Ancestry rules - OK .....

[davran]

I was doing a catch-up on census gaps in the family tree and looking for Alexander Sexton (an Englishman abroad in Scotland) in 1891. I was wondering why I didn't have a record for him 1891 and did a quick check on Ancestry - yes, there he was in Partick with his family. So went to SP to get the image and he wasn't there! Luckily for me the family had a servant called Lizzie Reid who WAS there, so I was able to find my family. Mind you, Ancestry had given Alexander's occupation as "proprietor of metallurgy and teacher of chemstry chisalting monist"!! To be fair, the writing is very small and I can't make out what 'chisalting' is meant to be, but 'monist' is chemist and he was definitely a professor. Still, I now have a satisfyingly complete record of his life.... even if he was only my ggtuncle.

[AndrewP]

Hi Davran,

He is there on ScotlandsPeople, but indexed as ALEXANDER H SAXTON. On looking at the census page, I see SEXTON there. It is worth your while completing a contact form to seek a correction to the index. If you lost credits through this mis-indexing, advise them and they should refund you an appropraite quantity of credits.

I found him by searching for Alex* S*x*n. There is only one result.

All the best,

AndrewP

[DavidWW]

I was doing a catch-up on census gaps in the family tree and looking for Alexander Sexton (an Englishman abroad in Scotland) in 1891. I was wondering why I didn't have a record for him 1891 and did a quick check on Ancestry - yes, there he was in Partick with his family. So went to SP to get the image and he wasn't there! Luckily for me the family had a servant called Lizzie Reid who WAS there, so I was able to find my family. Mind you, Ancestry had given Alexander's occupation as "proprietor of metallurgy and teacher of chemstry chisalting monist"!! To be fair, the writing is very small and I can't make out what 'chisalting' is meant to be, but 'monist' is chemist and he was definitely a professor. Still, I now have a satisfyingly complete record of his life.... even if he was only my ggtuncle.

I'd read it a "Professor of metallurgy and teacher of chemistry and consulting chemist".

David

[davran]

Thanks, Andrew, I will fill out a form. I didn't lose any credits, fortunately.

David, your eyesight must be better than mine! I'm not absolutely sure about the 'consulting', but it doesn't really matter as I have quite a lot of information on his career anyway.

As a matter of interest, his daughter Florence grew up to graduate as a doctor of medicine from Glasgow university and the whole family moved to Jersey, where Florence practiced as a GP and her younger brother became a Swedenborgian minister.

[DavidWW]

Thanks, Andrew, I will fill out a form. I didn't lose any credits, fortunately.

David, your eyesight must be better than mine! I'm not absolutely sure about the 'consulting', but it doesn't really matter as I have quite a lot of information on his career anyway. ....snipped .......

It's not just a question of my eyesight , but more 20+ years experience of such hands, never mind, especially being a chemical engineer, and unable to see that anything else other than "consulting" could fit in with the context...........

"Swedenborgian" , now there's a really fascinating church, - see http://www.swedenborg.org/history.cfm and many other websites, not least including http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedenborgianism .

Not currently so well known in Europe, but still significant in the USofA !!

Emanuel Swedenborg, born Emanuel Swedberg, b. 01Jan1688, d. 29Mar1772, was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and theologian. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg .

David

[davran]

To finish off the story, a portrait of Prof Sexton by Russell Ramsay was bequeathed by the professor's son, George, to the New Church (Swedenborgian) in Glasgow in 1942 when George died. Presumably it was too difficult to get it out of Jersey during the war and it was finally bequeathed to Strathclyde University (or it may have been Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College at that time) by George's widow on her death in 1958. The portrait now lurks in a back room in the Collins Gallery! - though I believe the only photo we have of the professor may well be a copy of the portrait. What a pity there were no descendants of that line to follow it up.