Missing brothers...would love help

[Sunnydaze]

Thankyou for accepting my request to join...

My great grandparents John Clark b. 1897 and Alexina Stewart b.1898 were married
In 1916 in Fife. They had at least 4 children. Alexina b. 1920, Margaret b.1922. Both girls born in Dundee area.. Now here is my dilemma.... They had to older brothers. About 1924 all for children were surrendered to a childrens home of some sort. The two girls stayed in scotland and kept in touch but the boys were never seen again. My guess is they ran away or possibly shipped somewhere. Nobody knew what their names were. Ive tried every search possible with last name Clark and also Stewart with no luck! Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Ive been determined to find out what happened to these boys!

[AndrewP]

Hi Sunnydaze,



You have a time and (probably) money consuming task to try and resolve. Assuming the boys were both born after the marriage of their parents, then to find by male of surname Clark, probably born in Fife or Dundee area would mean looking at many birth certificates, probably from 1916 to 1919. To do that online would bankrupt you very quickly. It can only be done economically by going to the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh, or one of its outposts around Scotland. Unfortunately there is no such facility outside of Scotland.

If you are within travelling distance of one of the SP Centres, then fine. Otherwise, you will need to seek someone's help to go to one of the SP Centres on your behalf. In the SP Centre, you pay an entrance fee for a day's search time. You can look at as many certificates as you can fit into the time during that day, for no extra fee (unless you print off the certificate - for births only allowed for certificates more than 100 years old). Printing incurs a cost; copying down the details by hand (writing or your own computer) is free of charge.

If I was doing this search, I would start with the first name of John Clark's father. If they used the traditional Scottish naming pattern (many did this), then the first son could well be named after his paternal grandfather. If they followed this tradition, the second son could be named after his maternal grandfather. However, be prepared for them not to have followed the traditional naming pattern, and their names could be anything.

The other option is to wait 4 years. In 2021, the 100 year closure of the 1921 census will expire. All going well, that will show the parents and surviving children; and a count of children born to the couple (hence you also have a count of children who died prior to the census).

All the best,

AndrewP

[Sunnydaze]

Hi Andrew,
Thankyou for your response. Pretty much everything you said went through my mind. I do have a scotlands people account and have blown through quite a few credits. I am going to try again with the grandfathers names. Unfortunately im in canada so a trip to do research is out of the question! Do you know of anyone locally who do this?
I also thought worse case scenario is to wait a few years until the 1921 cencus comes online.

Thanks again

[WilmaM]

There could also be birth announcements in the local paper for them.
I had a quick scan of the Dundee Courier on the British Newspaper Archive:
This caught my eye
8th March 1927, the children must come first. Along the lines of- for the sake of the childfe she should seek the poorhouse. She was Alexina Stewart or Clark spinner and the charge was...
There's also a birthday greeting to a 14 year old Alexina Stewart in July 1950 in the Dundee evening telegraph
Another theft report in July 1933
A neglectful mother in march 1927.

Could be a wealth of clues there if you can access the full articles http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.u ... ark&page=0

[AndrewP]

In the Dundee Courier article of 08 March 1927, (assuming this is the right person) Alexina Stewart or Clark was accused of wilfully neglecting her three children, ages 6, 4 and 9 months (named Jeanie). She had been offered accommodation in the Poorhouse, but would rather have gone to gaol (jail). There was no mention of her husband in that article.

The Dundee Evening Telegraph reported the same story the night before. Their longer version of events went on to say that the accused should consider putting the children into the Poorhouse for the time being; the alterative being for the children to be taken from her. The Sheriff admonished her, asking her to consider the alternatives that he had outlined to her.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Sunnydaze]

OMG...my head is in a whirl...lol! The dates are off and was rold there were 4 children. Two boy and two girls. No mention of a Jeanie. But that is definately her name. Any documents actually say Alexina Clark or Stewart.
What are the chances of 2 women of that name? Kk...now im confused

[AndrewP]

Hi there,

I would have said that the dates fit for Alexina (b. 1920) and Margaret (b.1922). If they were both born after early March in their respective years, then they would have been ages 6 and 4 by the time of their mother's court appearance in 1927. Then Jeanie's birth would have been in summer 1926.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Sunnydaze]

Hi Andrew,
The daughter Alexina was my grandmother. My mom said growing up the story was she was given up with her sister who was a baby and of course the two older brothers. I think facts get distorted over the yrs. Maybe the family wasnt aware of Jeannie. And possibly the boys were much older at the time and were not in her care. Is there any way to search the local workhouse records for about 1927. If i could locate the three girls maybe the boys would pop up with them. I know they were put somewhere. My grandmother stayed in a home for quite a few yrs until some woman took her to work on her farm.

[Anne H]

There are several Service Returns for a death of a John Clark, therefore, it's possible that John Clark died in WW1 or at least before Alexina was born in 1920 since the girls births are registered under both Stewart and Clark.

There is a Jeanie Cosgrove Stewart or Clark indexed in 1926, St. Andrew (Dundee). Does the name Cosgrove mean anything? Perhaps an indication of the father's name.

The two notices in the Dundee Courier and Dundee Evening Telegraph are the ones you want. If you don't already have them, send me a pm with your email address and I'll send them to you. The others appear to be for a different family with the same names.

Regards,
Anne H

[Sunnydaze]

Ive wondered myself what became of the father. Margaret was born in 1922 so im guessing he must have been in the picture to a point.
I have the article about the child neglect. I have some credits on the site. Thankyou though for offering to send it to me. It does seem like this could be my great grandmother but im a little apprehensive. It just doesnt fit with my moms story. There was no mention of 3 girls. Just Alexina and Margaret. But i know stories evolve over the years and get distorted.

As far as Jeannie Cosgrove Stewart? Im guessing at that point dad was gone. Maybe Alexina was with someone else and the cosgrove name came from there?? I have not seen that name at all in my tree.

You mentioned 2 notices in the paper. I found one about "the needs of the children" Havent seen the other one. Do uou recall the title?
Thankyou to everyone for your input. I really do appreciate it...