Gillespie & Duncan marriage - Gorbals

[ourfamilylines]

Looking for information on Mary Duncan, possibly illegitimate daughter of a Mary Duncan, domestic servant.
This younger Mary married my ggrandfather, James Gillespie of Falkirk, in Glasow. Any help would be appreciated. Info below.

Mary DUNCAN was a Domestic Servant in 1882 in Slammen, Stirling, SCT. She immigrated about 1905 to Hamilton, Wentworth Co, Ontario, CAN. She was buried in 1925 in Hamilton, Wentworth Co, Ontario, CAN. Hamilton Cemetery, York St. Section S1 and S2 (Part 3 or 4) M.G.R. #901914 NT. O.G.S. #4465 (Part) Ham. Br. Code CEM 293-3. She died on Nov 10 1925 in Hamilton, Wentworth Co, Ontario, CAN. She was born 28 /29 Feb 1862 in Muirhouses, Linlithgowshire, SCT. Linlithgowshire is now known as West Lothian, SCT. [u]She resided 370 Cumberland St. at time of marriage in Glasgow, Dist. of Gorbals, Lanarkshire, SCT. She was in Clyde Parish. Parents: Mary DUNCAN.
She was married to James GILLESPIE on Oct 24 1882 in Glasgow, Dist. of Gorbals, Lanarkshire, SCT. They married at 5 Abbotsford Place, Glasgow, Scotland.
Marriage 1882 644/12 511
Registered 28 October 1882 at Glasgow - John Brown- Registrar[/u]

[sancti]

Have you checked Scotlandspeople for her birth certificate?

[sancti]

Do you have names and dates for their children in Scotland?

[Forfarian]

Hmmmm.

There is no birth certificate on Scotland's People of a Mary Duncan between 1860 and 1864 in West Lothian, and the IGI does not list any Mary Duncans born on 28 February 1862 or 28 February 1863. (There wasn't a 29 February in either 1862 or 1863 as neither was a leap year.)

'Muirhouses, Linlithgowshire' is an incomplete address. There is no parish of Muirhouses in Scotland, so this must be a single farm and in order to find it you need to know the parish. There are places called Muirhouses in the parishes of Airlie, Angus; Dundee, Angus; Glamis, Angus; Kirriemuir, Angus; Dreghorn, Ayrshire; Old Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire; Leuchars, Fife; Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire; Crawford, Lanarkshire; Errol, Perthshire; and Carriden, West Lothian. 

The 1881 census lists no Mary Duncans in Slamannan or anywhere else in Scotland who were born 1860-1864 in West Lothian.

So where did you get that date and place of birth from? And what was Mary's age according to her marriage certificate?

Presumably she is the Mary Gillespie in the 1911 Canadian census in Hamilton, Ontario: age 48, widow, aged 48, born 1863, February, Scotland, Scotch, Canadian, Brethren, naturalised 1908, with sons John, 24; James, 19; Alick, 17 and Willie, 10?

Your best plan is to find the family in the 1891 and/or 1901 census in Scotand, and see what that tells you about her age and birthplace. You can look up the census at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk at modest cost.

[ourfamilylines]

According to her death certificate, her birth was 28 Feb 1862. Her son named her father as John Duncan and mother as Mary____ on the death cert.

Family lore says Mary said her father was a soldier and killed. Mary's marriage cert to James Gillespie
ONLY says Mary Duncan - domestic servant  as her parent on the cert.

A researcher I hired years ago says Mary is Illegitimate. All of Mary's children with James Gillespie bear the middle names of Duncan or Melrose (James mother) except one, her name was Katie Smith Gillespie and who died at age 2 before Mary and her adult brood (which you also saw in the Canadian info) moved to Ontario. so somwhere the Smith name plays a role I am sure.

[ourfamilylines]

According to the marriage cert, Extract #511 that I do have,  for 3 Oct 1882, she is listed as 20 yrs old, Mary Duncan, Spinster. Mother is listed as Mary Duncan, domestic servant. It is an extract from the Dist of Gorbals, County of Lanark, Gorbals Parish.

This family then moves to Larbert and Falkirk. I do have all their children and descendants of which one is my grandfather. They immigrated to Ontario about 1907.

[Forfarian]

So far, so good. You should be able to find her in the 1891 and 1901 census easily enough, then.

[sancti]

1901 census gives her place of birth as Bo'ness, Linlithgowshire

[sancti]

1881 census has a Mary Duncan Domestic Servant born Linlithgow described as an Inmate living in Liberton, Midlothian