John Douglass and Jannet McMichael Family.....

[larryd]

I believe I have found my GGGgrandparents, John Douglass and his wife Jannet McMichael. The 1841 census for Colmonell has a widowed Jannet living at Bougang/Bowgang farm, Colmonell with seven of her children (Robert, Daniel, William, Mary, James, Janet, and Isabella (all but Robert born at Bowgang). I have no proof, but think that my GGgrandfather, also John, was their first child. He married Margaret Lowrie in 1839 and was living in Barr at the time of the 1841 census.

An MI raised by Robert in the kirkyard at Colmonell provides age and date of death info for his father, John Douglass (age 62, 17 Sep 1839), his mother (age 76, 27 Nov 1858), his brother Daniel and Daniel's wife, Alison Cameron, and two of his (Robert's) children, son John and daughter Janet. His mother, Jannet McMichael, was born in New Cumnock in 1782 and the IGI has provided family info for her.

The MI helped me connect these Douglasses with my GGgrandparents, John Douglass and Margaret Lowrie. as John and Margaret named one of their daughters Jannet McMichael Douglass, another one Mary, and third Isabella. These Douglasses moved to Canada about 1850.

The problem: I have been unable to find place of birth, date of birth or parental info for either my GGGgrandfather or my GGgrandfather. I will be looking at the LDS Colmonell OPRs for birth/marriage info soon, but would appreciate any ideas, leads, hunches, etc. Thanks!

[Russell]

Hi Larry

I had a look at the county search on IGI and there were very few Douglas names came up in Colmonell.
My next step was to look at where you found his wife
Most marriages at that time were literally to the girl next door so I looked up-country to Cumnock. The batch C116082 for New Cumnock was very interesting as there were quite a few of that name. Unfortunately it is one of the batches where, for some totally obscure reason, only the female births were recorded on the normal IGI search.

I would suggest that you look at the original filming at your LDS centre for that time period and see if any names leap out.

An IGI search looks a lost cause.

Russell

[larryd]

Russell,

Thanks for your search! I looked at New Cumnock as well. and found a number of McMichaels, but the Douglasses were a bit thin. By the way, Jannet's parents were Daniel McMichael and Margaret Sharp. Is Margaret perhaps one of your Sharps?

The Douglases second child, Robert, was born in Coylton according to the 1861 census. Isn't that a bit of stretch from Colmonel?

I'll order up LDS films for both Colmonell and New Cumnock and have a look. The 80 mile round trip to the LDS center to first order, and then another to use the films is a bit much, though. I haven't used Scotland's People as a resource as yet, have you? Thanks again for your assist.

Regards, Larry

[Russell]

Hi Larry

Our Margaret Sharp married John Hastings. Her parents were James Sharp and Isabella McMillan and they appeared to be from Old Cumnock not that terrible place 2 miles down the road New Cumnock. There appeared to be some animosity between the two parishes.

Coylton is about 32 mles from Colmonell as the crow flies so not a huge distance back then. The farming community seemed to travel considerable distances from one employer to the next. My wife's relatives moved back and forward between parts of southern Ayrshire and Kirkcudbrightshire over their working lives. There were several straightforward routes - one coming up from England , the other a coast route for the Irish trade. There were carters doing busness in every small town and village so their worldly goods could be taken from place to place easily.

Scotlandspeople is an easy site to use but pre-1855 the Old Parochial records are currently only transcripts of births and marriages. It is possible to find all recorded siblings when you know the parents names but marriage information will not give you the names of parents for bride and groom. Many OPR entries were like that although some are much more detailed and give a lot more information. Few of ours lived in parishes where detailed records were kept
Read all thew guidance they give on scotlandspeople before embarking on a search and look at some of the other postings on here about use of wildcards. That way you can save a fortune

If Jannet lived past 1855 though you would be able to find out her parents from her death entry.

Happy hunting

Russell

[Jonny1977]

Hi Guys!

I'm a new member, and my main brick wall is my father line, Sharp. I'm also back to the line of James Sharp and Isabella McMillan in Old Cumnock around the 1770's-80's. I traced them back one more generation to William and Janet Sharp in New Cumnock, who had their children 1742-1762. Before this point, they disappear. There are two Sharp women in New Cumnock in the 1720's and a couple of Sharp families in West Kilbride in the 1720's, but they seem to be a separate line, possibly from Bute.

So I'm trying to find where they might have come from! My grandfather lived until his mid 90's, and told me a story that his father had mentioned the Sharps had come down to Ayrshire from Coupar Angus - but this was the very first any of us had heard that, and I've not been able to find any evidence of it so far. However, the surname Sharp is most common up in Perthshire, and I've also recently found out that many families migrated into Ayrshire and the lowlands from further north in the 18th century due to agricultural improvements. I've made contact with at least one other family who have traced this connection in their lines.

So basically I'm grateful for any further or additional information anyone may have on this Sharp line! I've been stuck on this for decades now!

All the very best,

Jon Sharp