1911 census- stange going ons

[katye]

Having looked forward to the 1911 census for many years, instead of delight I am banging my head against a brick wall. Let me explain. My gran was fostered as a child but knew a little about her history. She was born in 1907 in st Lawrence St, Greenock and named Mary Maughan Christie. Her mother was Mary Christie, a domestic servant. No father's name is on the certificate. I hoped that with the release of the 1911 census that I would find Granny at home with her mother in St Lawrence St but no such luck. I have tried a number of combinations in Greenock and elsewhere but no luck. She was fostered at some point by a family in Greenock because her mother couldn't cope. I looked at the foster family's household.They were the Graham household, living at 8, Kilblain St. There were 2 non-family members in the household, an Edward McLellan and a child of 4, a Mary Monage, born in Greenock for whom I can find no birth cert.I also cannot find a birth cert. for Edward McLellan(26) also born in Greenock. Both entries are marked Br. Does Br. mean Boarder? Any suggestions how I can proceed? any suggestions welcome.

Thanks, Karen.

[Russell]

Hi Karen

Yes 'Br' means Boarder as opposed to 'lodger' which implied a transient status. It is possible that Edward and Mary were placed with the family by the Parish Board and the Grahams would be paid a small sum for looking after them. This was preferred means of placing a child rather than admitting them to the Poorhouse.
Since this Mary was the the correct age I wonder if she is actually Mary Christie and her surname has somehow been lost. There was often no paperwork involved when a child was placed with a family and, of course there were no Social Workers around then. A four year old child might know her name but give only her fore and middle name when asked so that Maughan became Monage.
Alternatively it could be a mistranscription when the enumerator was making up the census page.
Either way it could be difficult to get confirmation unless there are Parish Council/Poor Law records available for Greenock. they would give more detail.

Russell

[AnneM]

Hi

Maybe Maughan was her father's name and that was the one she was known by which has somehow been mutated into Monage. A few illegitimate children were known by their father's names and you can see how Maughan would easily become Monage.

Anne

[katye]

Thanks everyone for some insight into the situation. My suspicions are that Mary Monage is Mary Maughan Christie and that maybe at some point there was a mix up with names.As I said, I knew that she was fostered by this family(the Grahams) and lived with them for a long time but not from what age. My mother has a picture of her mother in her mid-teens with the family so I assumed she was a lot older than 4 when they took her in. I gathered from anecdotal evidence that the mother(Mary Christie) made an appearance from time to time. I had hoped to find her living with her mother so I could find out where the mother came from and what became of her; looking for a Mary Christie in Scotland is like looking for a needle in a haystack. All I know of her is that there was some connection to Glasgow.

Thanks again,

Karen.

[SarahND]

Hello Karen,
It sounds like it could well be worth your while to see if there are an Poorlaw records for Mary Christie the mother, as Russell said. Have you looked into that at all? Seems likely that she would have applied for help at some stage.

Regards,
Sarah

[Ina]

If you are having trouble printing the 2011 census here is a tip taken from Chris Pation's blog.

Another Scottish 1911 census tip - the two page long enumerators returns can be printed on one A4 page, but can be very difficult to read.

The easiest way to print them across two A4 pages is to open the image using Microsoft's Paint tool, and in Page Set Up go to the Scaling box - select Fit To and change the settings to 2 by 1. Print the page now and it will come out in two pages, each carrying one page of the census.

Regards,

Ina