Hi Haggis,
Unfortunately, I get confused when talking about the Sturgeons. Too many of them share the same forenames.
The Thomas who was married to Mary Ann Fagan was most definitely the child of David Sturgeon and Mary Brown. Source was his Death and marriage certificates.
Interestingly, he got ran down by wagons in 1913 at a coal pit in Rutherglen"
"Cause of Death - Deceased was about a train of wagons when the locomotive came upon the train and began pushing; by some means which could not be ascertained he got among the wagons, and 13 wagons of the train passed over him. He was aware that the locomotive was coming to the pit earlier than usual, and apparently he had not heard the whistle as it approached."
I have to admit that I believed that the "Son" mentioned in the 1881 census was this Thomas, thinking it is unlikely that David and Mary had two sons called Thomas. I believed quite simply that the age was wrong. Perhaps there is another explanation but this seems the most likely.
I considered the possibility that there were two David and Mary Sturgeons living in Glasgow who were born in Ireland.
My argument would be that I know that the David and Mary Sturgeon on this census were his parents and not a similarly named couple as the poorhouse record (shown above) of their other son Samuel states his parents address as Edmiston’s land. (11/10/1886 D-Hew 17/298 page 83567)
Given that I do not have any solid proof for Thomas’s birth date, I am reliant on census records and other certificates. Thus, I find that his birth year seems to be quite consistent. For example:
He is living with his mother at Young’s land (next door to Samuel) in 1891 and his age is recorded at 28 = birth 1863.
Age at time of 1895 marriage 28 = 1867
1901 census age was 34 = 1867
His age at death was recorded as 46 in 1913 = 1867.
I do, however, understand your scepticism as an 8 year differential does seem large.
As for the Grandson, I assumed him to be the son of John Sturgeon and Mary Clark. We know he came to Glasgow as he died there. Also in 1881 he was not living with his parents who were residing with their daughter Mary at Campbell’s Back Land Pollokshaws Road.
There is a possibility that he is the son of William. However, I have not been able to find any other information on William except for the christening date and location kindly posted by Kat above.
The source for the Thomas’s Siblings Mary Ann and John were death records stating the names of their parents as well as, in Mary’s case the poorhouse record above.
Can you tell me a little bit more about your link to the Sturgeons as my detail does not quite match yours. I am always open to correction.
I would be happy to share resources with you. If you are interested feel free to PM me with an e-mail address to contact you.
I am sure that you, Marie and I working together will fill in the many gaps in this tree. Marie seems a wee bit cleverer than me.
Regards
