Searching for William Carey in the early 1800s

[ChristineCK]

I think I might have gone as far as I can here, but maybe someone can give me a tiny clue.

We're trying to pin down an elusive Irish family link and I think this is my guy, but I can't prove anything.

His name is William Carey or Kerry, he must have been born in the late 1700s.

We know a fair bit about his son James Carey who was born in the Glasgow area around 1815 (evidence from census records, no birth certificate). We have a death certificate for James (1871) showing his parents as William Carey and Marion Wyllie. We know Marion died in the poorhouse in Glasgow in 1869 and was a widow by this time. We have traced James and his family in all the relevant census records but William and Marion don't seem to be anywhere near them.

William and Marion's sons James and John are in Kilmarnock by 1835, having spent time in Paisley. John was due to be married to a Jane Pattison but he was late to the wedding so James married Jane instead, and then spent 6 months in prison when the deception was found out.

We know from the letter the Minister wrote to the Sheriff about the wedding that "The Kerrys are natives of Ireland", but all of the census records show James as born in Glasgow. So it must have been his parent who was born in Ireland?

Are we now just so far back in the mists of time that this Minister's declaration is the closest we'll ever get to an Irish link? All of the people in question were brick makers or coal miners, nothing to make them stand out and appear in many records. Apart from the dodgy marriage obviously!

[Forfarian]

We know Marion died in the poorhouse in Glasgow in 1869 and was a widow by this time.

If she was in the poorhouse, there should be a record of her in the archives of the parochial board (the 'Poor Law' records). If so they could tell you quite a lot about her and her husband's origins.

See https://www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/ExploreRecords/Pages/Poor-Law.aspx

[ChristineCK]

I contacted the Mitchell a while back to ask if they would have records I could check but they said there was nothing for the time period. Does that seem wrong to you? I just believed them. Maybe I should go back and ask again, or maybe they meant there was nothing for the particular year she died there.

I might go back and ask again, I'm not really in a position to go in and look myself easily which is why I wanted to check that there was a good chance of finding something before I made plans.

[Forfarian]

I contacted the Mitchell a while back to ask if they would have records I could check but they said there was nothing for the time period. Does that seem wrong to you? I just believed them. Maybe I should go back and ask again, or maybe they meant there was nothing for the particular year she died there.

I might go back and ask again, I'm not really in a position to go in and look myself easily which is why I wanted to check that there was a good chance of finding something before I made plans.

I'm not that familiar with exactly the years they have and don't have records from, so I can't comment.

Maybe someone who regularly goes there might be able to check the index just in case.

[sancti]

Where was Marion living on the census records before her death?