help with tracing Mum

[Omnipeta]

I’m in a bit of a dilemma trying to find the birthplace of my mother Anne Scobbie (maiden name Hickey) her father was Thomas Hickey, farmer or farmers labourer, his wife died young and left him with 8 children, Patrick, Charles, Thomas, Anne, Kathleen, Bridget, Mary, Margaret. I’ve been told the boys were brought up by ‘the brothers’ and the girls by ‘the sisters’ (nuns)
Mum and family spent most of their life in Camelon, near Falkirk, Scotland, but I’ve been told they were born in Ireland, Donegal or Galway have been mentioned?
I would appreciate it if you could advise me the best way to trace my Mum’s family.
Sincerely and fraternally, John Scobbie.

[WilmaM]

Hi John,

Scobbie is quite a familiar name around the Falkirk area - I know of a few families.

You don't mention any dates in your question - if it is too recent then we won't be able to help you very much, see: http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6601

However if Thomas Hickey's wife died young in Scotland, then her death might be available on Scotlands People.
Do you know her name, or where [and around when] the couple married?

Were any of the family alive in 1901, you could check the census returns or If you think they were still in Ireland in 1911 a few counties census returns have been published at : http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

Give a few more details - if they fall within the guidelines- and we'll see if we can point you in the right direction - though I should warn you that Irish genealogy is difficult.

[JustJean]

Thomas Hickey is not too common of a name in Scotland. Matter of fact a search for deaths from 1855 righ up to 2006 only returns 21 choices. There is one who died in Falkirk in 1954 indexed on SP like so:

1954 HICKEY THOMAS M 68 FALKIRK /STIRLING 479/00 0359

A peek at the record confirms he was a widower at the time of his death and he was a labourer. A son named Patrick was the informant. Since all of this could fit well with the info you have provided in your query I thought it might be well worth the effort to search for the death of his reported wife....Mary Sweeney. Soooo.....off I went for round two and found not a Mary but a Margaret!

1932 HICKEY MARGARET SWEENEY F 49 FALKIRK /STIRLING 479/00 0313

Who happens to have died of tuberculosis so still could well fit with your family story. In order to confirm Margaret is the grandmother you seek a search for deaths in the modern indexes of surname HICKEY and mother's maiden name SWEENEY will show if there is match on any of the known siblings to your mum. Soooo...off I went for round three and found four deaths in the death indexes with given names of Bridget, Patrick, Thomas, and Catherine in or within range of Falkirk. Not sure if they might all be yours but I'm really betting now that we at least have the correct set of grandparents for you!

You can purchase and download the images from www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk of the deaths of Margaret and Thomas in Falkirk and learn from those documents their respective parent's names.

Best wishes
Jean

[JustJean]

I'm assuming you have the date of birth of your mum so you'd be able to confirm if you have a correct BC for her. If you use a wide search in the modern indexes on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk of say the following parameters:

Surname: HICKEY
Forename: leave blank
Sex: Female
Year From: 1900
Year To: 1932
District: FALKIRK

You'll be able to view a list of births and one of them has the right given name. From the indexing you'll only be able to view the birth year but if this info matches what you know of your mum then I'd be likely tempted to place an order for the extract of the record. This will provide you with the exact date of birth in order to make a final decision if we're tracking the right family here. Of course if you or anyone you know has access to the Scottish BMD records in Edinburgh or Glasgow then you can view the record there in person and make the same determination.

Best wishes
Jean

[Omnipeta]

Thank you, so much Jean and Wilma, looks like I'll have to join Scotlands People
The Sweeney name was mentioned in our family, but always with a bit of a whisper?
Sinere and fraternal regards, John.

PS my relations have mentioned Gordon Street, Camelon as possible birth place?

PPs I've joinned Scotlands People, purchased what I believe to be my mum's BC, fingers crossed.

[Omnipeta]

Joined SP, mother's birth certificate showed she was born in Gordon St, Camelon, Nr Falkirk. <date after 1908>
Showed her father, Thomas Hickey (My grandad) as a furnaceman.
Not sure what to do now?
Regards John.

<John- I've edited your post as the date of birth is after our cut off date of 1908. Please see Essential Reading at http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6601 for more info. LesleyB.>

[LesleyB]

Hi John

As you have the names of your mothers' parents now, the next step backwards would be to look for their marriage, if you think it happened in Scotland. If her parents were married, the date of marriage should be given on the birth entry. The marriage entry, if the marriage happened in Scotland, should give both sets of their parents, and take you back another generation.

We can help you trace the generations backwards, but I'm afraid we cannot help you trace forwards in time to living people. To trace forwards you would really need to spend at least a day in New Register House/The Scotlands People Centre in Edinburgh.

Best wishes
Lesley

[JustJean]

Hi John

That is fantastic news! So the extract paid off for you and now you know this is the correct family. From my previous posts you have the information to search and download from www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk the death records of your grandparents Thomas and Margaret...

1954 HICKEY THOMAS M 68 FALKIRK /STIRLING 479/00 0359
1932 HICKEY MARGARET SWEENEY F 49 FALKIRK /STIRLING 479/00 0313

Since both of their deaths occured more than 50 yeras ago the information is open to the public online and you can simply download the images. No need to take the more expensive route of purchasing the extract like you did for your Mum's birth. I've seen their DC's and will tell you that they do give parents names on both of them.

Now for the interesting twist. THere is only one marriage between a Thomas Hickey and anyone named Sweeney and that was in 1911 to an Agnes! It's indexed on sp like this:

1911 HICKEY THOMAS SWEENEY AGNES FALKIRK /STIRLING 479/00 0097

Seems that we're now dealing with 3 variable given names....Agnes, Margaret, and Mary. Are they all the same person???

The parents names between the DC and the MC match and both of her parents were dec'd at the time of her marriage on 3rd June 1911 in Falkirk. Is this the same wedding date and info that is listed by her parents on the birth certificate of your mum?? If it is then they may all be the same person.

Once you clarify this perhaps we can find Thomas or Agnes/Margaret/Mary on the 1901 or earlier census.

Best wishes
Jean

[trish58]

Hi

Don't mean to hi-jack your post, but re- Mary, Agnes, Margaret, I have one just the same this week with one of my rellies,. all three names appear on different census papers, I asked the same question are they the same person, answer was yes.

Trish