Keep on trying to find your " lost sheep"

[puffin]

Under another heading (Scottish People) in the forum last week I posted success in finding William (Duncan) Lyon, born 1869, a " lost sheep" on my tree.

For several years I had just found him on 1871 ( age 1) and 1881 ( age 11) census, but then he dissappeared off the Scottish record.

I had not found his birth record as I did not know who was his mother. His father is my great grandfather.

In 1871 he was being looked after by his father and paternal grandparents at age 1, and then ten years later was still with his paternal grandparents. His father by 1881 was married with a growing family.

I had been told by a cousin of my late father that he was illegitimate and had gone to America. My great grandfather went on to get married and have five children , the youngest of whom is my grandfather.

Well........ this William Lyon has been lost to me for several years, now....thanks now go to ancestry.com for their free offer this month (to the end of November) to the immigration records. Amongst many candidates I found him travelling back to America in February 1901 some years after he had emigrated. He was returning to Portland Maine with his week old bride Jessie Chalmers. I then found his marriage cert. on scotlandspeople in 1901 with his Canadian address.

I posted this information on a message board and within an hour or two was referred to websites where books on local Canadian Saskatchewan history were accessible online...........there he was , a homesteader and pioneer farmer , a specialist in Aberdeen Angus cattle, Suffolk Sheep, Yorkshire swine, a Church Elder and a pillar of the local community and so on, ..... plenty of written history and also photographs of him and his family for subsequent years through the early twentieth century.

And so I have found some 75+ new Canadian cousins.

For SUCCESS you have to be patient and persistent.

I am now waiting to see if I get a reply to a letter I have written to one of William's grandchildren who contributed in the mid 1990's to the last book posted online in the Canadian record of Wolseley and Moffat, Saskatchewan.

Watch this space for more SUCCESS.

From a very chuffin

Puffin

ps I have just one more " lost sheep" on my tree, one William Walker Lyon born (St. Fergus) 1844 and married to Elizabeth Ross ( 1862) Tyrie Aberdour) ......where did he go after 1863/4... did he die from cholera unrecorded or did he emigrate for a gold rush somewhere? The hunt will continue.

[Liz Turner]

Hi Puffin

Great news that you've found such an elusive ancestor - it gives us all hope!
Lends weight to the old saying that everything comes to she who waits .......

Liz

[AndrewP]

ps I have just one more " lost sheep" on my tree, one William Walker Lyon born (St. Fergus) 1844 and married to Elizabeth Ross ( 1862) Tyrie Aberdour) ......where did he go after 1863/4... did he die from cholera unrecorded or did he emigrate for a gold rush somewhere? The hunt will continue.

Hi Puffin,

According to the online IGI, their marriage was 24-Oct-1863.

Another possibility to consider. On her marriage certificate, she was a domestic servant. In 1865, Elizabeth Ross, a domestic servant gave birth to an illegitimate son, William, in Aberdour, Aberdeenshire (father = William Beddie). The question is, is this the same Elizabeth Ross, or not?

All the best,

AndrewP

[puffin]

Thanks for your contributions, for William Walker Lyon it is actually a little worse than so far recorded on this forum.

There is a birth registered for a Mary Ann Mcritchie Ross born to Elizabeth Ross ( domestic servant) in 1864 just a few months after her marriage to William Walker Lyon ( blacksmith) in 1863. On the birth certificate it is recorded that Elizabeth's husband William Lyon is not the father of the child registered.

That by itself is rather an unusual declaration to find on a birth certificate. And then the rub..... looking at the marriage certificate of William Walker Lyon to Elizabeth Ross, who is one of the witnesses? .... answer....one James McRitchie.

So why did William marry Elizabeth when she was already a few months pregnant. Did she tell William he was the father? If so why when the child was born was that denied? Or did she not know then that she was pregnant but when the child was born she knew the father could not have been her husband William.

After this mid 1860's era I have been totally unable to find William Walker Lyon, Elizabeth Lyon ( m.s. Ross) or Mary-Ann McRitche Ross. All three are " lost sheep" but given their mixed relationships I am not wholly surprised that I cannot find any of them on the continuing Scottish record.

The William Beddie birth just adds more intrigue if it is the same Elizabeth Ross. If so why is she still calling herself on the certifcate Elizabeth Ross when she is married to William Lyon. Has her marriage to William been dissolved so quickly, if so how would that formally occur for the record?

I wonder what the church records say if these persons were being reprimanded and put on the "naughty" stool in the local church?

Puffin

ps on the IGI there is an incorrect spelling entry for William Walker Lyon's birth with surname given as "Layon" instead of "Lyon"

[mallog]

Well done with William (Duncan) Lyon. You must be feeling on top of the world to get all that information. I had some success with a brick wall on Ancestry this month too. It's a great feeling.

[puffin]

Have now received email contact from the William (Duncan) Lyon branch of the tree, so contact is made and the reports forthcoming indicate several members of the family have an interest in family history. The family is generally spread around western Canada and into the USA.
Some scanned copies of old photos have also been emailed so there is much new information to absorb.

Puffin