Hi everyone. Been trying to track my 2nd great grandfather John Ralston (1871-?). He was born in Tradeston, Glasgow 3 April 1871. He was one of 4 boys (1 died as a baby) born to William Ralston, a house painter, and Janet Ballantyne.
I've been gathering as much info as I can about him. He married in 1891 to Elizabeth Love. They had 11 children before her untimely death in 1909.
He married again in 1911 to Margaret Purdon nee McDonald, a widow with children of her own.
I have found his birth certificate, census records 1881-1921, and Valuation Rolls where he owned a yard with an office.
He was a carter by trade but also owned a fruit shop which he later gave to his step daughter Martha Miller Purdon, she owns it as shown in 1935 & 1940 valuation rolls.
He also bred horses and dogs, running a business where the horses were used for his cart business.
My grandmother knew him and claims he passed away in the 50s. She thinks she was young when he passed. There's a photo of her atop her grandfather's horse when she is quite young. I've seen it. She's maybe 3-6 and she was born 1944, so I know he was alive at least until late 40s, early 50s but I've found no death certificate on scotlands people.
His two other surviving siblings, Walter & Robert, I have their death certificates but not his. I've tried all of Scotland for his death certificate but nothing fits with him.
He was known to travel according to my grandmother. She says that her mother told her that the children wee left in the care of their step mother often while he was away. The step mother wasn't very nice to them.
This fits because I do have a newspaper article of him in 1925 arrested for being intoxicated while driving a cart in Kirkintilloch. He has his son, 6, with him according to newspaper reports which is one thing I am confused about. All his children and step children were grown up and lived in glasgow, who is this child? he was 54, feasable could be his child but still.
Where do i go from here? Last documented trsce of him was 1940 valuation record of him owning that yard and office. Is there any way to track the ownership of that?
His wife died in the 1930s and afterwards I'm unsure where he lived. Possibly with step daughter Martha, she lived two closes down from his Yard & Office.
I've tried a little to search for English death thinking maybe he travelled but I'd have to check every single record I'm not sure about and that would be a lot of time and money so I'm trying to narrow things down a bit.
Thank you for reading. I know there is a lot of info here, just trying to provide context and background that may help in finding him
