Mcrae

[deano]

Hello All,

Could someone please do a look up 1871 census. Anderson, Glasgow, for a James Mcrae, and family, wife Elizabeth, children Alexander, Margaret, Duncan, and Annie. James Mcrae, age abt 47 years, wife Elizabeth, abt 35 years, the children below 13 years.

Places of birth and Occupations please

Thank You, Deano.

[SarahND]

Hello Deano,
This is a case where you might want to download the image from ScotlandsPeople and try to decipher it yourself, since the various transcription sites obviously had problems with it. I had a look for this family over morning coffee and they are quite easy to find (I searched for Duncan). There are a few more children than you thought and they are also a bit older than you said. Ancestry gives them some interesting occupations and birthplaces (as below), so I tried Findmypast. Unfortunately, Findmypast does not shed any light on what the boys were porters for, and gives the parents' birthplaces as Coillerce, Rossshire and Strathconnar, Rossshire. Ha. So have fun figuring this out and watch out for the Boteling Otons.

51 Mcalpine St
James Mcrae, 47, born Coillore, Rossshire, Dept Cottecter
Elizh, 39, Wife, born Strathcarron, Rossshire
Jane, 16, Daughter, born Glasgow, Bookfolder
Alex, 14, Son, born Glasgow, Porter Boteling Oton
Duncan, 13, Son, born Glasgow, Porter Boteling Oton
Margt, 9, Daughter, born Glasgow
Donald, 6, Son, born Glasgow
Mary, 4, Daughter, born Glasgow
Ann, 9 Mo, Daughter , born Glasgow

All the best,
Sarah

[JustJean]

Hi Deano and Sarah

Then enumerator had an exuberance when crossing his T's which changed the appearance of Debt Collector and Porter Bottling Store somewhat. As for the places of birth in Rossshire..... here you go.....let's hear what everyone thinks!!



Best wishes
Jean

[SarahND]

Hi Jean
To confuse matters nicely, here are the birth places as given in 1861 for James and Elizabeth and in 1881 for Elizabeth (Elizabeth is "wife" but James is not there):

1861
James- Invernesshire - Levon or Iwon (Not obvious-- there is a boarder in the house named Roderick Douglass who was also born there)
Elizabeth - Rosshire - May Parish

1881
Elizabeth - Invernesshire Strathglass (this has the advantage of actually being a real place!)


Sarah

P.S. Oh, and I forgot to say that according to the 1881 census, Elizabeth was a Gaelic speaker, which may be where the confusion set in if she was dictating to someone who did not speak that language.

[deano]

Hello Sarah, Jean,

Thank you both for your input, i had the 1881 census of the family from the Family Search Disc. However as James, the father had passed away i had no evidence of where he was born.

Regards
Deano.

[AndrewP]

Hi Deano,

There is enough information available for you to find James Mcrae's birthplace.

• You know he was alive in the 1871 census, but not in the 1881 census.
• You can see from these that they lived in the same district of Glasgow for many decades.
• Using that span of a decade, and that district, you can find his death certificate quite easily on ScotlandsPeople.
• From his death certificate, you get his parents' names.
• You will have a selection of ages from the censuses and death certificate, so can have a range of years where you can expect to find his birth.
• Having his parents' names, you can find his birth / baptism record (OPR), and it is in the right part of Scotland to be around the places named on the censuses, and within the span of years expected.

Happy hunting,

AndrewP

[deano]

Hello Andrew P.,

Thanks for that information, i saw that there were three James Mcrae's, with variations on that surname in the period concerned in the area two in Anderson, i take it the correct one was the one aged 56 years. i am helping a friend so that person can then download the correct certificate.

Thank you for your assistance,

Regards,
Deano.

[AndrewP]

Hi Deano,

At first sight, it looks like the years were kind to him, his age increased slowly. In 1861 he said he was 40. In 1871 he said he was 47. On his death in 1877, he was declared to be 51. The one that matches his age closest to the that counted from his birth / baptism OPR record is his death certificate; so his age was high in these two censuses. Unfortunately he married just a few months before civil registration started, so his marriage record is an OPR rather than a statutory marriage certificate.

The 1841 census has done you a favour. He is with his parents, and all the wives on that page are listed by their maiden surnames, so it makes it more positive proof that it is the right one. They have moved a few miles and crossed the county boundary since James's birth. They are about a mile away, still in the same parish, in 1851 and once more the wives are given by their maiden surnames.

All the best,

AndrewP

[deano]

Hello Andrew P.

Thank you again for your assistance, i had a quick look on free cen, so it looks like his mother was Margaret Chisholm, as i said in my earlier post there were two James Mcrae's, variations deaths on Scotlandspeople in Anderson, one 1877. the other 1881. similar birth ages, i was going to plump for the 1881. version, happy to take your advice its the 1877. one.

Thank you again for your help.

Regards,
Deano.

[AndrewP]

Hi Deano,

If there were two, you should be careful that I have given you details of the right one. You may need to follow them both up to confirm which documents belong to which, and prove the link from your research to the correct one.

All the best,

AndrewP