Oliphant Johnston

[Dachaidh]

My G G Grandfather Oliphant Johnston was drowned 31st Aug 1874 in the River Tay, He fell overboard a steamer. I cannot find any death cert. for him. I am not sure if this is because they never found his body?

I only know what happened to him after finding my G G Grandmothers second marrage cert, On this was written about her first husband death. He lived all his life in Newburgh, Fife.

I have tried to find newpaper archive but have come up with nothing. Maybe this would not have been reported in the newspaper ?

Has anybody any idea that may help.

Margaret

[LesleyB]

Hi Margaret
I had a look in the Scotsman archive at http://archive.scotsman.com/ but I'm not seeing anything obvious so far. The Scotsman did report news from other places, not just Edinburgh, so it is always worth a try.

Any of the local papers may have reported the incident. See:
http://www.genuki.org.uk:8080/big/sct/F ... Newspapers
- but none of these are available online.
added later: Cupar is the nearest library - they may be able to help.

Best wishes
Lesley

[AndrewP]

Hi Margaret,

I've had a good rake around ScotlandsPeople using many and various wildcards in the searches, and I see no sign of him. There are a few Johns(t)on(e) deaths with Oliphant as a first or middle name, including a couple in Newburgh, but no sign of this one.

If he is there he is either missing from the index, or is so badly mis-spelled that even the wildcard searches are not finding him.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Dachaidh]

Hi Lesley

Thanks for your reply.
I have tried the Scotsman myself but could not find anything. I think I paid £7.00 for 24hrs. I will try the web site you gave me, will let you know if I have any luck.

Thanks

Margaret

[Dachaidh]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for looking, I have tried everything but as I said I only know his death date due to my G G Grandmother getting married again. Do you know if his body was never found, would he have a death cert.?

Margaret

[LesleyB]

Hi Margaret
Just a thought, there is also a small museum in Newburgh - not sure if they would know of anything to help you, but might be worth contacting.
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/museum_g ... 00256.html
http://www.scotland247.co.uk/laing-museum2.htm
ane a wee bit about Newburgh, including a photo of the museum:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/n ... index.html
Best wishes
Lesley

[joette]

Just an idea but if no body was found wouldn't they have to wait seven? years to obtain a presumption of death?
Have you tried looking at these later dates?I am not sure when/if a Death Certificate would be issued but a little niggle at the back of my mind says
that at least several years would need to elapse in case he turned up.

[Dachaidh]

Hi Joette

I have just tried SP for any date on a death for Oliphant Johnston also tried it as a wild card but I am still coming up with nothing. I know that today you have to wait 7 years but not sure if after 7 years they issue a death certificate or some other document. Would that document be reg. with SP as a death certificate?

I think my best bet is to try and find out if they were any report in the local newspaper at the time. If they were this should tell me if the body was found or not.

Margaret

[joette]

I am stumped too.It always amazes me that the more unusual names where you would expect searching to be easier often throws up so many more difficulties eg mishearing/misspelling of the name in official documents than the more common James or Alexander.
Might be one for a trip to NRH & lots of slogging through the indexes.

[CarBee]

Hi Margaret. Oliphant Johnston is also my G.G grandfather! I too knew he had died by drowning in the Tay. My link to him is that his son Peter Johnston, is my grandmothers father. He was born in Newburgh, married Agnes Anderson, moved to Burntisland, Dalmaney and finally Harthill, where my grandmother, Margaret Johnston was born.