James Cheyne - putative father of Helen Cheyne

[paddyscar]

Hi Ian:

I think you have two separate James Cheyne signatures.

James Cheyne husband of Christina Simpson and father of Helen is a farm servant and his signature is very different from the other two.

The James Cheyne signature on the wedding cert with Annie Russell and the one on William Russell Cheyne's are close enough to each other to be considered the same (in my opinion, anyway) There are slight variances, but I would chalk them up to light strokes of the pen, rather than differences. If you notice, the 'a' in James is slightly larger than the rest of the letters in the name in both cases, which is a bit of a quirk.

Sorry to disappoint,

Best wishes,
Frances

P.S. I've pasted the 3 signatures into one doc for deciding, so I'll add it to the gallery.
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1728

[LesleyB]

Hi Ian
I agree with Frances. The hand is different in the third example. Even the opening letter "J" is quite different. Looks like the search for the real James Cheyne may be back on...

You have probably covered this area already, but what about the 1891 census? If the James you are searching for stayed in the area, he may still be around then, though he may not have been there as early as 1881.

Incidentally, another question I have asked myself in this story is how and why Christina gave birth in Kintore which would have been a pretty arduous journey from St John's Wells in 1886 and also why Helen was still in Kintore 4 years later. I realise we are in the land of conjecture here.

If I've got the correct Fyvie & Kintore, the distance appears to be about 17miles, so not that far really.

In 1891, Hellen Cheye aged 4 (clearly the same as Helen Cheyne) was living in Kintore as a “boarder” with a family called Ramsay (household of mother, daughter and grandson on census day).

Is there any chance this Ramsay family may be related in some way? Just idle thoughts... I'm sure you'll have covered these angles already.

Best wishes
Lesley

[SarahND]

Hi Lesley,
Christina Simpson's details have been hashed over rather extensively in this long topic: http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12465
I think the correct Christina was finally found as well as the reason she was in Kintore (but it took a few pages to arrive there! )

Cheers,
Sarah

[LesleyB]

Hi Sarah
Oh duh...
I'll go back to sleep.


Best wishes
Lesley