First you find her, then you lose her

A distant cousin popped up on WikiTree the other day, so I connected his ancestor, Janet SINTON up to her parents, James SINTON & Margaret WILKIE.
Then looked to see if there was any research outstanding on the family that might be advanced.

Janet had a sister Mary SINTON, aged 37, still living, when father James died in 1855.
But where was she between 1818 and 1855? What happened to her?
Past investigations had found no obvious death, marriage, or census entry in Scotland, and rather too many Mary anyones, preferably born Melrose or Bowden, in the 1851 census in Scotland, let alone of an age, born Scotland, in England.

So this time I tried immigration records - and turned up a Mary SINTON emigrating to New York on the "Yazoo", arriving in July 1838.
Bit of a long shot I thought - until I noticed the family above her on the passenger list.

John & Margaret FAIRBAIRN with family - known to have ended up in Ontario by Dec 1838, dying in Blandford.

Margaret was Mary's older sister.

So the chase has shifted from after 1855, likely Scotland, to finding any evidence of Mary after 1838, likely Canada but possibly USA, and her death after 1855 somewhere.

26th: Ross & Cromarty to Winnipeg

Nearly a year on since Ross & Cromarty rose to prominence in my Border SINTONs (see prior post).
This time the activity was prompted by contact from a researcher of the Canadian family of Margaret McRAE & William ROSS. Her research had the exact birthdate for her Margaret as "mine" and wondered if her Canadian family might be a match.
Looks like it to me, not just from the exact birth date, but also from immigration records showing Margaret was from "Ross", when she followed William to Manitoba in 1906, and two of her sisters being known to also have emigrated (1908).
So the family of James & Margaret (WILKIE) SINTON continues to grow and spread.
The grandson of Margaret's she was doing the research for is now in touch, so more updates will no doubt occur.
When Margaret died (in Vancouver), her obituary apparently mentioned she had family in Scotland and Eastern Canada, all yet to be identified, particularly which others of the family emigrated to Canada and stayed in the East.
The SINTON descendant chart is being updated as research progresses (click on the + signs to expand the chart and view John's descendants as I currently believe them to be).

20th: Swapping ROX for ROC?

I'm growing a theory here. When James, son of Peter and Janet (Donaldson) SINTON died in 1855 his death cert implied that his son John was aged 45 and still alive. Over the years I've only really found one remotely likely candidate, in Ontario, and wasn't very thrilled that he'd be him at all.
Today I stumbled across a slightly too young John in Ross & Cromarty, a shepherd (right occupation for a farmer's son), who occasionally decided to say he was born in Bowden, ROX (well, ancestry says Bomden, ROX, and in one census Bowden, SEL). I've not checked the original to reassure myself that the FINTON, and SENTER names the family has been indexed as are really SINTON, but was intrigued enough by this chap to chase him thru the records to see where it lead.
He died in 1881 and his death cert. does indeed say his parents were a James SINTON and Margaret. However, I cannot turn his mother's maiden name into WILKIE. Nearest interpretation is GILLES, and even that isn't certain.

Anyone out there researching the family of John SINTON and Catherine CROSS of Kiltearn, Ross and Cromarty? Over the years the family were at: Leadgown, Contin Parish; Swordale, Kiltearn Parish; Boath, Alness; Associated surnames so far are ROSS and McKAY, with one daughter (a Rachel, a name significant in the family of James and Margaret) moving to Dores, Inverness; a son John moving to Bonar, Sutherland and the fates of the rest of the family yet to be discovered.