Help with census please

[Kay99]

It isn't easy is it !!   Sadly I can't see any reference to a David Milne that would match in the East Indian records on FindMyPast.   

When fiddling I did come across an old question from a person researching the Milne family born in Bombay which I think relates to the Milne family I posted details of in Dundee.  Don't know if you can access this, but I wonder whether he ever got any further??  http://www.GenesReunited.co.uk/askanexpert/webchat?page=96

Kay

[bugbear]

Hi Kay,
Yes! Thank you for that.. I did start to look at it, and started feeling a little lost. The birth date is close too (on two of her census she is 5 years apart in age). It is possible indeed, but is there any way of knowing for sure? At this point, I'm tempted to hire a professional as just keep finding possibilities but no definitive answer.

The point is to continue finding possibilities, and then chasing the consequences. Eventually they (tend to...) build to a either preponderance of evidence, which is your current best-approximation-to-truth, or (alternatively) lead to a contradiction so obvious that a particular trail can be eliminated (but noted, for the avoidance of future "false hits").

It's important to keep very good, complete, notes (probably in software) so you can keep track of all this.

 BugBear

[moby1]

Thank you Kay, that's really interesting! I am not sure how I could get in touch with him there. But the birth of his relative is very close to the birth date for mine, so they could be siblings.. Maybe I need to head to the British Library to see if she was baptised.

And thank you BugBear also.. I'm sure there's an answer out there somewhere, I shall persevere

[moby1]

Kay.. I think the link you gave me looks promising.. much of the family seem to have been born in Bombay and Clara's surname has changed from Millen to Miln to Millan.. finally getting somewhere! hooray!

[Kay99]

Brilliant - Remember that it is only how Catherine was transcribed as the image is only available on Scotlands People.

Some family mysteries are fascinating and I have the wedding cert for possible sister Clara Milne (shown below in 1871 ) in 1875 to David Page and attach details of her parents from the cert.   The family seem to have returned from India between Catherine's birth in India and Henry Stewart's birth in Dundee

Jane Stweart 44 b Dundee
Stewart Miln 22 Son b East indie, bombay
Clara Miln    20 Daughter b East indie
Catherine Miln 17 East indie British Subject
Henry Stewart 15 son b Dundee
Robert Stewart 5 son b Dundee
Jane Ann Grewe 7 Mo Stanger(Stranger?) b Dundee

Edit - Henry Stewart above seems to have been registered as Stewart https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XYY6-2QT
And younger brother Robert registered both as Stewart or Coupar https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY1D-LJT

Kay

[moby1]

Hi Kay, thanks for all this. All this changing of names (both first and surname is so confusing!). I've tracked down a marriage between Jean Stewart & David Milne 11/11/1810 in Perth.. not sure as the family generally Dundee based.

I've been trying to track a death cert for David Milne/Millen/Miln etc as that would seem the most likely cause of them returning to UK, esp as he doesn't seem to make it into 1871 census.

I have a niggling doubt that my mother said that Catherine Milne was born and spent time in India as a psychic.. if she left when she was 2, then that's unlikely.. unless it's just a myth..

[Kay99]

Many family legends can be myths    My grandmother always said she came from the Isle of Man, but she was born in Liverpool!!

Remember the first name Jean and Jane were often interchangeable in Scotland.    I don't think the marriage you found in 1810 could be the right Jean Stewart and David Milne sadly.  Jean wasn't born until 1827ish in Dundee.   I looked for marriages between 1840-1850 on Scotlands People and Family Search but couldn't see one.  It could be Jane/Jean never married and that's why she is listed with the surname Stewart in the census

It is possible that the family left David Milne in India. Something happens between Catherine Milne's birth in approx 1856 in India and Henry Stewart's birth in Jan 1856 in Dundee that caused him to be registered in his mother's maiden name and listed as illegitimate. 

Edit - Henry Stewart was living in Dundee in  1901 with wife Mary Ann and found his marriage in Dundee in 1897. No father is listed on his marriage cert and his mother is listed as Jane Stewart Housekeeper who subsequently married David Milne Civil Engineer!! Slightly the wrong way round

[Kay99]

I may have found Jean/Jane Stewart in 1841.  Henry Stewart's birth cert in 1856 lists the informant of the birth as Mary Stewart Aunt?  ie sister of Jean/Jane Stewart

Possible family in 1841 Living at E Side Middle Street, Dundee

John Stewart 50 Shoe M J
Margret Stewart 40
Eliza Stewart 15
Jean Stewart 10
Mary Stewart 10
Robert Stewart 10
James Stewart 4

By 1851 Jean has left home but Mary is still living there at Henderson's  Loynd??
John Stewart 63 Shoemaker b Dundee
Margaret Stewart 50 b Dundee
Mary Stewart 24 b Dundee
Robert Stewart 21 Sailor b Dundee
James Stewart14 b Dundee
Andrew Forbes 24 Lodger
William Hoglge    24 Lodger
Edward Thompson 24 Lodger
John Romains 16 Lodger

[moby1]

That's amazing Kay - nice work! You should do this for a living, if you don't already I'm not nearly the detective you are!

Ok, so on the 1871 census Catherine Milne at 17, must be born in 1854 in India, and Henry was born 2 years later in Dundee, so I shall check the travel and see if there is anything I can find between those years.

Catherine has played around with her age quite a bit: on the two census' I am certain of, in the 1891 census she is 37, and 10 years later in the next census, she is 39!

Thank you for checking all those documents for me.. are there any that I ought to look at that haven't been covered do you think?