it's confused I am

Capn Pugwash · Post by **Capn Pugwash** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:45 pm

My Great Grandmother, Jane Moody M.S Douglas was born in Crossford, Fife in 1849. Her SRI death entry shows her parents as David Douglas, a gardener and Helen M.S. Steadman. They were married 30 Aug 1834, and David is described as gardener from parish of Carriden.
Helen Steadman's birth entry 08 Jul 1810 OPR shows her parents as Andrew Steedman, weaver in Dunfermline and Helen Henderson. Married 8 May 1798 OPR. I am pretty sure that the Andrew in question was born 20 Oct 1775 to Robert Steedman, weaver and his wife Ann Ker, more of whom later. They also seem to have had an earlier son also Andrew, presumably died young.

David Douglas' death entry in 1883 SRI shows his father to be Robert Douglas, a tailor, and his mother Jane M.S. Steedman. There is a birth entry for David Douglas on 5 Jun 1810 OPR in Aberlady. Parents were Robert Douglas, a tailor, and Jean Steadman (spelled with no 't'). Their marriage entry 28 April 1807 in Edinburgh describes Robert as a tailor in Musselburgh, and Jean as daughter of Andrew Steedman (deceased) a weaver in Dunfermline.

I thought I was cracking it when I found census entries for David & Jean Douglas in Aberlady in 1841, and for Jean in 1851. Now the rub. Jean's death entry 28 Feb 1857 SRI Aberlady shows her parents as Robert Steedman, weaver (NOT Andrew), and Ann Kerr - who are already the parents of Andrew Steedman, David's father in law.

I have searched for another Andrew Steedman, via Scotland'sPeople, Genes Reunited, Ancestry and LDS, but I keep being told that Jean Steedman was the daughter of Robert and Ann.

I'm not sure what to do next and would be grateful for any suggestions.

Oh, and Happy Easter!!

Pugwash

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:17 pm

Hi Pugwash

Jean's death entry 28 Feb 1857 SRI Aberlady shows her parents as Robert Steedman, weaver (NOT Andrew), and Ann Kerr - who are already the parents of Andrew Steedman, David's father in law.

What age is she? Who was the death informant? It may well be that they were not too sure of who was who. The parents'names given at the time of death very much depend on what the informant knew. (or didn't know!) But then I've also a child attributed to the wrong brother in an OPR, so anything is possible...especially if both were in the same line of work.

I'm not convinced I've quite got my head round your folk yet...is there any chance we have cousin marrying cousin here or similar or have I lost the plot completely? (as I said, anything is possible!!

)

Not sure I'm following this bit:

thought I was cracking it when I found census entries for David & Jean Douglas in Aberlady in 1841

What ages are they here? Are they a couple or father & daughter or son & mother? I thought Jean was married to Robert?(told you I was losing it....!)

Best wishes
Lesley

Capn Pugwash · Post by **Capn Pugwash** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:12 pm

Hi Lesley,

Thanks for replying to my epistle. I was aware when I was writing it there there was a danger of confusing others as well. Not helped I might say by putting a wrong name - the census entry I found for 1841 was for Robert (not David) Douglas and Jean Douglas (Steedman) in Aberlady. Sorry about that! They were aged 49 and 50 respectively at that time, according to the census.

To answer your question, Jean Douglas was 79 when she died in 1857. The informant was David Douglas, her son. I don't know why I didn't consider the possibility of cousins marrying (probably because I was looking for Jane's father to be an Andrew (as on marriage entry), not a Robert. This leaves a large discrepancy though with the 1841 census entry, which has her age as 50. She was, however, aged as 66 in the 1851 census. What is this age thing with ladies?

Anyway, I hope I have not cofused you further, and thanks again for your help.

Best wishes,

Pugwash

killearnan · Post by **killearnan** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:33 pm

Capn Pugwash wrote: This leaves a large discrepancy though with the 1841 census entry, which has her age as 50. She was, however, aged as 66 in the 1851 census. What is this age thing with ladies?

It might not be that large a discrepancy. Two reasons:
1) We don't know who the informant on the census was. Not everyone in a household is going to be completely accurate every time on these things....

2) The 1841 census rounded adult ages down to the nearest number ending in 0 or 5. So 50 in 1841 actually equals 50 to 54.

Depending on when the census was in the year and when her birthday fell and who the informant was, combined with the rounding in 1841.....that's not that much to account for.

I'm not going to re-type what I wrote in another thread but it might be worth reading for some fun examples of having to work around records with less than stellar informants.