A girl called Fortable!

[JAP]

Thank you Jap.  I have researched the Fortable Campbell/Simers/McKenna family thoroughly so have all the information you found.  ... 

Hello again Callywoods/Mary,

It is always helpful, when posting a query, to tell RootsChatters what information you already have so Chatters don't toddle off and busily duplicate searches which have already been done. 

Incidentally, have you found any record of James SIMERS (however spelled) as a butcher other than on Fortable's marriage certificate?

And have you found his death and/or do you have his death certificate?

Do you have Fortable (SIMERS) MCKENNA's death certificate - any clues?

Did Fortable have any siblings that you know of?  Any clues there?

Any clues in the witnesses to the marriage of Fortable and David?

Incidentally, even if - for whatever reason - James and/or Fortable changed their names (given and/or surnames), that doesn't help to explain where the name Fortable originated ...

Hello Steve,

Presumably Catherine's mother was still given as (some variant of) Eliza MURPHY?

Fortable doesn't seem to have any provenance - at least nothing which any of us has yet been able to find. 

Regards to you both,

JAP

[Callywoods]

Hi Steve and Jap!
I consider my knuckles well and truly rapped! I didn't give you all the info I had gathered as I didn't expect anyone to go to so much trouble.
Anyway thank you for all your help and suggestions.
They really are a most elusive family.
In answer to your questions, Jap -
I dont have a death cert for James Simers or any other reference to him at all, except for the McKenna/Simers marriage cert.
Havent found any siblings for Fortable Simers.
The marriage cert may provide a clue. It seems to have been  an irregular marriage.
The first column reads
26 January, East? John Street Glasgow by declaration in presence of James Murdoch, tram car guard and Minnie Sloan domestic servant
The second to last column reads
Warrant of Sheriff Substitute of Lanarkshire dated 26 January 1899

The witnesses were probably work mates. The bridegroom was also a tram car driver and the bride a domestic servant. So no clues there.

I'll keep looking!  Mary

[Piglet01]

Hello JAP 

Yes, mother given as you found, as Elizabeth on Catherines,  and on Marys, Elizabeth Murphy.  On both, fathers occ is that of gardener.  Marriage out by 10 days, one says 06 June the other 16th.  On both fathers names is James Simers, but sister Margaret Simers is the witness for Catherines birth in 1886.

I assumed that the 1878 birth had been downloaded, so went for the 1876 one and then went for the last one.  Just trying to 'bracket' the abt 1877 birth credited to 'Fortable'.

Mary - no apologies required   :O)  This one may be left for the moment, but until you get an answer it'll be on the backburner   :O) 

[Scatza]

Hi
I have an ancester named "Comfort" I wonder if "Fortable" could be an insider family joke/alternative?   

Sometimes the most obvious answers are right infront of our eyes, and your suggestion is probably the most likely 

[Piglet01]

Back off SP .  No further forward.  1855 to 2006 in Argyll only 3 James Simers die.  Only one fits the age range - and he dies in Lochgilphead.  The gardener above married to Elizabeth Murphy died on 13 Sept 1888.   

Also no deaths in Scotland for a female Campbell married to a Simers......

And in response to JAPs query post no. 9

Fortable Mckenna died on 19 Apr 1958.  Parents recorded as James Simers butcher and Fortable Simers, M.S. Campbell.  Witness was daughter Fortable Boyd - who died in 1982.

[Scatza]

My main interest is in the actual name of Fortable and where it suddenly sprang from! 
The earliest record I can find is the marriage of Fortable Campbell Simers to David McKenna in 1899 where her parents are recorded as James Simers (butcher) and Fortable Campbell (deceased).

Curiouser and curiouser! So it looks like James Simers (butcher) was married twice: First to Fortable Campbell, and second to Elizabeth Murphy? Elizabeth Murphy Simers was still alive in 1901, living with children Patrick aka Robert, William. and Catherine Simers, so she was probably not  Isabella /Fortable Campbell Simer's natural mother.  The latter's 1899 marriage registration to David Meikle McKenna suggests that her birth mother was deceased.

Or, did James and  Elizabeth Murphy Simer's name one of their daughters after his deceased wife?  We know he was a widower when he married Elizabeth Murphy, from their marriage registration.

While the name Fortable was carried on through a third generation (Fortable McKenna b. 1903), none of this throws any light on the origin of the name or its meaning.  Finding out more about Fortable Campbell, James Simer's first wife, would seem to be a more promising path to follow   

Megan

[sancti]

Are there any census records showing James Simers as a butcher?

[Scatza]

Are there any census records showing James Simers as a butcher?

Callywoods and I have kinda been working on this together for some time: I have been looking at the census' but have not yet found anything more for him apart from the 1881 census, when he is listed as a Gardener at Reids Land, South Knapdale, Argyll.  Callywoods has the other registrations. Co-incidentally his son William (with Elizabeth Murphy Simers) is an Assistant Butcher in Glasserton 1901 census.  Now that I have a hunch that James Simers may have previously been married to Fortable Campbell (other names not known), I am looking for spelling variations and possible matches for her. I don't think we are going to find her by that name in the 'official' registrations though 

Megan

[Scatza]

Sorry, I meant Glassary Argyll - unfamilair names venturing from Kirkcudbrightshire to Argyll