Under my nose

Solved one of my long standing mysteries today.
Joan who shares an interest in my FAIRBAIRN family of Walter and Grace (ARMSTRONG) FAIRBAIRN of Tinnishall, Canonbie, popped out of the woodwork again to share an 1891 letter from Grace to her nephew, John LITTLE.
She had mentioned it a year or so ago, and back then my efforts at solving the mystery of what happened to Walter and Grace's son William had continued as a brick wall.

The letter explicitly mentioned where Grace's family were on 6th March 1891, including William, whom I had not found beyond the 1851 census when he was at home with Walter and Grace as William FAIRBAIRN, 5, son, born Canonbie.
So he had survived.

How hard can it be to find a William FAIRBAIRN, florist in Hampshire in the 1891 census of 4 April when his mother had mentioned him on the 6th of March? But no, still no sightings 1861 to 1911, Scotland or England.

The answer was right under my nose all along of course.

As his birth had preceded Walter and Grace's marriage by a couple of years, I went looking for births of William's in Canonbie to mother Grace ARMSTRONG.
Two presented themselves in the right timeframes.
One was with Andrew DAVIDSON, but that family included children back to when Grace would have been only 12.
The other was a William born 1845 to William WHITE and Grace ARMSTRONG, no other children obvious.

Off to ScotlandsPeople to see what the baptism actually said.
Only to find that they showed that I'd already viewed the record!
Perhaps I'd gotten sidetracked back whenever, and simply forgotten I'd checked that, or possibly checked and discarded but not noted anything in my records?
Nope.
All was explained when the page was re-examined.
The page was headed 1855.
Three baptisms with Grace as the mother were all on the same page, the first WHITE, William born Jun 1845, baptized Mar 1845, to William WHITE and Grace, the next two, both FAIRBAIRN, Agnes and Margaret to Walter FAIRBAIRN and Grace.
I'd only ever looked at the FAIRBAIRN entries I was initially interested in and not looked up the page!

Yes, now easily viewed in 1871 (gardener at Capenoch, Dumfries), 1881 (gardener at Mortlake, Surrey with wife Helen), and 1891 there he was in Havant, Hants as a florist, all as William WHITE.

Still missing in action in 1861.

Can my rellies count?

Poor Jane Ellen/Eleanor/Ellise MAIN previously BURT nee RICHARDSON.
She seems to have had what looks like a chequered past, and when it came time to fill in the 1911 census had to think rather hard how to answer the questions:

• completed years of present marriage
• number of children born alive to present marriage.

Let's see, shall I put 3 or 4 years?
We'll try 3, but woops, I'm going to declare all four of the children living with me, so maybe I'd better put 4? But that's not really right, better cross that out and put 3 again.
As to the children, let's start with three, they're the ones that Thomas claims as his, so that should be alright? No, I'm going to say 4.

At least her life wasn't further complicated in this census with the presence of her son Henry RICHARDSON, who first appears as grandchild of Alexander & Isabella (ARMSTRONG) RICHARDSON in the 1891 census, aged 1.
He next appears in the 1901 census as Henry BURT aged 11, son of Jane E BURT, widow, along with his 2 year old sister Bella, and Jane's sister Bella (who enabled me to identify this family).
Jane Eleanor RICHARDSON was found marrying James BURT in 1894, but seems to have lost him by 1901.
I was lucky to find her in 1911.  Thankfully daughter Bella kept her original name, so appeared with Thomas and Jane E MAIN as Bella BURT, step daughter of Thomas.

With these ages, and the  3 or 4 years of marriage supposedly completed Jane's marriage to Thomas was easily enough found in 1908, but the birth of Jane Ellen Burt MAIN was unlikely to have been registered as MAIN. Sure enough, she had been indexed as BURT, but back in 1906.

And the questions sound so simple on the surface.

Still haven't found many of Jane's siblings in 1901 or 1911.
Jane's entry on WorldConnect will be expanded next upload.

Canonbie FAIRBAIRNs

Certainly pays to advertise (ie publish trees online).
A potential newfound cousin popped out of the woodwork this week asking about Walter FAIRBAIRN and Grace ARMSTRONG.
She had inherited some family letters and was trying to figure out who was related to whom, knowing only that one or other of them was an uncle or aunt to her great grandparents.
I'm still awaiting a response to my information, but in the meantime have done a bit more digging on the family and pinned down another twig having found what looks like Walter and Grace's granddaughter Grace MURRAY in Manitoba.
Updates will added to the WorldConnect db LornaHenderson once proof found that it's the right Grace.

28th: John Armstrong = Margaret Fairbairn

The above is one of the more curious baptism entries I've seen.
In my FAIRBAIRN One Name Study digging, I happened to notice an indexed entry for a John Armstrong FAIRBAIRN born or baptised in Dumfries 11 Feb 1849, to Walter FAIRBAIRN and Grace ARMSTRONG, and thought, ohhhh, one I didn't have in their family.
Before succumbing in paying SctPeople for it, I had a quick look at my database and was a bit puzzled as the dates just didn't work.
Walter and Grace married May 1848, 1st child after their marriage that I had was Agnes, born 3 Feb 1850, or so a baptism entry on a page headed 1855 births stated.
Before their marriage were the first Margaret, aged 3 in the 1851 census, and a William aged 5 in the same census.
So, whether John Armstrong FAIRBAIRN was born, or baptised in 1849 he was going to be a tight fit.
Reading the entry raised even more questions.
Why would a daughter be named "John Armstrong" (quotes from the entry itself)?
Anyway, the dates indicated that this has to be the birth/baptism entry for the first Margaret, who died aged 4.

This activity led to several other updates on their extended family with the 1911 census now more readily available, and a few birth/marriage/death date gaps filled.

Jan 20, 2008: Another Southdean SINTON !!

I'd often looked at the gaps between the known children of Peter SINTON and Janet DONALDSON and wondered if any more children would be found. The answer today is YES. A 5th cousin in Ayr has emailed to say he's a descendant from their dtr Isabella, who married Richard ROBSON, all previously unknown to me. So I spent a hot summer's day digging. The SINTON descendant chart has considerably more twigs on it now, and sometime soon I'll have to do a WorldConnect database update.
If anyone can claim or shed any light on, a Thomas R & Adam ARMSTRONG, or Mary and John N BUCKHOLM, all born Jedburgh around 1850-1860ish, and all supposedly grandchildren of Richard and Isabella's, I'd love to know what happened to them and whose children they are. So far they've eluded me beyond the 1871 census.

Ditch hopping or is it pond swimming?

Yet more HENDERSON/McGREGOR findings, mostly on the JACK branch. No wonder they were a bit elusive in the USA census returns, ditch hopping seems to be the norm as a couple of families returned to Scotland, then back to the States. This included the elusive Robert JACK, who pops up in the Royal Navy, marrying back in Edinburgh in 1916, to a Scottish lass who had emigrated to the States back in 1910. They returned (to New York in 1920 thus missing the census that year) and show up in Florida in 1930 (which is where Linda found them and put me onto this trail).

Loved the will of one John SCOTT, bachelor of Piperdeanregg, Nicholforest. Wonder how his niece Barbara LITTLE and Rebecca ARMSTRONG, relationship unstated, got on sharing the cottage &  garden? One got the front room and East half of the garden, the other the back room and the West half of the garden.