Contact Professional Genealogist, Fiona Sinclair

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:07:51 GMT

Contact Professional Genealogist, Fiona Sinclair
Professional Genealogist example

http://expertgenealogy.com/?x=FionaSinclair

http://www.FionaMSinclair.co.uk/genealogy/index.htm

Case 4 - Tracing the parents of Richard Stewart

My client's ancestor emigrated to Australia.

When he married in Perth, Western Australia on 1908, he gave his age as 36 and his parents as Richard Stewart and Margaret Cromer.
On his daughter's birth certificate, his own birthplace is stated to be Tipperlinn Lodge, Morningside, Edinburgh.

I searched all the records for Richard Stewarts born in the Edinburgh area between 1870 and 1874, but none answered to this description.
Neither did any Richard Stewart aged between 7 and 11 on the 1881 census.
No marriages of Richard Stewart to Margaret Cromer occurred either.
I tried searching for a few more years and a wider area, but still nothing.
(If my client had been using pay-per-view to do this, it would have cost far more than my fee).

His war records were in the name of Richard Stewart, which was the name he had used since joining the army, before going out to Australia.

So what next ?
I looked up Tipperlinn Lodge in the 1871 census. It was the gatekeeper's lodge just outside the walls of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, then called the Royal Edinburgh Asylum. (It was probably the small building currently occupied by the Nurses's Union).

The inhabitants of the West Lodge in 1871 were a family called Stewart. Richard and Betsy Stewart were a middle-aged couple from Perth, whose children (if any) had left home. They were married in 1848, but did not have their children's births registered.
The inhabitants of the East Lodge were a family called Crombie (with 6 children, but none named Margaret), but unfortunately these turned out not to be related. An older daughter who had married the son of the family next door would have fitted perfectly, but it was not to be. There was no Richard Stewart - Margaret Crombie marriage either.

When you hit a brick wall, try the IGI for inspiration.

Playing around with the search engine and trying different combinations of names, I eventually found Richard Stewart Cromer, born 1871 in Edinburgh, son of George Cromer and Margaret m/s Stewart

A quick look at his birth certificate revealed that this was clearly the right person, born 17 Aug 1871 at Tipperlinn Lodge, Edinburgh, son of George Cromer and Margaret m/s Stewart married 11 Aug 1870 Edinburgh.

The marriage certificate revealed that she was the daughter of Richard & Betsy Stewart, and had been living at Tipperlinn Lodge at the time of her marriage.
Clearly she went back to her mother to have her first child, as was usual at that time.

The subsequent history of the family is a mystery. Neither George nor Margaret have death certificates. In the 1881 census, Richard (aged 9) was boarding with another family. His grandparents had moved from the lodge.

It seems that he joined the Kings Own Scottish Borderers as Richard Stewart, dropping his last name. Then, when he married some years later and had to give the names of his parents, he had to switch their surnames to match.

Golden Square - Tracing the history of a house

The Victorian inhabitants of 6 Golden Square.
Golden Square was laid out in 1824. The houses were originally the homes of well-to-do professionals. No. 6 was used as a private house until 1900, when it became the offices of a firm of Chartered Accountants.

Miss Hannah Carnegie
The earliest occupant who can be traced was Miss Hannah Carnegie (1785-1869), who lived there from 1847-1869, and described herself on the census as a gentlewoman, born in Aberdeen.
She gave her age as 60 on the 1851 census and as 73 in 1861, and was previously living with her brother William (Advocate and Town Clerk) at 257 Union Street from 1824 to 1840. She lived here alone (plus cook and housemaid), but the building was much smaller then.
She was the youngest daughter of Alexander Carnegie (1733-1806, City Clerk) and Helen Davidson, who married on 12 June 1769 in the parish of St Nicholas, Aberdeen and lived at Cornhill. Their children moved into the fashionable new suburbs then being built.

The Jopp family
The Jopp family lived there from 1870-1881.
Keith Jopp (1818-1898) was the 8th of 10 sons of an advocate, who had obviously encouraged his younger sons to seek other occupations.
Andrew Jopp (1769-1829) had moved to Aberdeen from Muiryheadless in Insch, and lived and worked at 31 Gallowgate, where his large family grew up.
Keith trained as a doctor and went out to India to serve as surgeon to the Madras Fusiliers.
Meanwhile, his brother William (the 6th son) had become a wine merchant.
William later became a Colonel of the 1st Battalion Volunteer Gordon Highlanders, but had entered the wine trade at an early age.
Their great-uncle James Jopp (1721-1794) had been a Wine Merchant and also Lord Provost of Aberdeen for many years. He was mentioned by James Boswell, who visited Aberdeen with Samuel Johnson.

When Keith was invalided home from India, he joined his brother's wine business.
In 1851 Keith married a widow, Rachel Hunter, who had 3 children, and they proceeded to have 5 more.
By the time the family moved to 6 Golden Square, only 1 son and 2 daughters were living at home (+ 3 servants).
The eldest daughter Margaret was married from the house in 1877. She married her distant cousin William Beattie, who had gone to Australia to make his fortune as a sheep farmer. It appears that he had already made the fortune and returned when he was married aged 35.
The move away from Golden Square coincided with Keith's retirement, when the wine business was taken over by his son William.
He wrote minor poetry during his retirement - but not at 6 Golden Square. He died in 1898.
The Wine Shop in Market Street had a telephone number listed from 1895, but there is no record of the house having one.

The Clyne family
The Clyne family lived here from 1881-1900.
Norval Clyne (1817-1890) was an advocate, born at Ballycastle in Ireland. He married a girl from Edinburgh and they settled in Aberdeen after their marriage in 1846.
Norval Clyne was well known as a translator of Old Scottish Ballads, though it seems that this was before he moved to Golden Square.
They were Episcopalians, and had at least 9 children. By the time that the family moved here, most of the children had left home. Those living at home included the 4th son Arthur, who was already an architect in partnership with John Bridgeford Pirie. He became a famous interior designer. One of his best-known works is the interior of the library of the Society of Advocates. There is no trace of his work now at 6 Golden Square.
Arthur Clyne moved to Rubislaw after his mother's death in 1900.

In the 1901 census, 6 Golden Square is not listed, even as unoccupied.
In is also unlisted in that year's street directory.
However, from the next year until at least 1970 it was occupied by Jas. Messon & Co, Chartered Accountants.

Details supplied by his family beforehand
Professional Genealogist example Case 1 - the boy who ran away and changed his name

Information supplied by John Cairns Townsend's descendants:
His descendants knew that he had run away from home as a boy to join the Seaforth Highlanders, and they had made various attempts to trace his family over the decades, all unsuccessful. (They were looking for a Townsend).

The legends passed down from JCT's widow and daughters (all now dead) to his grandchildren, as far as any of them could remember after so much time, were as follows:

    * According to his obituary, he was 53 when he died in 1926, therefore born about 1873.
    * He ran away from home at 16. One legend has him fighting at the Battle of Omdurman at the age of 16. (Since that battle occurred in 1898, he must have been about 25 actually).
    * He joined the Seaforth Highlanders in 1895, transferred to the Military Foot Police in 1900 and became an officer in the Egyptian Police Force in 1905, where he remained until his retirement in 1924, marrying and raising 2 daughters in Egypt.
    * His daughters Kathleen and Rose had been named after his sisters, and he had at least one other sister, possibly called Beatrice, and maybe another called Joan, but he was the only boy, and the youngest child.
    * His daughters were born in Egypt and did not have birth certificates. Their baptism certificates were written in Latin. Kathleen's was written as Catherinae, and Rose's had another 2 or 3 illegible letters after Rose.
    * His mother died when he was young.
    * One granddaughter thought that he came from Linlithgow, another thought that it was Bathgate, and a third thought Dunfermline. None of these places are within the catchment area of the Seaforth Highlanders.
    * He had a very thick accent, and his Hampshire-born sons-in-law could not understand a word that he said.
    * His father was a miner. Some of the family thought that he was a mine owner - however, references to "my father's mine" could have meant "the mine where my father worked".
    * His father's brother lived next door, both working in (or owning) the same mine. (Note that in those days, a child would have called an adult neighbour "uncle", without there necessarily being any relationship).
    * When his daughters asked him why he ran away, he said that it was because there was an accident in the mine, in which all the miners got out but the pit ponies were left underground and all died. He refused to remain in the mining industry. (So he joined the army instead ? This sounds like the story that a man might make up to tell to a little girl who was fond of ponies).
    * Another version was that his father remarried after his mother's death, and that he did not get on with his stepmother.
    * One granddaughter remembered that her mother (JCT's eldest daughter) had said that her parents were married in a Catholic church in Alexandria when she was 6 (in 1911). She thought that this was because they had previously had a non-Catholic marriage. (No records of it have turned up). His wife was a Catholic, and his daughters were brought up as Catholics, but JCT was not a Catholic.
    * Another granddaughter remembered her grandmother saying that when she was married, and when her children were born, JCT had written home from Egypt, but the letters were returned unopened.
    * There is a story that after he ran away from home, somebody sent 20 guineas to the Seaforths to buy him back, and when he refused it, he was disowned. (Note - he would have been 22 when he joined the Seaforths, not a runaway child). Later it turned out that this legend actually referred to one of his sons-in-law.
    * JCT's elder daughter visited the Bathgate area in the 1950s, taking her youngest son (then a small child). He remembers that she knocked at a door and asked whether anyone named Townsend lived there. She was curtly rebuffed and turned away.
    * When JCT's younger daughter died, 2 photographs were found, both dated 1902, with the address of a photographer in Dunfermline. One shows 2 teenage girls dressed in 1902 fashions. The other shows a middle-aged woman in a more old-fashioned dress. (Note - this might have been an old dress). She had never told anyone about these photos. Her daughter thought that they might be JCT's mother and sisters, but it seems to have been a generation later - possibly a sister and 2 nieces ?

The search details
Professional Genealogist example Case 1 - the boy who ran away and changed his name
Search Details

    * I started off by searching ScotsOrigins for John Cairns Townsend. Result - nobody of that name was listed in the birth records.
    * I then searched the 1881 Census for John Townsend, particularly those born about 1873/4. I found 2, both aged 9 and living in the Glasgow area. One was the eldest child, with 3 younger sisters named Mary, Jeannie and Helen. The other had an older sister Sarah and brother Robert. Neither mother had Cairns for her maiden name, and neither father was a miner. Neither mother died young. Unless he had lied about everything except his surname, neither of these can have been him.
    * I did consider the possibility that he had been lumbered with an embarrasing first name that he later changed to John, but gave up on that one as too difficult to trace or prove.
    * I then tried the Linlithgow/Bathgate theory. After drawing a blank in both of the towns of those names, I tried the parish of Bathgate in the former county of Linlithgowshire, (now West Lothian). I used the 1881 Census, when JCT should have been about 7 years old.
    * I searched first for Kathleen, as that was not a common name in that area (unlike John). I did not find very many, and none belonging to families that fitted. (Note - when I eventually found her, the Census enumerator had spelt it Cathern).
    * Then I tried Townsends - that is also not a common name in that area. The only Townsend (of any first name or sex) living in West Lothian was one William Townsend, an English labourer aged 21, lodging in the town of Uphall in the parish of Bathgate in 1881 with a couple named Ashwood. William Ashwood was a shale miner born in Ireland, and his wife Jane was Scottish. They had no children living at home in 1881, when they were both 37. It did not seem likely that William Townsend was either JCT or JCT's father, or that JCT could have been a child of the Ashwoods.
    * There was only one Townsend marriage in West Lothian - William Townsend (as above) to Lena Hodgens at Uphall in 1884. JCT would have been about 10 at that time, so these can't have been his parents.
    * Then I searched for Cairnses living in West Lothian in 1881. There were 110 of them, with no Kathleens, but 2 Catherines and 1 Cathern. Cathern Cairns was 14 and lived in Uphall, close to William Townsend. She had a sister Roseann (12) and a brother John (7), but no Beatrice or Joan. There was another family called Cairns living next door. Both fathers were shale miners, but not brothers. This family lived at 145 Greendykes Road, Uphall. (In fact, Greendykes Road is actually in the next town - Broxburn).
    * This turned out to be the only 7 year old John Cairns in West Lothian - but there had been no definite proof of his age. There were only 2 Rose Cairnses, (both called Roseann) and no Beatrices.
    * Further searches revealed only one other pair of Cairns families living next door to each other in the Bathgate area, at Tweed Street in West Calder. Each family had 4 children, and both had a daughter called Catherine (in fact, this accounts for all 3 Catherines on the list). Neither family had a 7 year old boy, and none of the other children's names were John, Rose or Beatrice.
    * Given that this family matches the passed-down legends quite closely, and (more importantly) that no other family does, I concluded that this was the right one.
    * According to the Census, the household in 1881 consisted of: Patrick (39) born in Ireland, Mary Ann (36) born at Denny in Stirling, Cathern (14) and Roseann (12) both born in West Calder and John (7) born in Whitburn. Cathern was already working as a domestic servant.
    * Rose Ann's and John's birth records were found easily enough in the Index. However, there was no trace of a Cathern (under any variation of spelling) born in West Calder that year - the only Cairns girls born there were Mary and Margaret. (Eventually it turned out that she had been born at Denny in Stirling).
    * Searching the 1891 Census revealed that William Townsend no longer lived in West Lothian, and the birth records show that there were no Townsend children born there.
    * In 1891, the Cairns household in Uphall consisted of widower Patrick (50) and John (16), who was now a shale miner himself. (Note - he probably started as a pony boy at 14).
    * A Mary Ann Cairns died at Uphall in 1887 aged 40. It was necessary to look at the death certificate to check that this was the right one.
    * A Catherine Cairns married John Warnock at Uphall in 1886. No Catherine Warnocks of the right age were anywhere in Scotland in the 1891 Census, nor in the death records. However, the names of Catherine Cairns and John Warnock both appear in the index to an emigration record in Ontario.
    * A Rose Ann Cairns married Francis MacFarlane at Uphall in 1890.
    * Up to this point, I had been working from the index on ScotsOrigins, and had not seen any certificates yet. It was not possible to discover Mary Ann's maiden name. I found 12 Marys born at Denny that year, and 6 Patrick Cairnses who had married Marys, but no name appeared on both lists. (I had tried many different spellings, including Mary Ann, Marion, Marian, Maryann, Marianne, Maria & Marie). Maybe she had lied about her age to the Census taker ? It was time to see a couple of certificates.
    * John Cairns's birth certificate says that he was born on 26 March 1874 in Garibaldi Row, Fauldhouse, when his father was an iron miner, and that his parents were married on 30th October 1860 at Denny, Stirlingshire. His mother's maiden name was Burke.
    * Mary Ann Cairns's death certificate says that she died on 7 May 1887 at 6.30 pm in Holmes Row, Uphall. It gives her parents as Thomas Burke and Bridget nee Hodgson. They do not appear on the list of parents of Marys born at Denny 40 years before, so maybe her birthplace was wrong on the 1881 census - or possibly her widower got it wrong here.
    * Now looking through the index for the marriage: - no marriage of Patrick Cairns to Mary Ann Burke took place at Denny in 1860. The closest match was that of Patrick Kearns to Mary Anne Burke at Kilpatrick in 1859. (I looked at every marriage taking place in Denny in 1860 to see if any names like that appeared).
    * No marriage of Thomas Burke and Bridget Hodgson is on record in Scotland either. However, there was a marriage of Thomas Burke to Elizabeth Walker in 1848 at Denny in Stirling. This might have been a second marriage of Mary Ann's father, if her mother died young ? There was also a Thomas Burke to Bridget Hudson in 1853 at Denny in Stirling - some years after Mary Ann's birth. (Eventually, this turned out the be the second marriage of Mary Ann's widowed mother). Several Thomas Burkes were born in Scotland, but no Bridget Hodgsons. In fact, only 12 Hodgson girls were born in Scotland from 1810 to 1830, none of them called Bridget.
    * The Kearns wedding certificate revealed that both Patrick and Mary Ann had been illiterate in 1859, and all spelling is probably due to the Registrar. They were married on 11 Nov 1859 at Milngavie Catholic Chapel, and registered at New Kilpatrick in Dumbarton. Patrick was 20, son of John Kearns and Rosana Shiels. Mary Ann was 17, daughter of William Burke (deceased) and Bridget Hutson. They both lived in Strathblane at the time. As that is the only record that fits even approximately, it is assumed to be the right one. Their children's birth certificates should confirm this.
    * I then went to New Register House to see some certificates. (This involved looking at a lot of possibles, without having to take a separate £10 gamble on each one).
    * Catherine Cairns was born 9 Sep 1866 at 7 am at Denny, Stirlingshire. (Not West Calder as stated in the 1881 Census). Patrick signed this one (rather wobbly), but put his marriage date as 8 Nov 1859 at Strathblane.
    * Catherine married John Warnock on 11 Jan 1886 at Broxburn Catholic Church. He was a miner, aged 23. She was a domestic servant, aged 19. Rose Ann was her witness. The Warnocks were not living in Scotland in 1891.
    * Rose Ann was born 21 Sep 1868 at 10 am at Bankhead, West Calder. Her father was then an ironstone miner. He signed this one (still a bit wobbly), but put his marriage date as 8 Nov 1856 at Milngavie.
    * Rose Ann married Francis McFarlane on 4 Sep 1890 at Broxburn Catholic Church. He was a miner, aged 25. She was a domestic servant, aged 20. John was her witness.
    * The 1891 Census gives Francis (23) and Rose Ann (20) McFarlane, lodging at 76 Brownrigg, New Monkland. He was a miner. Her birthplace is given as Crofthead in Lanarkshire rather than Bankhead in Linlithgowshire, but given the inaccuracies in the other Census records, it could possibly be the same couple.
    * The Censuses for 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 are not computerised, and have to be searched the hard way. I searched all of them for the relevant dates and areas, but only found one relevant entry:
    * The 1851 Census gave the following household at 60 Millers Lane, Denny:
      Bridget Burke (widow) aged 30, housekeeper, born Ireland
      Mariane Burke (10), born England
      Catherine Burke (4), born Denny
      Michael Burke (2), born Denny
      This explains why I have had so much trouble tracing Mary Ann's birth in Denny in 1845. In any case, she can't have been born in 1845 and married in 1859 (at 14). She must have been 40, not 36, at the time of the 1881 Census. Neither Catherine's not Michael's births were registered in Denny, nor was their father's death. (Registration was not compulsory before 1855).
    * Bridget Burke's death certificate says that she was married twice, to William Burke and to Thomas Burke, both printers, both deceased. She was a Lodging House Keeper in Denny, and died on 9th March 1876 at 1 pm, aged 51, of chronic bronchitis, which she had had for 6 weeks. Her parents were John and Mary Hudson, both deceased. Her daughter Mary Ann Cairns was with her at the time of her death, and signed the register with an X.
    * Bridget Hudson married Thomas Burke on 6 Sep 1853 at Denny in Stirling.
    * Suspecting that there might have been older children born between 1859-1866 who had left home before the 1881 Census, I searched the birth records of all Cairns children (of any spelling variation) born during that time.
    * I found one other child of the same parents, Bridget Cairns, born 15 Nov 1863 at 10.30 pm in Denny. Patrick spelt it Carens. (He had learned to write between 1859 and 1863). He got his marriage date right on this one - probably for the last time. In the 1881 Census, she was working as a servant to a family named Hood in Edinburgh.
    * Bridget Elizabeth Cairns (18, domestic servant) married Charles McFalls (20, shale miner) at St. Patrick's Church (R/C), Edinburgh on 30 Apr 1883. He signed with an X, but she had been to school.
    * They had 9 children. For all of them, Charles signed with an X, although Bridget could write.
          o Catherine born 2 Jul 1884 at 7 pm in 42 Simpson's Row, Uphall
          o Elizabeth born 9 Apr 1886 at 9 pm in 42 Simpson's Row, Uphall
          o Mary Ann born 9 Jul 1888 at 6 am in 8 Holmes Row, Uphall (the house where Mary Ann Burke died in 1887)
          o James born 14 Jul 1890 at 6.10 pm in Shanks Square, Greengairs, New Monkland
          o Bridget born 22 Oct 1892 at 11.30 pm in Meikle, Drumgray, New Monkland
          o Mary born 3 Feb 1894 at 8 am in Meikle, Drumgray, New Monkland
          o Charles born 31 Jan 1896 at 11.30 pm in Darngavel by Airdrie
          o Sarah born 1 Jun 1898 at 3 pm in Mossbank Row, Darngavel by Airdrie
          o Patrick born 3 Apr 1900 at 3.30 am in Mossbank, Darngavel by Airdrie
    * The family seem to have moved to New Monkland around 1889, when Charles switched from shale mining to coal mining. It seems that Patrick had been living with or near them in 1888, and again in 1899, but not during the 1891 Census. Patrick also changed from shale to coal.
    * Mary Ann McFalls died 25 Nov 1889 at 7.15 am aged 16 months, of gastric & intestinal catarrh in 3 Shanks Square, New Monkland
    * Patrick Cairns died 7 Mar 1899 at 11.45 am aged 56 at 12 Mossbank, Darngavel by Airdrie of cardiac disease. He is described as "widower of Mary Ann Burke", so it was not a stepmother that JCT ran away from. (Note - there were quite a number of Patrick Cairnses whose death records could have been his. I had to look through quite a few).
    * Sarah McFalls died 9 Nov 1899 at 9.40 pm aged 16 months, cause illegible.
    * James McFalls died 25 Jan 1900 at 1.45 pm aged 9, of meningitis at 12 Mossbank, Darngavel by Airdrie.
    * Patrick McFalls died 3 Apr 1900 at 3.30 am aged 3 months, of hydrocephalus at 12 Mossbank, Darngavel by Airdrie.
    * Bridget McFalls died 14 Feb 1905 at 7.30 am aged 42 of epileptic convulsions in Darngavel by Airdrie.
    * The 1891 Census shows the family in New Monkland
      Charles McFalls (28), coal miner, born Bathgate
      Bridget (25), born Denny
      Catherine (7), Elizabeth (4) born Broxburn
      James (8 months) born Greengairs
      John McFalls (22), brother, coal miner, born Bathgate.
    * The 1901 Census of Darngavel village in the parish of New Monkland gives:
      at 12 Mossbank Row, Darngavel
      Charles McFalls (40), coal miner, born Bathgate
      Bridget (35), born Denny
      Bridget (8), Mary (7), Charles (5) all born New Monkland
      Where were Catherine (17) and Elizabeth (15) ? Maybe they were the girls in the mysterious photo ? They would be about the right age. If only they were in Dunfermline in 1901, that would close the circle and prove the connection.
    * The next generation were very time-consuming to trace, as McFalls is a common name, and every certificate has to be examined to check the parents' names, which are not in the index. It later turned out that some of the children had been registered as McFaulls and McFaulds.
      The only marriage that I found is: Charles McFalls (24, coal miner) married Mary Rafferty (19, baker's assistant) on 16 Jul 1920 at St. David's Catholic Church, Whiterigg by Airdrie.
    * Later browsing revealed another child of Patrick and Mary Ann Cairns: Mary born 14 Apr and died 18 Nov 1872 in Fauldhouse, Whitburn. She died of bronchitis aged 7 months.
    * Finding the family on the Censuses of 1861 and 1871 was difficult, not knowing their address at the time. In 1861 they might have been at Strathblane, (where they were married in 1859) or at Denny (where Bridget was born in 1863), but it seems that they had moved again.
      In 1871 they should have been either at Bankhead in West Calder (where Rose Ann was born in 1868) or at Garibaldi Row, Fauldhouse (where Mary was born in 1872).
      A search of the Parish of Whitburn revealed that they were living at Crofthead.
      It also revealed that Mary Ann had been born in Manchester, and that Bridget (aged 7) was already at school, although education did not become compulsory until 1872.

Summary
To cut a long story short:
JCT's Parents: Married 11 Nov 1859 at Milngavie
Father: Patrick Cairns, born about 1840 in Ireland, died 7 Mar 1899 in Darngavel by Airdrie, was a miner of ironstone, shale and coal, son of John Kearns and Rosanna Shields (spelling varies) of Ireland.
Mother: Mary Ann Burke, born about 1842 in Manchester, died 7 May 1887 in Uphall, daughter of William Burke and Bridget Hudson from Ireland.
Mother's siblings Catherine (born 1847) and Michael (born 1849).

JCT's Grandmother: Bridget Burke nee Hudson, born about 1825 in Ireland, died 9 Mar 1876 in Denny, was a Lodging House Keeper in Denny, daughter of John and Mary Hudson of Ireland. Twice widowed. Married to William Burke then to Thomas Burke, both printers.

JCT's Siblings:

    * Bridget Elizabeth born 15 Nov 1863 in Denny, working as servant in 1881, married Charles McFalls 30 Apr 1883, and had 9 children, died 14 Feb 1905 in Darngavel by Airdrie.
    * Catherine born 9 Sep 1866 at Denny. Married John Warnock 11 Jan 1886, and possibly emigrated to Ontario.
    * Rose Ann born 21 Sep 1868 at Bankhead. Married Francis MacFarlane 4 Sep 1890, and possibly moved to New Monkland.
    * Mary born 14 Apr 1872 in Fauldhouse near Whitburn.
    * John born 26 Mar 1874 in Fauldhouse near Whitburn, later became JCT.

JCT's nephew and nieces:

    * Catherine born 2 Jul 1884 in Uphall
    * Elizabeth born 9 Apr 1886 in Uphall
    * Mary Ann born 9 Jul 1888 in Uphall. Died aged 16 months of gastric & intestinal catarrh in New Monkland.
    * James born 14 Jul 1890 in New Monkland. Died aged 9 of meningitis at Darngavel by Airdrie.
    * Bridget born 22 Oct 1892 in Drumgray, New Monkland
    * Mary born 3 Feb 1894 in Drumgray, New Monkland
    * Charles born 1896, married Mary Rafferty 16 Jul 1920
    * Sarah born 1 Jun 1898, died there aged 16 months, cause illegible.
    * Patrick born 3 Apr 1900 in Darngavel by Airdrie. Died there aged 3 months, of hydrocephalus.

JCT's descendants do not have any Scottish blood (on that side anyway), but probably have cousins living in the Glasgow area, and possibly also in Ontario.

The story as a chronology
Professional Genealogist example Case 1 - the boy who ran away and changed his name

Ironstone had been discovered between the Clyde and Forth rivers in the early 1800s, and many people migrated to this area from elsewhere, particularly from Ireland. The Union Canal runs through the area, originally running from Edinburgh to Glasgow. It followed the 240 foot contour line and so had no locks. It was originally built to carry coal to the cities in the 1820s. Amongst the navvies who came over from Ireland to dig the canals were William Burke and William Hare, who later moved to Edinburgh and exploited the need for dead bodies in the medical school by murdering people and selling the bodies, pretending that they had just robbed the graves.

Bridget Hudson was born to John and Mary Hudson somewhere in Ireland in the early 1820s. At some point before 1840 she married William Burke and emigrated to Scotland - not necessarily in that order. They may lived in Manchester, England for a while on the way. It is not known whether this William Burke had any connection with the other one. It was quite a common name.

Patrick Cairns (or Kearns) was born to farm labourers John Kearns and Rosanne Shiels in Ireland some time approximately 1838. At some point he emigrated to Scotland.

Mary Ann Burke was born to William Burke and Bridget Hudson in Manchester some time approximately 1840, and was brought up at Denny in Stirling, with her younger sister Catherine and brother Michael. Her father (a calico printer) died before she was 10, and her mother married another calico printer, Thomas Burke, in 1853.

The laws against Roman Catholics were repealed in 1829, permitting them to buy or inherit property and to keep records. However, the missing records for this family are not in the Catholic Church Register covering the Denny area.

The New Statistical Account described Denny in the 1830s:

Denny is situated on the river Carron. Castlerankine burn, which runs into the Carron, once powered a lint mill, but this had been replaced by the Herbertshire Printfield, run by Messrs Thomas Shiels and Co., printing calico.
There were 11 mills on the banks of the Carron, including Herbertshire Paper Mill (the oldest establishment in the parish) where Messrs Alexander Duncan and Sons manufactured writing paper from rags.
An artificial reservoir had been built in the Carron valley to ensure the flow of water to power all the mills. After a rainstorm in 1839 the new embankment gave way, and much flood damage occurred.
There were both ironstone and coal mines in the parish, the ironstone being at Castlerankine. The iron mine was not working in 1841, owing to the low price of iron.
The Union Canal passed nearby, and was used to send coal to Greenock and Edinburgh.
The population rose from 1400 in 1790 to 4300 in 1838. The increase was due to the manufacturing industries being developed there. The average number of births was 86, marriages 35, deaths 70 per year. The parochial registers date back to 1679, but are merely lists of names and dates. Many children's births were not recorded.
There were about 50 Roman Catholics, all of them Irish.
There were a number of schools in the parish, and most of the children could read a little, but the parents were not so keen to have the children educated. A new parochial school was being built.

Patrick Cairns and Mary Ann Burke were married in 1859 at Milngavie Catholic Chapel. They were both living in Strathblane at the time. (Milngavie is 4 miles from Strathblane). Patrick was an ironstone miner. Both were illiterate. Patrick learned to write at some point between 1859 and 1863, but Mary Ann never learned.

The New Statistical Account described Strathblane in 1841:

Strathblane is 12 miles from Glasgow, in a sheltered valley by the warm river Blane. The climate was healthy, and the bad health of the inhabitants was blamed on the hazards of their employment. (Bilious affections, inflammation of the lungs, and consumptions were frequent).
The population rose from 620 in 1795 to 1045 in 1841. The population had decreased due to the lesser need for agricultural labourers on the farms, and then increased due to the development of a large calico print-field at Blanefield (employing 78 adults and 45 children under 14) and 2 bleach-fields at Dumbroch (employing 67 adults and 14 children under 14). They worked 10-11 hours per day, 6 days a week.
The parish registers had been kept well since 1816, though badly before that. The parish church was the only place of worship in 1841.

The family have not yet been found on the 1861 Census. They were not in Strathblane nor in Denny. It is possible that they lived in Strathblane (15 miles from Denny) temporarily to satisfy the "resident in the parish" requirements, if there was not a Catholic Church in Denny at the time. Certainly, Patrick could not have been mining there.

Two daughters were born to Patrick and Mary Ann in Denny - Bridget in 1863 and Catherine in 1866. It is possible that Mary Ann went to her mother's home to give birth, so that is not proof that the family lived in Denny.
The family then moved to the Bathgate area, although Patrick remained an ironstone miner.
In 1868 Rose Ann Cairns was born at Bankhead, West Calder.
The family moved to Garibaldi Row, Fauldhouse, Whitburn.
In 1872 Mary Cairns was born in April and died in November of bronchitis.
In 1874 John Cairns was born.
An ironstone mine was opened in 1840s at Fauldhouse, and later coal was mined there too.

In 1876 Bridget Burke died of bronchitis at Denny, where she had been a Lodging House Keeper. Mary Ann was with her at the time. Mary Ann had never learned to write, and signed her mother's death certificate with an X.

At about this time, Patrick switched from ironstone to shale mining, and the family moved to Uphall. The area around Uphall and Broxburn used to be called Strathbrock, and is about midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in the parish of Bathgate. This area's main claim to fame is as the world's first oil boom town, and the site of the world's first oil refinery.

The man behind this was James "Paraffin" Young, a Glaswegian research chemist. He realised that there would be an increasing demand for mineral oil. He discovered that it was possible to extract oil from coal, and built the world's first oil refinery in Whitburn in 1848. He made a fortune exporting oil all over the world. He then found that oil could also be extracted from shale. Before that time shale had been regarded as valueless, so he was able to buy up the mineral rights to huge areas very cheaply.
Up until 1864, his patent gave him a worldwide monopoly. He exported not just oil, but paraffin and candles. During the next decade, oil works opened up all over West Lothian. There were 27 shale mines in the Uphall/Broxburn area, and the Broxburn oil works was the largest in the country when it was built in 1877. However, by the 1870s, oil had been discovered in America which gushed from the ground and did not have to be extracted from shale. It was therefore cheaper, even when imported across the Atlantic.
Pit ponies were used for haulage underground, and many of the miners began work as pony boys, the day after leaving school at 14.

In 1872 education became compulsory for all children under 14. Bridget (then 9) was already at school and learned to write, although her future husband (then 11) never learned to write. The younger children would have started school at 5.

In 1881, most of the Cairns family were living in Uphall, apart from Bridget (then 18), who was in service in Edinburgh with a family named Hood. Catherine was already working as a domestic servant at 14, but still living at home. They lived in Greendykes Road, a row of miners cottages built at the beginning of the Shale Oil boom.
Greendykes Road was a terraced row of one-storey red brick houses built to house the miners' families in the 1860s. They had a kitchen, one bedroom (shared by the entire family) and an outside non-flush toilet in a small back yard. There was no piped water, and all the water had to be fetched from the stand pipe at the end of the street. Hot water was heated on the kitchen range for the miners' baths at the end of each shift. The houses were pulled down in the 1960s.

Nearby lived William Townsend, who married Lena Hodgens in 1884 when JCT was 10. The Townsends left the area before 1891. No reason has yet been found why JCT later took the name of Townsend.

In 1883, Bridget Cairns (18, domestic servant) married Charles McFalls (20, miner) at St. Patrick's Church, Edinburgh.
They moved to 42 Simpson's Row, Uphall, where their eldest child Catherine was born the next year, follwed by Elizabeth 2 years later.

In 1886, Catherine Cairns (19, domestic servant) married John Warnock (23, miner) at Broxburn Catholic Church. Her sister Rose Ann (17) was her witness, and presumably her bridesmaid. The Warnocks disappeared from the Scottish Records at this time, and appear on a list of emigrants to Ontario.

In 1887, Mary Ann Cairns died aged 40 in Holmes Row, Uphall. Her youngest child John was then 13. The following year, Mary Ann McFalls was born in 8 Holmes Row, Uphall. It is not clear whether the family were all living together, or in neighboring houses, or whether they had been visiting each other at the time of the death of Mary Ann senior and birth of Mary Ann junior. John would probably have started work down the mine as a pony boy later that year, after leaving school at the age of 14.

The McFalls family (with 3 little girls) moved to New Monkland (near Glasgow) and Charles switched from shale to coal mining. They moved to Shanks square, Greengairs. Shortly afterwards, the baby Mary Ann died of gastric & intestinal catarrh. This was followed by the birth of James the following year.

In 1890, Rose Ann Cairns (22, domestic servant) married Francis McFarlane (25, miner) at Broxburn Catholic Church. Her brother John (16) was her witness. Francis and Rose Ann probably moved to Brownrigg, New Monkland.

In 1891, John was working down the shale mine at the age of 16, and living with his widowed father Patrick. He may have run away from home soon after. Nothing more is known of him until he joined the Seaforth Highlanders 4 years later.

The McFalls family moved to Meikle Drumgray, New Monkland, a tiny village near an opencast coal mine. 2 more children were born there: Bridget in 1892 and Mary in 1894.
Then they moved along the road to Mossbank Row, Darngavel by Airdrie, where Patrick lived with them. Their youngest children were born there: Charles in 1896, Sarah in 1898 and Patrick in 1900. Sarah died in 1899, and the baby died at 3 months. Patrick had died a few months earlier (aged 56) of cardiac disease. It is not clear how long he had been living with Bridget's family.

In 1905 Bridget McFalls died in Darngavel by Airdrie aged 42 of epileptic convulsions. Her youngest surviving children Bridget (12), Mary (11) and Charles (9) were still living at home.

In 1920 Charles McFalls (24, coal miner) married Mary Rafferty (19, baker's assistant) at St. David's Catholic Church, Whiterigg by Airdrie. They changed their name to McFaulds and had a large family, all born in the Airdrie area.
Questions still left unanswered:

    * Why did JCT run away from home, and when ?
    * What was he doing between 1891 and 1896 ?
    * How did he get into a Highland regiment, when he was not living in their catchment area ?
    * Why did he change his name to Townsend ? Was that just the first name that came into his head ? Why did he need to change it anyway ?
    * Did he make this change legally ? His daughters were baptised under that name in Egypt, but they didn't have birth certificates. Presumably he was using his Army records as proof of identity, instead of a birth certificate.
    * Was Mary Ann's grandfather The William Burke (of Burke & Hare) ? He was in the Stirling area digging the Union Canal at about the time when her father must have been born. But it was a common name.
    * When and how did Patrick learn to write (1859 - 1863) ? He must have been in his 20s, working down the mine, and newly married. When did he have the time ? His wife did not learn to write.

John Cairns Townsend's Family Tree
Professional Genealogist example Case 1 - the boy who ran away and changed his name
http://uk.geocities.com/fnsnclr@btinternet.com/genealogy/examples/Townsend/TownsendTree.htm

Case 3: Tracing the descendants of John Smith born 1881

A client's ancestor had a sister who married a man named John Smith in 1905.

In the records of their marriage (at the Roman Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), he was described as:
John Philip Smith, plasterer, 24 of 11 St. Andrew Street, Leith
son of John Smith, labourer (decd) and Bridget m/s Munro

His wife Ellen died of pneumonia at the Royal Maternity Hospital Edinburgh in 1922.
There is no record of a Smith child born near that date to those parents. (I looked at dozens of them).
The family's address was 7 Ballantyne Road, Leith.

It would not have been possible to look at all the Smiths born in Edinburgh & Leith between 1905 and 1922 to find the children of this couple (if any). At this time, the birth index for that period did not show the mother's maiden name.

However, when Ellen's sister Annie died in 1942, her death was registered by her brother-in-law, John P. Smith of 7 Ballantyne Road, Leith

As this was 20 years after the death of Ellen, it implied that there had been Smith children.

When I looked at John's own death certificate, he was still living at 7 Ballantyne Road, Leith in 1951. His death was certified by his son M. Smith of 7 Ballantyne Road, Leith.
It isn't any easier to find the birth certificate of an M. Smith of unknown age.

However, I looked at the Electoral Roll for that address:
In 1926, John Smith was the only adult Smith.
By 1930, John P. Smith, John J. Smith and Matthew P. Smith were listed, and remained listed for some years, dropping out one by one.
The last Smith inhabitant was in 1965, when Matthew P. Smith was the only adult Smith.

This enabled me to trace the birth of Matthew Smith in 1909. He never married, and his death in 1966 was registered by his sister, Mary Watt.

This lead to the marriage certificate of Mary Smith (19) to Robert Watt (22) in 1932, and subsequently to her birth in 1912 and death in 1988.
It was not difficult to trace the births of her 2 sons in 1935 and 1944, and the marriage of one of them in 1956, who had a daughter born in 1956 and a son in 1958.
His daughter married for the second time in 1995, witnessed by 2 other members of the Watt family.
That lead to three addresses and phone numbers from the current Edinburgh Phone Directory.

My client got in touch with his cousins, and found that they had traced the same ancestors back to the same brick wall in 1803.
The only new information that they were able to provide was that Matthew and Mary had had another brother, David, who had not had any children.

However, my client (descended from an uncle of Ellen and Annie) has some new third cousins.

Case 5 - Tracing the descendants of Amelia Russell, died 1846

My client wanted to trace the parents of her ancestor, Amelia Russell

Amelia married Alexander Morrison in 1835 at Saline, Fife.
He came from Clackmannan, where they lived and had 3 sons between 1838 and 1843.
Amelia died in 1846, before death certificates came in.
Her age is givcen as 30 on the 1841 census, but ages are not given accurately there.
There were a number of Amelia Russells (of various spelling) baptised in the area around 1811 - and probably a good few more who were not registered.

Amelia's eldest son John had 9 sons, only 3 of whom have middle names.
These three (her 4th, 5th and 6th sons) were named
James Bryce Morrison
Lewis McBeth Morrison
David Russell Morrison

As the first 3 sons were named after the grandfathers and the father, it is reasonable to assume that the family followed the child-naming traditions, and that further sons would have been named after uncles and uncles by marriage, (particularly those who did not have any children).
David Russell was evidently an uncle on the Russell side - possibly Amelia's brother.
James Bryce was an uncle of the childrens' mother.
That left Lewis McBeth, which was not a common name in that area.
The only Lewis McBeth living in the area had married Catherine Russell in Dunfermline in 1834.
Evidently an ancestor of his had moved down from further north.
This couple do not appear to have had any children, and their death certificates were registered by nephews.

Catherine died in 1894 at the age of 81.
On her death certificate, her parents are given as
John Russell, farm servant and Margaret m/s Keir
This couple had 3 children: David (1805), Emilia (1811) and Catherine (1814).

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