Ancestry Transcription Challenge!

[nelmit]

He's not the man I'm looking for but would anybody like to hazard a guess as to where this man was born!!

1861 Scotland Census about James Gray
Name: James Gray
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name : Jane Gray
Gender: Male
Where born: Get, Away & Joamey in
Registration Number: 685/5
Registration district: Newington
Civil parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts
County: Midlothian
Address: No 2 Hope Park
Occupation: Wine Merchant

Regards,
Annette

[LesleyB]

Great find there Annette!
I expect the original may make things a little clearer, but that would spoil the fun of guessing... but having said that, I've no idea where he was born!!

Gullane, E.Lothian??? (the E. maybe looking like the &, "Joamey in" being Lothian?)
Granton, Midlothian???

[jgmills]

Possibly him in the 1851 census

James Gray
Age: 59
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1792
Relationship: Head
Spouse's Name: Jane Gray
Gender: Male
Where born: Ashkirk, Roxburghshire
Parish Number: 685/3
Civil parish: Edinburgh Canongate
County: Midlothian
Address: 21 Lothian Street
Occupation: Wine & Spirit Muchant

James Gray 59
Jane Gray 39 - born Libberton, Midlothian
Mary Gray 20
Alexander H Gray Under 9mo

I would have no idea how they got to the 1861 transcription from this!!! But notice his occupation is novel as well.

[jgmills]

Just to confuse matters even more from the 1881 census his place of birth is:-

Northerghshire

What hope do we have

John

[AndrewP]

Hi Annette,

I guess that the first one shows the county first, and says 'Galloway', and maybe then 'St John's Town' (of Dalry) as the place within Galloway, and then that has the possibility of the 1881 transcript maybe giving Kirkcudbrightshire.

All the best,

AndrewP


... a short time later
A look for them on ScotlandsPeople eventually found them (James is not on the SP index). I was wrong on all counts.

[SarahND]

Hi Annette,
Great find!

Well, it's something about him being away on census night, since it looks like him in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in the household of Martha Ogston(?) who was also born in Scotland:

James Gray, Visitor, Married, 70, Wine & Spirit Merchant, born Scotland

So the Away and Joamey (=Journey) are explained... but what the Get ... & ... in are about, I don't know

Cheers,
Sarah

[momat]

Also on Ancestry for the same names this pops up,Different guy.

Occupation
Recerneing Arcchial Aid (baker)

You have to wonder what planet the transcribers come from as these are far too way out to be actually written on any page, surely!

[Montrose Budie]

The entry is there on the 1861 enumeration book, but doesn't appear in the SP index entry as it was later scored out, either by the enumerator of the registrar, because he wasn't at home on census night; and in the Place of Birth column, the entry is "Away on Journey ?? ???" - the scoring out makes it difficult to read those last two words.

Interestingly, his wife's place of birth on the next line is "Do. Do." !

So the Ancestry transcriber wasn't far off, except I cannot see where the "Get" came from.

mb

[AndrewP]

My best guess from looking at the original is 'Away on Journey as yet'.

All the best,

AndrewP

[SarahND]

"Yet" of course, being the country or county name, so put first on the transcription

Regards,
Sarah