LOCKHART at DUMBARTON

[heiserca]

I have two names, trying to determine if they are the same person:

HELEN LOCKHART was born 15 Aug 1815 at Dumbarton, parents John Lockhart and Janet McFarlan or MacFarlane, according to the IGI.  No other information about her is known to me.

ELLEN LOCKHART was born about 1816, exact date unknown, place unknown.  She appeared seemingly from nowhere, and married James Clezie, on 11 June 1840, at Troy, New York.

Could these women - Helen Lockart and Ellen Lockhart - be the same person?
Is there any indication that Helen Lockhart from Dumbarton emigrated to the USA?

Children of Ellen Lockhart were named:
James (after the child's father, James)
George (after the father's father)
Margaret Jane (origin unknown; Jane could be from Janet)
Mary (origin unknown)
Helen Orr (maybe it was Eleanor?)
William James
Ellenor (again maybe Eleanor?)

[heiserca]

1841 census shows Janet Lockhart, 40, sons Charles, 20, and Duncan, 18, living at Thimble Street, Renton.  It also says Cardross.  Are Renton and Cardross the same, or very near?  Janet's husband, James, was missing from the census, might have died.

Their daughter, Helen, was also missing!  She would be about 25 in 1840.  Maybe she emigrated to the USA, before 1840, was called Ellen, and married James Clezie at Troy, New York in June 1840?  If so, she is my great-great-grandmother!  This is still just wild speculation - how can I find out?

[elizabeth.m]

Hi

Renton is a village between Dumbarton and Alexandria.  In the early days everything West of the river Leven was under the registration district of Cardross.  This changed in the 1860, and the west-end of Dumbarton, on the other side of the Leven came under Dumbarton.  I think!!

The only way you can know for definate is to obtain Ellen's death certificate.  I believe there are some New York death certificates available on line sites.  If you are a member of Ancestry you could trace her on the American census.

I also have Jane McFarlane's in my list of ancestors, so will go and have a check on them.  Good Luck with your search.

Liz

[heiserca]

Thank you, Liz.  I have Ellen's death certificate but it shows nothing useful. She died 27 Oct 1899 at Cleveland, Ohio, USA.  The certificate merely says she was born in Scotland, and does not name her parents.  Census returns give no useful information.

Her husband, James Clezie, was born at Edrom, Berwickshire, 1816; moved with his parents to Edinburgh, about 1820; a young sister and brother died there of measles in late 1831; within months of their deaths, their family emigrated to Montreal, Canada, 1832; they moved on to Toronto before 1839; somehow Ellen and James met and married at Troy, New York, June 1840, stayed there for 3 years, then moved to Toronto about 1844, where they rejoined his parents; finally, James, Ellen and children moved to Cleveland, Ohio, about 1853, and settled there.  Despite all this movement, across the ocean, living in 3 countries, I can find no record of Ellen's origin, where in Scotland she came from.  She seems to be a woman without a past.

Rick

[elizabeth.m]

Would the marraige certificate give any more information?  Brickwall's are really difficult to negotiate.  Our ancestors should have been more considerate!!

Liz

[heiserca]

Alas, the marriage certificate also says nothing useful.  Did they meet in Toronto, and elope to be married in exotic Troy, New York?  Or maybe James went to Troy for work, met Ellen there and fell in love?  We simply don't know. 

This is why I grasped at the slender reed, Helen Lockhart from Dumbarton.  She bears a superficial resemblance to Ellen,  the right age, similar names.  But Helen may indeed have stayed and made her life in Dunbartonshire, while Ellen had adventures in Canada and the USA.  Not a trace of where she came from!  I think of her as "Ellen of Troy", like the mythical Helen who so inspired the Greeks.  But that is just silly poetry - Ellen had a past that is waiting to be discovered.

Rick

[heiserca]

Since I posted the original question, may as well post my answer too: after considering other possibilities, and the other Helen Lockharts born in Scotland during that time-frame, I am reasonably certain that Helen Lockhart from Dumbarton was the same person as my ancestor Ellen Lockhart.  Iron-clad proof?  No.  Just probability.  I'm proceeding on that basis, until new evidence comes to light.

[JaneyCanuck]

Wise to link some of the many scattered threads on the subject, but probably best to retract that surmise in this one now. 

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,601912.msg4578540.html#msg4578540

[heiserca]

Ellen Lockhart that I am seeking was born about 1816, somewhere in Scotland, according to census records. 

Helen Lockhart, born 15 Aug 1815, christened 20 Aug 1815 at Dumbarton, is a close match!  An online tree with this Helen Lockhart does not show any marriage or death, suggesting that she disappeared!  Might this Helen Lockhart from Dumbarton have emigrated to North America before 1840?  How to find out?