the search here: http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/ You'll probably have this already, but there's also the marriage of James and Isabella on Scotlandspeople - 1920 in Milton district, Glasgow.

I checked Helen Erskine/Barr's death certificate and her death was registered by Charles. The address was 37 Scone Street, Glasgow, same as Charles' death record. His occupation is given as blacksmith - member of First Aid Party, Civil Defence Service.

As for Isabella's daughter, we may not be able to assist if she is still alive. Details of living people can't be discussed on the forums, but I'm sure you would be able to post the certificate segment for suggestions of the name.

hume

[hume]

Searching a bit more, Charles' first wife was actually Bessie Agnes Scott. They married 1901 in Penninghame, Wigtownshire. They divorced in 1934; this is found both through the RCE (register of corrected entries) against their marriage record and through the NAS website. There is a death record of an Elizabeth Agnes Erskine (other name; Scott) in 1966 Glasgow, aged 84.

[MerRhosyn]

Thanks to both of you!  Unfortunately I am in the US, which makes some of this research difficult!

I do have the marriage record for James McDuff Robertson and Isabella Simmonds.  I did not have their divorce year, however.

The information about Charles Erskine's other wives is helpful.  It seems that he and Isabella were not married for very long, if he was divorced from his second wife in 1943 and dead in 1949.

Which brings me to the daughter on the death certificate - here is an image of the signature/name.  It is rumored that James and Isabella had another child other than my grandfather (although potentially before they were married.  Maybe the daughter is actually that of James and Isabella, since it's unlikely that she had any with Charles Erskine.  I figured the first initial was an I or a J...I'm clueless about the last name.

I appreciate the help 

[damnonii]

Maybe J. Adam?

It looks like it's a bad copy.  I see the first letter as a capital A and then the next letter which look like a seperate e and an l as an unjoined up d?  Might be completely wrong though. 

Don't see a death for her if it is Adam.

[MerRhosyn]

Hume24 (or anyone else) -

Can you give a few more details on how to find the divorce record you mentioned through the National Archives search.  I tried names and topic - divorce, but I'm obviously missing something.

Thanks and apologies for being new to all this!

[hume]

The site is rather confusing, isn't it?

When you visit the link I sent you, click on Search on the grey bar at the top. In the Search For box, pop in Robertson and Simmonds as search terms, and then click on the circle beside "All words (AND)". Then you can hit search. There should be six results, one of them being Isabella's divorce record.

hume