As I said in my previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2), when looking at the lives of our ancestors, there is often much guesswork in determining how they got together. Following are some stories about the third-past generations on my wife’s side.
The exercise in trying to imagine how people met forces us to look
further at family dynamics and piece together when and why people moved or how
they furthered their occupations. Often you need to look at the parents and
siblings of both parties and see how and where they lived and if they
interacted with other family members. It is no surprise that families stuck
together, often, as they do today, supporting each other in times of need,
joining forces in work-related enterprises and introducing future spouses.
Findhorn, Morayshire, Scotland ca 1900
Our Great-Grandparents
Hugh MacKay & Isabella Scott (m.
15 May 1857)
Hugh McKay was a widower when he met Isabella Scott. He first married
Isabella Thomson in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1845. They had six
children together, all born in Macduff, Banffshire. She died of uterine
haemorrhage, in 1856, on the day she gave birth to their daughter, also named
Isabella. The baby did not survive either, succumbing five days later.
The death of Hugh’s wife left him with four children, under the age of
ten years who obviously needed care.
Hugh left Banffshire to join a brother in Findhorn, Morayshire, probably
looking for support from his extended family. It was there that he would have
met Isabella Scott, the 28-year old daughter of Walter Scott and Janet Stalker.
Isabella was born at Knockyfin, Morayshire. By 1851 she was living near Kinloss
village, about 10 miles to the north and just a couple of miles from Findhorn.
On their marriage record, her residence was shown as Craigmill in the Parish of
Dallas, about nine miles from Findhorn where Hugh lived.
While we cannot know for sure, it is likely they met through friends or
family members in Kinloss. The couple made their home in Findhorn where they
had six children between 1858 and 1869. Their marriage lasted 46 years. Both
died in Findhorn, Hugh in 1903 and Isabella in 1907.
Forres, Morayshire, Scotland ca 1900
William Hugh Milne & Mary Ann
Anderson (m. 4 September 1868)
Curiously, William was born with the surname Mills. His first marriage
record says Milne, though, with his father, William Sr., indicated to be a
skinner and his mother’s name as Elizabeth Ross. The record of his second
marriage to Isabella Munro also shows his name as Mill. His death record says
Mills, the informant for which was Duncan Milne, his son.
As far back as they can be traced, the names of his parents and siblings
are shown as Mills or Mill. The births of his children, however, from his first
marriage were recorded with the Milne name; the two from his second marriage
were recorded as Mill and Mills.
The 1871 census shows the surname of William and Mary Ann as Mills. All
subsequent censuses show their name as Milne.
William and Mary Ann Anderson probably met in Forres, Morayshire.
William had moved there from Aberdeen in the 1860s. The marriage lasted only 14
years as Mary Ann died in 1882 or peritonitis.
Langlands Road, Govan, Scotland ca 1900
Elizabeth Cooper
OK so we don’t know who the father of Elizabeth’s only son, Alexander
Cooper (Part 1), was. From his January 1867 birth record we
know they probably met in May 1866. Now, coincidentally, that was the month
Elizabeth’s sister, Ann Jean got married in Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Elizabeth was the Maid of Honour at the event. It is entirely conceivable (no
pun intended) that she quite enjoyed her time there.
Elizabeth came back to her home in the Shetlands and had her baby in
Brough the following January. She returned to Govan in 1871 to live with her
sister’s family. Living in the same building was a man named John Blackburn, a
dock worker from Ireland. They married in Govan in April of that year. Was he
the man she met in 1866, one may wonder.
John died in 1885 but the couple appear to have been separated before
then as they were living in different places on the 1881 census. Elizabeth
married again, in 1892, to James Ross, of Glasgow but living then in Govan.
They did not have children together.
Elizabeth died in 1904. I am still trying to find her burial place and
am hopeful we might narrow down her son’s biological father through DNA.
John Walker & Sarah McKenzie
Russell (m. 8 October 1880)
John Walker was a railroad employee for most of his life. He and Sarah
probably met through friends in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, but they were married
in Duffus, four miles to the north. Sarah had been born in Burghead, in 1856,
seven miles northwest of Elgin. The marriage record does not indicate whether
she was employed in any of the three places however it does show they were both
living in Elgin at the time.
John’s career as a locomotive engine driver took them to many towns
during the next 47 years. Their first daughter was born in Burghead. Their next
six children were born in Elgin, the eighth and ninth in Glasgow. In the
Glasgow area, they lived in nine separate residences, each one possibly near
where John’s main workplace was located.
John died in Glasgow in 1927. Sarah followed in 1930.
High Street, Elgin, Moryshire, Scotland – ca 1900
