Who's the father?

[Jet Carson]

I have a death from 1891, Isabella Gibson from Beith, Ayrshire.  However I'm a little confused.  In the name of father and mother column it states the father is Donald MacKinnon, Farm Servant (deceased) and mother Margaret MacKinnon m.s. McMillan (deceased).

Straightforward - but in the signature of informant it states John Gibson, father, present.

Now her husband is John Gibson - has he simply made a mistake and written "father"?

[Kay99]

It does sound like a simple mistake

Kay

[Jet Carson]

Yes Kay it's all I can think of - just trying to be sure before I go too far down this line, I've already spent quite a few credits on Scotland's People tracking the wrong family before I realised I'd made a stupid error reading misreading a document!

Just seems weird writing father instead of husband! 

[andycand]

Hi

I wonder if it should say father-in-law. A quick look at the 1891 census shows another John Gibson age 77 a clock-maker, in Beith. Is he the father of your John Gibson? Does the death give an address for the informant?

Andy

[Jet Carson]

Andy, no address of informant, but John's father is William Gibson, a baker, and he died when John was a boy.  Stepdad is Alexander so not him either.

I had actually started tracing the clockmaker family, that was my costly mistake I referred to previously  .  Never found any link to my Gibsons who are a family of Bakers (John's generation were the first that weren't due to their father dying so young.  They followed the stepdads profession.)

I think I have to assume it's a mistake.  Just wanted to be sure I had the right father for Isabella as I've some discrepancies when I go down that route.  I'll start a new thread for that on the relevant board!

[argyllshiregirl]

It could be a mistake. On my great grandparents' marriage registration, it has the wrong groom's name. It says Donald MCKINNON where it should say Neil MCKINNON. Donald was his brother as well as a witness. Neil was unable to read or write and only spoke Gaelic, so he would never have noticed. These things do happen.

[ecksdochter]

Hello,
     I'm sure I'll be corrected if I've got this wrong but I think the Informant of a death just signs his name. I'm sure the Registrar fills in the relationship of the informant to the deceased. Does the handwriting look the same?
               Regards,     Dod.

[MonicaL]

Not sure if this helps possibly as to what may have happened: www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=662262.msg5494016#msg5494016

It may be that the original register was kept at a local level, and a transcription from the register is what was sent to Edinburgh and has been imaged by SP?

Don't think this can necessarily be checked on easily though 

Monica

[hdw]

Andy, no address of informant, but John's father is William Gibson, a baker, and he died when John was a boy.  Stepdad is Alexander so not him either.

I had actually started tracing the clockmaker family, that was my costly mistake I referred to previously  .  Never found any link to my Gibsons who are a family of Bakers (John's generation were the first that weren't due to their father dying so young.  They followed the stepdads profession.)

I think I have to assume it's a mistake.  Just wanted to be sure I had the right father for Isabella as I've some discrepancies when I go down that route.  I'll start a new thread for that on the relevant board!

I had ancestors from Northern Ireland called Pettigrew who moved to Hawick in the 1830s, and some of them moved again, to Beith. Mary Pettigrew was married in 1860 at Beith to John Gibson, rope-spinner. John was the son of James Gibson, baker, and Margaret Laird.

Harry