John McEwan marries Isabella Smith in Troqueer, 1846 - Help!!

[climbingthewalls]

Also as an aside I'm not sure if it was common practice at the time, but on the grave it states Isabella Smith, the wife of John Mcewan. Most of the graves I have seen never mention the maiden name.

[Forfarian]

Also as an aside I'm not sure if it was common practice at the time, but on the grave it states Isabella Smith, the wife of John Mcewan. Most of the graves I have seen never mention the maiden name.

In Scotland it is absolutely the norm for a woman's maiden name to be on her gravestone.

In Scots Law a woman doesn't lose her own name on marriage, and until a couple of hundred years ago, plus or minus, she was usually still known by her maiden surname after her marriage. In legal documents she is named xxx yyy or zzz, where xxx is her given name, yyy is her maiden name and zzz is her husband's surname. (Much clearer than the American usage xxx yyy zzz, where you don't know if yyy is a middle name or a maiden surname) Sometimes, in the earlier censuses, you'll find a family where the wife's surname is different from the rest, or a widow listed under her own surname rather than her husband's.

It's also why you mostly get the mother's maiden surname in a Scottish baptism record, and why Scotland's People is generally able to index married women's deaths by their maiden surnames, and most deaths by the deceased's mother's maiden surname, though they haven't quite got to the point where all records are indexed by mother's maiden surname - it's still work in progress.

[Forfarian]

Robert Russell McEwan born abt 1843 Scotland, married Janet Stobo in 1871, Liverpool. He died in 1908, Merseyside.
Is this the same Robert McEwan as the illegitimate son of Isabella SMith?

I wonder where the "Russell" comes from? Is the name a hint / link to his mother's forebears, or is he a red herring?

Er .... my reply #17 above perhaps?

[Neale1961]

Regarding the Kirk Sessions attachment1
Isabella states that the father of the child was (at that time) in Newcastle and had sent her a one pound note.
Isabella was not in Newcastle as she appeared at least twice at the Troqueer kirk sessions in 1843.

Added - it says Isabella Smith from Maxwelltown. No mention of south.

[climbingthewalls]

Just an update, downloaded the marriage records for both Isabella Smith / John McEwan & Hugh Smith & Mary Grierson. There is not any further info provided tbh, no mention of parents, witnesses etc. John McEwan is down as Smith at the "something illegible - potentially gas works" in Maxwelltown. I also downloaded the 1841 census page for Isabella & Hugh Smith, not much more info on there either than whats been seen tbh.

Re: Hugh Smith and possible parents being William Smith and Agnes Gilchrist. The Hugh Smith which has his death registered in Loudoun, looks like he was born and raised in Loudoun. He was born in 20/10/1816 to a Hugh Smith and Jean Gilchrist.

I've got some credits left on scotlandspeople, so if anyone has any advice on anything I should check out let me know!!

[climbingthewalls]

So I have found the death certificate of Hugh Smith (well the one which someone on Ancestry used to state his parents were James Smith and Mary Reid). It is from 1885, his profession on it is Flesher (Master) so that ties on with his occupation throughout his life. His address is St Michaels Street which again ties in with his last known address. Why there is no record in 1881 of him is an anomaly I guess. Also his age is recorded as 64.

His son James is mentioned as informant.

I guess this looks like the winner - for now! Will try and figure out who James Smith and Mary Reid were now!!

[Forfarian]

Hmmm.

We have Hugh Smith and Isabella Smith together in the 1841 census. He's 22, a butcher journeyman, and she's 28.

Then we have Hugh Smith, butcher, in 1851 with wife Mary; daughters Agnes, 6; Phyllis, 3; Janet,1; and Eliza Grierson, sister-in-law, 21. All born Troqueer except Eliza.

In 1861 there are Hugh, butcher; wife Mary; daughter Phillies, 13 and son James, 8, all born in Troqueer.

There is a death of a Janet Smith, mother's surname Grierson, in Dumfries in 1859. I would want to look at that death certificate to see if she is the daughter of Hugh Smith and Mary Grierson. If she is, I think it would tie them all together, and that would provide evidence to suggest that Isabella Smith and Hugh Smith were sister and brother.

There are baptisms of Agnes on 23 January 1844, Phillias on 1 December 1847 and James on 22 August 1852 to Hugh Smith in Troqueer, but only James' gives his mother's name, only just as Mary.

Inconveniently, there is also a baptism of a Thomas Smith, parents Hugh Smith and Mary Grierson, on 26 January 1844 in Dumfries - three days after the baptism of Agnes. So I'd want to take a look at all those baptisms to see what they say.

I also wonder what became of Hugh and Mary. I see that a Mary Smith or Grierson died in Dumfries in 1889 aged 67, which is within the range of dates of birth from the censuses.

There's a marriage of a Phyllis Smith in Dumfries in 1875. Was this Hugh's daughter?

[climbingthewalls]

There is a death of a Janet Smith, mother's surname Grierson, in Dumfries in 1859. I would want to look at that death certificate to see if she is the daughter of Hugh Smith and Mary Grierson. If she is, I think it would tie them all together, and that would provide evidence to suggest that Isabella Smith and Hugh Smith were sister and brother.

I've just downloaded the said record. Yes, this is the daughter of Hugh Smith and Mary Grierson.

[climbingthewalls]

I found anotice that Hugh invested in the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway in 1860. So he seemed to be doing OK for himself! I've been trying to follow the Phyllis Smith line through as the people with shared DNA matches seem to be linked to her. She married William Johnston in 1875 in Dumfries, he was a horse dealer. I'll have to do a bit more digging around this side as some of the ancestry trees suggests that her children did quite well for themselves. Obviously will have to verify things.