Joseph Antonio D'almeido Morrison Montrose born abt 1790

[familysleuth]

Hi everyone - when I first started looking at this man in my tree, I thought he had simply made up his name. Now I am not so sure, but it is certainly hard to find a baptismal cert for him.

He was a mariner, Merchant seaman, with a mate's ticket, who married in London in 1816 to Elizabeth Edwards. he gave very consistent information that he was born in Inverness, and he was Catholic. He was not married in a Catholic church, but his children were baptised in Catholic churches. as he got older, he was a Navigation Teacher. he died in 1857 of heart disease and 'drinking ardent spirits to excess".

I looked through the Catholic Heritage site, and the only Mingarry had any records going back that far. Name seems a mix of scots and Portuguese.

Any ideas for placing this man?
best wishes,
Louise

[ColC]

If this is the death you refer to he may have been born a little earlier?

MORRISON, JOSEPH    age 73  
GRO Reference: 1857  M Quarter in DUNMOW UNION  Volume 04A  Page 214

Colin

[Ashtone]

There's also this death, which would match the 1851 census location for him and the family.

Name   Joseph Montrose
Age 66, as per GRO online index
Event Date   1857
Event Place   St. George In The East, London

Please can you confirm which sources give his name as Joseph Antonio D'almeido Morrison Montrose.

[familysleuth]

I do understand that just because he has given the information does not make it true! but all of the information around him is very consistent.

His name in full is on his Mates' certificate, which he signed, and also gave a full birth date. His name in full is on his marriage registration, and variations of it (initials etc) for his children's baptisms. I have his death reg, which names him as a navigation teacher, same as on census records, which his wife and children. He is in the newspapers and directories as a navigation teacher, placing him in the correct area.

Just quite intriguing, and I would like to know what his background was - incidentally, all his children replicated various names etc in their own families. The Catholic faith slowly diminishes with time though.

My attachments were too big, but here is the mate's cert

Hope someone can help!

[Ashtone]

Have you checked Scotland's People for his birth record? Even though it could be under a variation of his names, at least you know his birthplace (Inverness) and DOB.

FindMyPast also has some RC parish records for Scotland.

[familysleuth]

Yes, I checked both FindMyPast (which has baptisms of his children) and Scotlands People, and FamilySearch and the Genealogist. I tried variations of all of his names. I looked in the National Archives. I searched for him in the BNA in Shipping. I did a google search, and I have taken all of his children and wife as far as i can currently. His wife was a sister of my 3 x great grandfather, William Edwards, also a mariner.
Seems like this one has us all stumped!

[Forfarian]

I'm afraid that you aren't likely to find his baptism.

If you look at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/record-guides/church-registers#Parishes and scroll down to 'Roman Catholic Parish Registers' you'll see that few Roman Catholic registers survive from much before 1800. In particular "most records only begin in the 30 years following the relaxation of legislation against Catholics in the 1790s".

In particular the Inverness records only start in 1832, and the nearest place with records surviving from 1790 or earlier is 50 miles from Inverness. That's a long way in 18th century terms, when the only way to travel on land was by muscle power - either your muscles or horses' muscles.

I checked both FindMyPast (which has baptisms of his children) and Scotlands People, and FamilySearch and the Genealogist.

See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=714261.0 - the records on FindMyPast are copies of those on SP.

[familysleuth]

yes, I did see that but I was just hoping you inverness experts may have some extra information.

thanks a lot!

Louise

[Forfarian]

Not sure about 'Inverness expert' but the thing to realise is that for most of the 18th century Catholicism was more or less proscribed, and in all but a few enclaves where people stuck to it Catholics had to worship etc clandestinely. It would have been dangerous to keep written records that might fall into the wrong hands, hence the lack of surviving registers in most of Scotland.

The Statistical Account of Inverness (1793) http://www.rootschat.com/links/01t9l/ mentions various religious denominations in the parish, but not a RC congregation.

AIUI the surviving Catholic records were collected by the Scottish Catholic Archive, and it is these records that are available in digital form on Scotland's People and FindMyPast. So barring someone coming across a long-lost register lurking in a crumbling box with a rusty hasp in a cobweb-draped attic or similar, all the surviving RC records are available online.

You could ask the Highland Archives if they have anything https://www.highlifehighland.com/highland-archive-centre/ but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.