Millwright in Stirling and Glasgow

[Lainie]

I'm not sure this is the correct place for this post but I am hoping someone can offer some advice.
I am researching a Donald McGregor who married a Margaret Adam or Adams probably in the late 1700's. He was a millwright and I know they definitely had two children in Glasgow, John in 1802 and Margaret in 1804 in Glasgow. Now.....I can also find a Donald McGregor and Margaret Adams in Denny in Stirling and they had the following children...Alexander 1799, William 1806, Janet 1809, James 1811, Christian 1813 and Charles 1815. I notice that there is a large gap (7 years) between Alexander and William compared to the gap between the other children and I am wondering if the Donald McGregor and Margaret Adams from Glasgow are the same people as the ones from Stirling as the two children from Glasgow would fit perfectly date wise in the gap between Alexander and William. The records in Stirling do not say what his profession was. The Glasgow ones do. I cannot find any marriage records that give any clues either. Is it conceivable that they may have left Stirling for a couple of years and moved to Glasgow maybe for work and then back to Stirling again?? Did people travel like that in those days or am I looking at two different couples but with the same names. I notice in Glasgow they are spelling the surname McGrigor and in Stirling it is spelt McGregor, but I have noticed it changes back and forth a fair bit. Their son John became a baker in Glasgow and married a Catherine Campbell. He died in 1858 and his parents are listed as Donald McGregor and Margaret Adam. Does anyone have any thoughts?? Thanks

[Falkyrn]

It is possible - I have a similar scenario in my family line from Glasgow to Stirling and back to Glasgow through family connections - although caution is needed here due to the common nature of the surname.

As to spelling, don't get too fixated about the spelling of any name - in many cases the spelling was down to the person recording the information rather than the person supplying it.

[johnniegarve]

Wouldn't worry about the spelling, MacGrigor's how it would have been pronounced, still is by yours truly!

Johnny.

[Lainie]

Thanks. Have not really got any further with finding whether they are the same family or two different ones. Can't actually find any marriage records for either of them. I am planning a visit to Scotland in early June and will endeavour to get to Sighthill Cemetery where John McGregor, my great great great grandfather (the baker born 1804 in Glasgow) is buried. He died in April 1858. I have emailed a couple of places in the hope that they can locate his grave for me and I may be able to get a bit more information off his grave stone or even by any family members buried near him. (I am ever hopeful but not sure I will get any results before I leave Australia to visit Scotland)

[Falkyrn]

Thanks. Have not really got any further with finding whether they are the same family or two different ones. Can't actually find any marriage records for either of them. I am planning a visit to Scotland in early June and will endeavour to get to Sighthill Cemetery where John McGregor, my great great great grandfather (the baker born 1804 in Glasgow) is buried. He died in April 1858. I have emailed a couple of places in the hope that they can locate his grave for me and I may be able to get a bit more information off his grave stone or even by any family members buried near him. (I am ever hopeful but not sure I will get any results before I leave Australia to visit Scotland)

The Lair records for the Glasgow Cemeteries which were previously held by the City Council Cemeteries Department have been digitised but are not available to the Public - they are held by City Archives in the Mitchell Library.

[apanderson]

The Special Collections department of the Mitchell Library (5th Floor) have Sighthill's Burial Registers on microfilm.

It's a hit or a miss whether the pages can be read however - some are so feint that no details can be made out at all. There are a number of reels spanning the years, so providing you have a date of death, you can (reasonably quickly) find a burial as they run in date order.

Pinpointing the grave is another matter all together!

Sighthill's lairs are identified by 3 (sometimes 4) references. One is the Section Number (1 - 16), then the Class/Row which can be anything from 1 upwards), then the Lair Number, again being anything from 1 up to well over a thousand. The fourth reference refers to a receipt number which in itself has nothing to do with the location, but if the column headings are missing or too feint to read, it's hard to tell which number is which.

The Lair Owners Registers are held by the Archives and can be ordered to view. Offhand, I can't remember how these are organised, but the Archives staff would hopefully be able to explain.

The above two options are free, but if a burial search is required as Falkryn has advised, these aren't available for public view and a fee is charged which I think is around £20.00.

Good Luck!