Hi Kim,
First I should say that this isn't my family tree, I'm trying to trace it for one of my Mum's friends -which is a shame really because it's proving much easier than my own family tree!
Anyway, thank you so much for replying to the thread, it was great to see all this information about the descendants of Donald Davidson and Margaret Johnston(e)
I rather selfishly wish that your amazing family tree overlapped a tiny bit more with the branch that I’m trying to figure out, but even the information that you’ve posted relating to the children of Donald and Margaret (your 3rd great grandparents) has been extremely helpful.
Curiously, the person that I’m particularly interested in is the one sibling for whom there doesn’t seem to be much information, namely John Davidson b. 1850. I’m not 100% sure (maybe not even 90% sure!) that I have the right John Davidson, and, as usual, the ages on censuses and BMD certificates don’t always tally.
Working backwards, I have:
i) John Davidson (Widower of Margaret Shearer), died on 5th August 1932, age 83 (I guess this more or less tallies?), in Forres , Moray –His parents are listed as Donald Davidson (General Labourer, deceased) and Margaret Davidson (Ms. Johnston, deceased).
ii)In the 1901 and 1911 censuses John (age 43 and 53 respectively?) is listed as being born in Petty, Inverness.
iii) Donald Davidson died in 1898 (age 86) in Petty, and Margaret Davidson (nee Johnston(e)) died in 1910 (age 90; hmm..the gravestone says 1909!)
iv) Marriage of John Davidson and Margaret Shearer, 7th December 1894, in Forres, Moray. Here, John is listed as being 38 years old (as opposed to about 44!). According to the marriage certificate both of John’s parents (i.e. Margaret and Donald) were alive at this point.
v) Although in 1894, John Davidson married from Seafield, Forres, I cannot find him in that area on the 1891 census (actually I can’t find him anywhere in 1891).
vi) In 1871 I have John (age 31-should read 21?) with his parents and siblings Margaret and Donald in Petty. Similarly in 1861 (with John, age 11).
There’s much more info on the Shearer side etc. but I guess I want to be as sure as I can be that the Davidson line is correct first, as there seem to have been so many Johnstones and Davidsons in the Petty area at that time.
In some ways it seems right, but some of the dates are so far out that doubts keep creeping in.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome.
