Help - where did Helen appear from?? .....

[Ted]

Hi Trish

Thanks for the leads I'll get onto these. I've never searched in non CoS so it will be a new challenge - but will hopefully break down some of my walls around this family.

Thanks again.

Ted

[Ted]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for the clues - your advice is always appreciated.

Much obliged.

Ted

[trish1]

Hello Ted - I'm not getting far with the immigration of son James - I did find this one & wondered if the "born in France" is why the family is difficult to find - but probably hopes rather than facts
Alexander Allan 44 Baker born France & wife Isabella 44 born Aberdeen
Two children Anne James - aged 13 & 9 - arrived 1856 May on the "Robert Small"
Alexanders parents - Alexander and Margt both dead - stepson (perhaps Isabella's son) Wm Halekett in Sydney

I also found this one heading to Canada - via US - you may have already discounted it
James Allan aged 21 journeyman from Britain going to Canada
From Glasgow - on board the SS Edinburgh arrived 10 July 1858
Perhaps that James on the 1861 Canadian Cenus age 25 single born Scotland living in Enniskillen Lambton Canada West
Possible in 1871 working as a labourer - living with other Allan families in Ontario - there was another possible in Canada except he had a 16 year old son - guess that is possible - but not the immigrant I found

If you want to search the Oz records further - Ancestry now covers most states - if you don't have access to ancestry let me know & I'll post some links to the various state archives - most have indexes online - NSW has some images. They keep revamping their websites which makes my favorites well out of date

Trish

[Ted]

Hi Trish

You are a star - thanks for your interest and efforts on this. I think I can probably discount Alexander the Baker and his wife Isbella as parents of my James Allan (with Jane Aitken) as their ages wouldn't make them eligible. So far I haven't found any siblings for either of them and no clues where to look.

I looked through the St Marys Epilscopal Church Records for Inverurie - which you kindly provided a link to. I checked all 124 pages containing baptisms / marriages / burials and church members from 1842 - 1929. There is not a single Allan name anywhere in those records - which I think makes it reasonable to conclude that the family were not Episcopalians.

The child George Melvin Allan was baptised in the Free Church in 1843 - the other 6 childen in the family were baptised in the Estblished Church - which is a bit of a puzzle in itself.

I do have access to Ancestry and have checked out the James Allans you mention in Canada, but can discount them as mine. I tried some time ago to search the records for Australia but found them very difficult to navigate through and very sparse information provided. However that was a few years ago and if there is now more data available I'll revisit searches there.

I don't have an LDS family history centre near me but my cousin in the USA does and she is going to check records there to see if we can get further clues on the family from that route.

Regards

Ted

[AndrewP]

The child George Melvin Allan was baptised in the Free Church in 1843 - the other 6 childen in the family were baptised in the Estblished Church - which is a bit of a puzzle in itself.

The child George Melvin Allan was baptised in the Free Church in 1843 - the other 6 children in the family were baptised in the Established Church - which is a bit of a puzzle in itself.

Hi Ted,

An 1843 shift to the Free Church where earlier family events were in the (Established) Church of Scotland can probably be explained by Scottish Church history of that time. In 1843, there was a split in the Church of Scotland, "the Disruption", where some stayed with the Church of Scotland and others went over to the Free Church of Scotland. See the web links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruption_of_1843

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... meline.png

All the best,

AndrewP

[Ted]

Hi Andrew

Thanks - that may explain some of it - if this George is one of mine & baptised in the Free Church in 1843 it is still a wee bit strange - the 3 children born before him were all baptised in the Established Church in 1836 / 38 / 41 and so were the other 3 born after him in 1846 / 49 / 52.

Maybe mum & dad fancied a change of church then changed back again

Regards

Ted

[trish1]

Hi Trish

I tried some time ago to search the records for Australia but found them very difficult to navigate through and very sparse information provided. However that was a few years ago and if there is now more data available I'll revisit searches there.

The useful information on Australian immigrants is only available for "assisted" immigrants or convicts. The folks who paid their own way are usually only recorded by name (sometimes not even that - 50 in steerage! & servants were often recorded as "servant of Mr & Mrs Brown"). If, however they were sponsered by the government or private organisations they were called assisted immigrants and there is usually useful information. All information is available online ancestry for NSW - but for Qld Vic & Tasmania it is mainly indexes. The details are usually available offline - usually at state archives of libraries. After about 1920 the commonwealth took over the immigration issues so the national archives have details for the later immigrants (especially post WWII).

The other place to consider is New Zealand. I don't know much about the records there - but if you check the NZ threads or raise a query in that section, there are some knowledgeable NZ folks around.

Sometimes the state archives are easier to search/browse than ancestry - these are the three I use the most

NSW - http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
Qld - http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Research ... fault.aspx
Vic - http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-23

They all have access to wills indexes - which may/may not be helpful

Trish

[JustJean]

Hi Ted

I may be on to something for you....I've been picking away at this family for a few days now trying to go in any direction that would add progress to your own. They are a difficult lot! Good news is that I think I may have solved wee Helen's mystery. There is a death of a Helen McQueen in Inverurie indexed as:
1863 MCQUEEN HELEN MCQUEEN F 4 INVERURIE /ABERDEEN 204/00 0017 .
I had run a search for all *len any last name females dying between 1861 and 1871 and born a year either side of 1859 in Aberdeenshire. THere were only 2 pages worth and of those only 3 recorded in Inverurie. So I viewed the 3 and found an interesting name as the informant on the death of wee Helen McQueen who was illegitimate.... James Allan, occupier. I strongly suspect this could be your missing James...and if so he was possibly the rightful father as you had already thought possible. Unfortunately the BC for wee Helen does not point any fingers and the mother was informant.

I've had a further look to see if I could isolate the mother in 1861 since we think Helen was lodged with the Allan family. There are a few McQueens in town but so far have not found what positively looks like the mother. Maddeningly enough.....have not had another siting of James.

Best wishes
Jean

[trish1]

Hi Jean - great detective work - there were the two babes with mothers only mentioned by Annette - and Helen McQueen was one - wonder if the mother died? (don't see a death in Aberdeen, but some elsewhere)

Trish

[Ted]

Hi Jean and Trish

I'm truly sorry that I have not responded to your posts before now. By way of pathetic excuse and I've just noticed that I wasn't actually logged in and probably have't been for ages- must have cleaned up cookies sometime. Just this minute spotted the pm Trish sent me a few weeks ago to bring my attention to Jean's post.

Jean this may well be the breakthrough I have been seeking for years. I thought I had searched and discounted every Helen born in Scotland up to 3 years before the 1861census. I'll have to go back over my records - but for now I don't think I had this Helen. This James Allan looks like a good contender for my pimpernel. This gives me something to re- visit my research into this difficult family.

Many thanks indeed to you both for your efforts - I truly appreciate it. If I can return the favour please ask.

Best wishes

Ted