Can anybody decipher this name for me please??

[millerina]

Hi everyone,

Please can somebody help me to decipher a name...

I am trying to read Janet Pollock's maiden name in this file... I would welcome any suggestions, however obscure! I think it is possibly McIvor, but I have not been able to find any records of her with that name. 

All suggestions welcome 

Millerina

 

[JAP]

Millerina,

It does look like McIvor.  Is it a certificate downloaded from ScotlandsPeople?  If so, submit a Contact Form advising that it is difficult to decipher and SP will (in my experience) post out a clear paper copy.

You don't mention when or where but I note that a Thomas POLLOCK married a Janet MCKIVER, 14 Jun 1846, Gorbals Lanarkshire (from the IGI).  There is a birth of a Janet MCKIVER in the IGI - 1819 in Gorbals.

JAP

[Emjaybee]

Join the dots in red -Mc Ivor?

[millerina]

JAP,

Thanks for that, I had no idea that scotlandspeople would do that for you, I shall contact them straight away .  That Pollock / McKiver marriage that you found, I had not come across that before, it is a possibility, only problem being that there son was 20 when he married in 1863, which would have made his birth year 1843, before the marriage. He could possibly have lied about his age though...

Thanks again for looking, 
Millerina

[millerina]

Michael,

I'm not sure how you did that, but that is really brilliant, it quite clearly says McIvor now. 

Thank you very very much,
Millerina 

[Clare Fowler]

Hi there,

The other possibility for the discrepancy in ages is that the son may well have been born before the marriage took place.  It was more commonplace than a lot of people think in the 1800s.  If you can check the OPRs for their son's birth that should clear up whether or not he was lying about his age - something else which seems to be fairly common - whether intentionally or by accident.

Cheers,
Clare

[JAP]

Millerina,

Clare's suggestion is the most likely explanation.

There is yet another possibility for the age discrepancy - it's rather complicated so I mention it only because I've come across exactly this situation.

A (remote?) possibility is that William was the issue of a previous marriage and that his birth mother died and his father remarried to Janet MCIVOR; but William always thought that Janet (MCIVOR/MCKIVER) POLLOCK was actually his mother because he'd only been 2 or 3 when she came into his life and so he remembered no other mother ...

In the other case, as I dimly recall (might not be exact), the father came from Ireland, the son had been born in Ireland, and the father had re-married in Scotland to a Scottish girl when his son was very small.

I wonder what other information you have about William, and about Thomas and Janet.  As you probably know, for deaths on SP a married woman is recorded under both her married name and (if known) her maiden name.  So you could search for the death of a Janet POLLOCK (I guess there'll be quite a number!) and for the death of a Janet MCIVOR (or, perhaps, M*C*V*R).  If you get a death in each search with the same date and reference number, the resultant certificate might give you some clues which you can compare with other information which you have.

Regards,

JAP 

[millerina]

JAP and Clare,

Thank you for your help.
What you are suggesting does seem to make sense, perhaps this is why I have not been able to find any record of Williams birth, maybe I am searching using the wrong mother. I had done a search on SP for Janet's death filling in both Pollock for surname and McIvor for other names in the search box, but only came up with 1 result using soundex which was definately not her. Perhaps if I tried seperately then compare the numbers like you suggest, I will get further.

Thanks for the help again, thats given me a lot to consider,
millerina 

[JAP]

Hello again Millerina,

Soundex is not particularly useful in my view.  One thing that Soundex does NOT do is compare names which sound similar - all it is, is a formula for converting names to four characters (1 alpha, 3 digits) and then names which convert to the same four characters are grouped together.  If you Google, there are lots of sites on the Web which explain Soundex.  NameX is better in my view in comparing names which might actually sound alike - but isn't used by SP.  However, looking at the NameX site often gives one ideas for variant spellings.

Anyway, that's why I always use wildcards as I suggested - though I think that the Soundex algorithm should have worked for the McIvor name...  Another thing to think about is that Janet might have been known as Jessie or whatever.

Good luck,

JAP