Margaret Fraser/Grace Caven - Dumfries.....

[Ruth]

Hi,

I have a bit of a brick wall when it comes to tracing back from my G-G-Grandmother Margaret Fraser. This is the information I have on her:

Birth entries for 7 children to John Bedford
Anna Caroline (1858), Fraser (1860), John William [my G-Gf] (1865), Robinson (1867), Donald Lee (1869), Godfrey Newton (1872), Archibald (1874)
All of these children are illegitimate.
On the entry for Archibald it has Margaret as "daughter of a soldier", on the others both she and John Bedford are woolen weavers.

1891 census - Dumfries
John Bedford, Head, M, 65, Woolen Pattern Weaver, England
Margaret, Wife, M, 57, Kircudbrightshire Kirkpatrick
Robson, Son, U, 23, Power Loom Turner, Dumfries
Donald, Son, U, 21, Woolen Finisher, Dumfries
Godfrey, Son, U, 19, Apprentice Finisher, Dumfries
Archibald, Son, U, 17, Apprentice Engineer, Dumfries

1908 death entry
Margaret Bedford (widow of John Bedford, Weaver in Tweed Mill)
Age: 70 years
Father: John Fraser, Army Sergeant (deceased)
Mother: Grace Fraser m.s. Caven (deceased)
Informant: James McMillan, son-in-law

My dilemma is that I cannot find any evidence of a Margaret Fraser born to those parents (searched 1825-1845) in the parish records on SP. Or a record of a marriage between John Fraser and Grace Caven (or any likely combination of names). As far as I can tell Margaret and John Bedford never married so I can't verify the information in the death entry with that given at the marriage. It figured it was possible that Margaret's son-in-law gave incorrect information about Margaret's parents.

To confuse things further, however, in the 1851 census on the DumGal council site for household 18/15, 1 Mill Street Dumfries, you get these people (plus 4 lodgers):

MILLAR , Catherine - head - married - 56 - born Ireland
CAVEN , Grace - daughter of CM - unmarried - WEAVER woollen - 21 - born Kirkpatrick Kbt
FRASER , Margaret - daughter of CM - unmarried - WEAVER woollen - 17 - born Kirkpatrick Kbt
BOTTOMLEY , Margaret - g-daughter of CM - 5 months - born Dumfries Dms

On an earlier post in this forum (to find search under BOTTOMLEY) it appears that Margaret Bottomley is d/o Grace Caven to a William Bottomley. I'm trying to work out if this might be my Margaret Fraser and what the connections between these familes (Millar, Caven, Fraser) really are.

I realise this is a really long posting and I apologise. If anyone can help me sort out this tangle I would be so grateful.

Cheers,
Ruth

[Andy]

See my other post.

There are deaths of a Godfrey Bedford in 1864 and Hannah in 1860 both in Dumfries.

Given John and Margaret's son's name it would seem likely that this Godfrey is somehow related.

There is a 1830 birth in Yorkshire of a Godfre Bedforth to John and Hannah Hellawell/Holiwell. He had a probable relation Robinson Bedford born in the same town, Denby.

Seem very, very likely that your lot stem from a John Bedford and Margaret Robinson who married 24 JUN 1782 Penistone, Yorkshire, England.

Your John Bedford PROBABLY died in 1896 in Kirkcubright. That should confirm the parents.