Pieces of Evidence Connecting My Family to Scotland – Part 1 – The Anderson Connection

When I went looking for my ancestors in Scotland, I ran into a number of new and interesting experiences.

 

From other family members, I knew that my 2^nd great-grandfather, Robert Anderson, had been born in Scotland and died in North Dakota, U.S.A. The primary information for his birth date comes from his death certificate which states he was born on January 6, 1832 in Scotland. On that document, his parents were recorded Gilbert Anderson and Margaret Maitland, both of Scotland.

1912 Death Certificate for Robert Anderson, born in Scotland January 6, 1832

Robert’s life was also recorded in a book titled, Compendium of History & Biography of North Dakota, published in 1900, in which was stated the same information as to his birth date, country of birth and parents’ names. In that piece his birth place was given as Glasgow. Whether that is true or not cannot yet be demonstrated as no birth or baptism record has yet been found.

 

Robert and his family had moved to the US around 1880. The biography also summarized the migration history of the family. Gilbert and Margaret first came to Ontario, Canada, around 1832. They farmed first in Lanark County and later in Huron County, until their deaths. Gilbert was a weaver in Scotland before he immigrated and plied that trade to some extent in Canada as well. His occupation was important in the search for his family in Scotland. They had six children before they left Scotland and six after they settled in Canada. That helped narrow down the time of their immigration.

There are a number of censuses that show the families of both Gilbert and Robert, in both Canada and the US, between 1842 and 1910; so it has been relatively easy to find them on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Well, sometimes! Not all of the records are preserved and some are not yet transcribed. A researcher in Lanark County found Gilbert Anderson, as head of the household, on the 1842 census, in Lanark Township. Nine people were in the household of which six had been born in Scotland and three in Canada. That fit the family very well. We even got a location for the farm. Gilbert was also identified on an extract from the 1850 Canada census, then living in Stanley Township, in Huron County. He died in Huron County, Ontario and his death record indicates he was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland. So I had one line of evidence as to the origin of the family.

1871 Ontario death record - Gilbert Anderson
showing he was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland

It was not so easy to identify the family in Scottish records, though. Tracing people from the Old to the New World always presents challenges. Not everyone can be found on a passenger manifest, particularly for those who came to Canada prior to the mid-1800s. And often, when they are listed, their names are spelled wrong, adding to the uncertainty!

Gilbert and Margaret were obviously here in 1834 when their daughter, Grace, was born. With Robert’s birth place given as Scotland, their emigration is narrowed down to 1832-33. The obituary of John Anderson, one of Gilbert’s sons, records that he arrived in Canada “when he was but 3 years of age” which would make the year 1832. This was the same year that Robert was born. The obituary also stated that John was born in “Kirktulloch, Dumbartonshire, Scotland” which we interpreted was actually Kirkintilloch in Dunbartonshire. Close enough!



Portion of obituary for John Anderson,
published in Huron Expository January 24, 1902



I looked at the old IGI listings for the Anderson family as well. I got several names off the old list. It is not quite the same any more but you can still search IGI on FamilySearch. A search for children of Gilbert Anderson and Margaret Maitland brings up 23 hits. Many are duplicate entries submitted by different individuals. And few appear to be from extracts from actual registers.

I then decided to look for information on ScotlandsPeople, the prime website for BMD, census and other historical records in Scotland, concentrating on the Kirkintilloch area. Only one baptism showed up in Kirkintilloch birth registers. I expanded my search to nearby parishes and found two more in Campsie parish. I also found the marriage of Gilbert and Margaret in Campsie. But no more children! It makes you wonder where the contributors to FamilySearch got their information about births of the Anderson Children. I believe much of the information comes from obituaries and publications and not from actual parish registers; so there is reason to question the accuracy of the data.

Finding Gilbert’s birth record posed a specific problem. I had his marriage to Margaret Maitland in 1820. The entry said they were both from Campsie parish so that gave me a place to look for their births. Many published family trees, and not a few family history write-ups show his parents as John Anderson and Margaret Wilson but, again, there is no entry in any parish record that shows these people. I spent quite a few credits looking for a family with these people. Finally, in a broad search for any child with a surname Anderson in Campsie parish, I found him. Except he was baptized as Gabriel, not Gilbert! And his parents were James Anderson and Janet Finlay, not John and Margaret! James Anderson was also a weaver, adding substance to the idea that James was Gilbert’s father. It appears Gilbert/Gabriel learned his trade from his father.

Once I had the parents’ names, I quickly found all of Gilbert’s siblings. Many of these names matched people named in some of the published stories so I believed I had the right person. Interestingly a sister, Grace, was baptized as Grisil. I learned that not every English name translates directly to old parish records.

 

Nobility and Celebrity as recorded in the parish registers

The Parish Registers contain a wealth of information about our ancestors much of which is rarely translated in published indexes.

Many of the old baptism records gave just the infant’s name and that of the parents, sometimes only the father’s name.  For a more noteworthy parent, his title might be mentioned.

1634 January 11 – Plympton St. Mary parish baptism – Elyzabeth, the daughter of

Right Worthy Sir Nicholas Slaning, Knight

Sir Nicholas, originally from Bickleigh parish, Devon, near Plymouth, was an important commander in the royalist forces during the English Civil War in the 1640s. He died of wounds suffered in the taking of Bristol in 1643.

The registers often include a substantial amount of information about the parish, besides names and dates, as shown on the example below. On this page from the Plympton St. Mary Parish baptism register can be found entries for labourers, a shop-keeper (butcher), a nobleman (the Earl of Morley) and an unwed mother – a real cross-section of the community.

Page from 1843 baptism register of Plympton St. Mary parish

Usually the noblemen’s families got a little more ink!  Sometimes an extended lineage was shown. 

1728 November 13 - Plympton St. Mary Baptism: Henrietta, daughter of John Parker Esquire of Saltram and the Right Honorable Lady Catherine  his wife, Daughter of the Right Honorable John Earle Poulett of Henton St George

Again, the information about the mother’s family may not be included in a general index of baptisms.  These entries suggest something about the family’s roots, and the importance of the wife/mother, which might also relate to their assets. In this case the family did acquire most of its lands in the parish through the wife whose family is particularly noted in the register.

Occasionally information about historical figures might be found in unexpected and remote parish records.  Plympton St Mary Parish was close the main port of Plymouth and the churchyard there became the final resting place for many people who died on ships that landed there or who died while passing through or visiting the area. In this case the wife of a foreign ambassador was buried after the ship carrying her body had put into port.

1806 November 21 – Plympton St. Mary burial –  “Marcia Mary Wife of the Right Honorable Charles Arbuthnot, Ambassador at Constantinople - in a vault in the Western extremity of the South Aisle, died May 25, 1806”

(the former Marcia Mary Anne Clapcote-Lisle)

Charles Arbuthnot was a British diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was also a good friend of the Duke of Wellington.

The Arbuthnots were never residents of Plympton St Mary parish.  Marcia was born Marcia Mary Anne Clapcote-Lisle on July 9, 1774, daughter of William Clapcote-Lisle and Hester Cholmondeley.  She had been a Lady-in-Waiting to the Princess of Wales.  She and Charles were married February 28, 1799 at Cholmondeley House, Piccadilly.  Together they had four children.  Many biographies note only that she died in Constantinople on May 24, 1806 but we see in this register where her remains ended up.

Portrait of Marcia Mary Anne nee Clapcott-Lisle Arbuthnot by John Hopper
(downloaded from Wikipedia)

Marcia apparently was carried “home” to be buried.  We are left to speculate on how she was transported that great distance. If this is the only record of her decease and burial, it is not much of a memorial to an important lady.

Baptism and burial images reproduced here are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office (PWDRO). Images were downloaded from FindMyPast , or copied from my own microfiche.

“Ted” was his name – or so we thought

According to my wife’s father, Bill McKay, his brother’s name was Ted. That is what he was called his whole life. His parents called him Ted. So did his brothers and sisters. His wife knew him as Ted and even put that on is gravestone.

Bill McKay alongside his brother's grave on a visit to Scotland in 1969

We naturally assumed, then, that his name was Edward or Theodore or something similar and concentrated our searches for Ted or Edward MacKay. We didn’t find him though!

Quite by accident, I heard from one of his granddaughters. I had posted a message to the Moray County, Scotland list on Rootsweb in August 2004. I was looking for information about Isabel Scott, wife of Hugh MacKay. They were grandparents of Bill and Ted. I was not specifically looking for data on Ted but had been tracing back the family and had found Bill and Ted’s parents, Alexander MacKay and Mary Ann Milne and, from them, Alexander’s parents, Hugh MacKay and his wife, Isabel Scott, living in Findhorn, Morayshire, Scotland. This was before the 1911 census had been released so I did not have the benefit of seeing the whole family listed. We only had the names of Bill’s siblings as he knew them – including, of course, Ted!

Isabel Scott was born in Knockyfin, Morayshire (sometimes spelled Knockphin) and I wanted to know more about the area as well as her family. That was the subject of my 2004 Rootsweb query.

An email arrived in November 2007 from Ted’s granddaughter who said, “I am also a descendent of Isabel Scott - just got her birth certificate yesterday so was looking for the same place!” Isn’t it neat when you find another cousin on the mailing lists! And from a message posted over three years earlier!

We started comparing notes about the family. She knew her grandfather had a brother named Bill but did not know he had moved to Canada or anything about his family. We were shooting in the dark, looking to expand our knowledge about the MacKay family left in Scotland.

One of the first things she told us was that her mother’s father, Ted, was actually named Augustus Storm Mackay. What a surprise! And no wonder he called himself Ted!

From then on all of the pieces fell right into place. As documents were released for viewing on ScotlandsPeople, we were able to confirm Ted’s real name on the 1909 birth, 1933 marriage and 1911 census records.

 

No one really knows why he was saddled with that particular name. His parents lived next door to a family by the name of Storm in Findhorn Village, Kinloss. Alexander was a salmon fisherman and his neighbour, James Storm was a yachtsman. They were both born in Findhorn, of similar age, likely involved in the same industry and probably also close friends. That may explain part of Ted’s name. Where the name, Augustus, came from is still a mystery, though.

Anyway, through an accidental contact made by asking a question on a Rootsweb mailing list, we found a new set of cousins and found out the true identity of an uncle.

Ted’s birth record was downloaded from Scotlands People and reproduced here with the kind permission of the Registrar General for Scotland.