Robert and William Blain, 1851 census

[jennyblain]

A small success today, on a long-standing puzzle. I had earlier searched all over the place to find what happened to my great-grandfather William Blain, and his siblings. They were in the 1841 census in Stranraer, then - nothing until 1861 in Greenock. Some other forum members looked too!

Today I was on Ancestry, looking for something else, and thought to try 'Robert Blain' and 'Robert Blane' there - and lo and behold, there they were - in Greenock exactly where I'd expected, Robert and William, ages 17 and 12, born in Inch parish, Wigtownshire, nephews in the household of Hellen Blane from Stoneykirk who was now keeping a lodging house (I think she's Helen Cracken, widow of their elder brother John Maxwell Blain), and both boilermakers which is again expected.

One hopes that William, at 12, was an apprentice...

So, I now have more information about that family, including the birth of a son James to John Blain and Helen Cracken - the birth alas seems to be unregistered.

And a puzzle - wee James is apparently born in 1845 in 'Nickmoudse, Wigton'. OK, Wigtownshire, but what might Nickmoudse be? The Ancestry transcriber had a field day producing 'Stony Hrik' and 'Stoneykick'., but at least I knew what that was...

(I checked SP again to confirm that the index items were really missing, and have emailed them to let them know. If they send me the scan maybe I'll decipher it!)

Jenny

[SarahND]

Congrats on your progress, Jenny!

OK, Wigtownshire, but what might Nickmoudse be?

How about Kirkmaiden? Was just scanning the names of parishes and squinting, trying to find one with the same general shape

Cheers,
Sarah

[jennyblain]

I'm speculating that it will indeed be Kirkmaiden - it has the same overall shape of word - but will have to see the scan to be sure

Jenny

[jennyblain]

Aargh! I've had an email back from SP which says that they can't help, that I'll have to contact GROS directly and that they don't ever help with searches... (which I wasn't asking them to do, but letting them know there was an item not indexed.)

How different from the last time when I reported a missing index item (in the SL burial records) when I got a personal reply back and a 'thank you', credits refunded and such like!

Jenny
Not happy, given that I must have spent a considerable number of credits earlier on looking for an item that was not indexed!

[joette]

I'd e-mail them back & say you are not asking for help with a search just that they have a problem with misindexing- a problem you were not aware of until after you had spent considerable credits in your search.
They must have it if Ancestry does & as they do the indexing over to them.

[jennyblain]

Thanks - I'll try! I've sent a message to GROS..
Jenny

[jennyblain]

Update and a little more 'success' - I've had a lovely email today in response to my GROS message, thanking me, refunding 10 credits and sending me the scan..

And - the place of wee James's birth is most certainly 'Kirkmaiden'.
And the name looks to me to be spelled either 'Blaine' or 'Bleine'.

The reason it wasn't picked up be earlier searches may be that it had been indexed as 'Bloom'... This has been reported by the person who emailed me today, and we'll hope it will be fixed for other people's benefit.

(It doesn't look anything like 'Bloom' - but then Ancestry's transcriptions were out on several counts! In fairness, though, I should add that there are several corrections in the entries, 'Galloway' scored out and 'Wigtoun' written in above, and that it does really help to know the placenames to get 'Stoneykirk' right.)

So, I'm happy again
Jenny