great grandpa came from mars.....

[angel]

Hello

I am begining to think that my great grandpa Peter Menzies was created as I can find him in censuses but not his birth or his death. So he must have been created and then absorbed into the atmosphere at the end of his life.

He is one great big and I have been banging my head of it for years and he is driving me nuts. Born Edinburgh, died Glasgow and in between went to England. Can anybody help please

Heather

[WilmaM]

A few dates may help us along the way

[I know my GGrandparents were born any time betwen 1870 - 1890, and I'm just a young thing ]

[angel]

Hi WilmaM

Born either 1843 or 1847 according to the censuses. Alive in the 1901 census and dead by 15 January 1904 when his son got married. There is no sign of him on scotlandspeople for his borth or his death. Could be on now but need credits and they have updated since I last looked for him

Heather

[AnneM]

Hi

Have you tried looking for his birth under the name Patrick. I've a few in my line who were Peter/Patrick combos and one in my children's line who was born Patrick and always known as Peter. He was fairly recent. In fact born 1857.

Anne

[angel]

Hi Anne

I had not thought of that I wll have to looking to it. The name Peter became a family name and was passed down through the family. But what is even more confusing is that there is no trace of his death either.

Many Thanks
Heather

[sporran]

Hello Heather,


I am not sure that the Peter Menzies who married in 1904 is the same Peter from the 1901 census. There is quite a lot of conflicting information about this family from elsewhere, too much to put in a posting.

The marriage of Agnes in 1916 is definitely yours and she states that both parents are dead, but I can not find either death, so perhaps they went to England again.

Perhaps you would like to e-mail me about what you know about this family and we can compare notes.


Regards,

John

[angel]

Hi John

Thanks for Agneses marriage date I have sent all the info that you requested and look forward to hearing from you.

Heather

[Malcolm]

Hello Angel
I’ve been down this road myself. Did you obtain the information concerning your great grandfather’s “deceased” status from his son’s marriage entry? If this is the case it might help you to know that from my own limited experience, such an entry should not always be taken at face value.
My gg grandfather, Thomas Morris was similarly recorded at his son’s marriage in Dundee in 1885 and I could not find a record of his death either. I later went up to Edinburgh to scan all the records for this elusive character. I think I looked at every Thomas Morris who ever lived, anywhere, at any time, and found nothing. Perhaps like you I made the assumption that he was still involved with his wife at the time of his death. That was a mistake. One of the kind ladies at GROS did some work for me and discovered from census returns that he had returned to the place of his birth near Dunfermline and was living with his mum. This was many years after the time he was shown as dead at the time of his son’s marriage. When he did eventually die, alone in a poorhouse, his wife’s name was not shown on formal death certification, but I knew it was he from his parentage and place of birth.
I have skipped volumes in telling this little tale but I think it may have been simpler in those days to say “deceased”, rather than say, don’t know or care about an estranged father. Who’s to know!
I hope this doesn’t make things more difficult for you but i have discovered that all is not quite what it seems in this game. Is it possible for you to widen your search to known former habitats of your g grandfather where he may have returned before his passing?
Malcolm Morris

[angel]

hello Malcolm

Thanks for your reply. When I first did a death search on SP I looked at the years 1901-1915 as this was the information I had at the time. My grannie was married in 1915 and declared her that both parents were desceased.

My search covered the whole of Scotland and I found noting to match ven looked at BDM and there is nothing there either.

Someone has found that his first wife died 1889 and it was said that she was a widow. He married in 1889 to his 3rd wife and on LDS I can only find a marriage for what might be wife No 2 in 1866 while he was stil married to wife No 1.

So it looks as if he may have been married to more that one woman at the same time.

Heather