Anchor Mills Clark family.

[Forfarian]

The James Clark b Arbroath 6.11.1842 to Alexander Clark & Betsy Whitton had no middle name

That's not reliable - it's very common for people to acquire middle names that weren't on their birth certificates, never mind their baptism record.

I have read somewhere that the churches were really only interested in a child's first given name, because they regarded that name as the person's name in the sight of God, so it's common for a baptism record to omit all other given names.

[Forfarian]

There is a remarkable dearth of possible James Christopher Clark(e)s in the BMD records. Specifically, there is no death in the FreeBMD index that could conceivably be him, and the first marriage is after the birth of William Richard Clark.

So did he die overseas, or was his death registered as plain James, or as James C?

Osip, you have only named the male line. I think if we're going to get anywhere with this we'll need the mothers' names as well.

[osip]

After my attempt many years ago to trace these relatives I passed all my info and certs to an uncle who said he could sort it. Of course he didn't and I havn't seen the info since!

Forfarian you are correct about James if I have the correct facts. He died off the coast of Pathos in 1894 on his way to Corfu. A drowning accident I assume?

The mothers line of my granma has proven very difficult.

Annie Clark (Cook) 1877 - Father James Cook 1841 - mother Sarah Withey 1843.

And that is as far as I got.

[Forfarian]

In the 1891 census there is a family in West Derby consisting of James Clark, 49, marine engineer, born Scotland; wife Elizabeth, 44, born Scotland; daughter Elizabeth J Robinson, 22, born Scotland;  daughter Margaret Clark, 15; son William Clark, 12; daughter Edith Clark, 10; son-in-law Alfred J Robinson, 22; and grandson James Robinson, 3.

Alfred James Robinson married Elizabeth Jane Clark in West Derby in 1887.

There are four Elizabeth Jane Clarks born in Scotland 1867-1870: one with mother's maiden surname Barlett, one with mmn Craigen, one with mmn Simpson and one with mmn Yule.

There are no Edith Clarks born 1879/1882 in Liverpool with mmn Bar(t)lett, Craigen or Yule. There is, however, an Edith Clark with mmn Simpson in Liverpool in 1880.

Cross-checking confirms that a Margaret Clark, mmn Simpson, was born in West Derby in 1876, and a William Clark with mmn Simpson in West Derby in 1879.

So I think that William Richard Clark's mother was Elizabeth Simpson.

Elizabeth Jane Clark was born in Edinburgh in 1868.

James Clark and Elizabeth Simpson were married in Edinburgh in 1867. Their marriage certificate will tell you the full names of their parents including their mothers' maiden surnames.

[osip]

Many thanks. Where and how do I apply for the Scottish marriage cert of James and Elizabeth?

[Forfarian]

The official answer is that you go to www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, invest in a few credits and use 6 of them to find, view and download an image of the certificate on the spot. It works out at £1.50 per certificate.

However seeing you're new to SP I took a look. James Clark's parents were Robert Clark and Ann Philip, and Elizabeth Simpson's were James Simpson and Elizabeth McGlashan.

Further investigation of the indexes at SP reveals that Robert Clark and Ann Philip were married in Monifieth in 1840. Their son James was baptised in St Vigeans in 1844, one of six recorded children.

In the 1851 census the family was in Ponderlaw Street, St Vigeans, which is actually in the burgh of Arbroath: Robert, 39, labourer at gas work, born Crathie, Aberdeenshire; Ann, 31, born Strathmartine; daughter Ann Alexander, 14, born Monifieth; James, 7; Margaret, 4; and Robert, 2, all born St Vigeans.

In 1861 they're in South Leith: Robert, 50; Anne, 41; James, 17; Margaret, 14; Robert, 12; William, 9; Betsey, 7; Peter, 4 and Isabella, 1.

By 1871 Ann was widowed and had moved to England and was living in West Ham with some of her children. This explains why I can't find Ann's death certificate in Scotland. Scottish death certificates tell you the names of the parents of the deceased, inclding their mother's maiden surname, but unfortunately English (and Welsh, and Irish) ones don't.

[osip]

Dates and ages all figure correct which means most of my results were incorrect. So it is Robert Clark, I'm figuring born 1812, who's father and siblings it is I need to research now.

There has been no obvious connection to the mills of the Clark family which was my original motivation for my searching. But it looks as though, and I'm excited about, I have a whole new family of Scottish relatives to research.

[Forfarian]

No, it looks as if at least some of the  Anchor Mills Clarks were sons of Andrew Clark (c 1785-1873), who was born in Paisley according to the census.

[ColC]

Forfarian 

Anchor MillsThread St, Paisley PA1 1GZ

Google for more information.

Colin