RootsChat.Com

Hi there,

I have not yet established a link with the Elliots at Sorbitrees.  However, I have a brick wall with my Elliots.  I have a William Elliot born in Castleton in 1811 to Isabella Aitchison and Thomas Elliot, who never married.  I have no idea who this Thomas Elliot is - he may be a link, but until I work out who he is, I don't know

Cheers,
Clare

Hi watcher,

You should be able to find James' birth, marriage and death certificates (and see the images of the register entries), along with census records at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.  It is a pay per view site but is quite reasonable - you buy credits at £6 for 30.  It costs 1 credit (20p) to view search results and 5 credits (£1) to view the image of the certificate which you can save and print out. 

Cheers,
Clare

Hi all,

I am having some issues sorting out my Murrays in Hawick.  I think I have some conflicting evidence in certificates and census records (so what's new?!!), and I am hoping that by putting it all down in writing here either I can work it out myself or some of you wonderful people can help sort  it out.

Here goes...

My GGG Grandmother was Ann(a) Murray born circa 1854 in Hawick (have never found a birth record unfortunately).  Her marriage and death certs both show father as David Murray and Helen Murray, previously Clark, maiden surname Hardie.  So far so good...

I have Helen Murray nee Hardie's death certificate, which mentions no marriage to anyone called Clark, but this is possibly unknown to George Murray, her son who registered the death.

So to census records - my issue is matching the correct children to the correct parents as I think that Helen Hardie may have been David Murray's 2nd wife.  There is no mention of a previous wife, but the census records seem to suggest this.  I cannot find any record of marriages for David Murray and Helen Hardie/Clark or births of the children in the OPRs which is also frustrating. 

David Murray died in 1860, so I started by looking for 1851 census, and found the following in Hawick:

David      Murray   Head        aged 50 (correct age to agree with death cert)
Helen      Murray   Wife         aged 36 (again seems correct for death cert)
James     Murray   Son          aged 20 (seems a little old to be Helen's)
George    Murray   Son          aged 8
Isabella   Murray   Daughter   aged 2
Robert     Hardie    Brother-in-law (presumably Helen's brother)
Martha    Hardie    Sister-in-law (possibly Robert's wife?)

In 1861 however, we find Helen as expected in Hawick, but the family are not quite as expected...

Helen      Hardie    Head              aged 46
James     Murray   Stepson          aged 30  (agrees with 1851)
George    Murray   Stepson          aged 18
Isabella   Murray   Stepdaughter  aged 12
Ann        Murray   Stepdaughter  aged 8
Janet      Murray   servant           aged 14
Betsy      Hardie    Sister             aged 28   
Margaret Hardie    Daughter        aged 4 (Betsy's daughter?)
Helln       Hardie    Daughter        aged 2mo (again, Betsy's daughter?)

And going back to 1841 the most likely candidate seems to be the following, again in Hawick:

David     Murray   aged 40
David     Murray   aged 20
William   Murray  aged 15
Andrew  Murray   aged 15
James    Murray   aged 10

So which kids are actually Helen's?  And who was the mother of the rest of them?  And who was Helen's first husband?

To complicate matters, the 1851 census suggests that David Murray was born in Ireland, but the 1841 says he was born in the county.  I am getting to the point where I am not sure how to untangle them all

All help/thoughts/suggestions are welcome

Cheers,
Clare

Hi I_Just,

This is why I love this site!!!  For some reason, looking at the totals never occured to me (which makes me feel a little dumb!).

Anyway, I have checked and the total does indeed omit him, so it appears as I thought.

Thanks for your help

Cheers,
Clare