I wrote about my 2nd great grandmother Isabella Smith Ross McLeod here. But I lacked solid proof that Donald Smith and Margaret Davidson were Isabella's parents. A DNA cousin had found their names on another family tree, and they were listed as her parents on baptismal record transcript.but it was time to get that essential primary source document. Luckily, Isabella's statutory death registration found yesterday on Scotland's People confirmed that Donald Smith and Margaret Davidson were definitely her parents. I learned that Donald had been a mason, and given that Isabella had lived a good long life of at least 91 years, they were of course both deceased when she died in 1915. I still can't find a marriage record for Donald and Margaret.
The confirmation of Donald and Margaret sent me on several collateral searches. First, let's list their children, as I've found them:
- Anne, born abt 1810 in Kingussie, Inverness. She married Angus Falconer abt 1833. They had at least seven children before Anne died after 1851 in Edinburgh.
- Grace, born abt 1814 in Kingussie, Inverness. She married John Dow on 23 Jun 1838 in Banffshire. They had eight children in Knockando, Moray, where Grace died 8 Nov 1891.
- Then came my 2nd great grandmother, Isabella on 7 Sep 1817.
- Peter, born 12 Jul 1821 in Abernethy and Kincardine. He married Jane Allan on 26 Oct 1846 in Urquhart, Moray. They had eight children before Peter died on 13 May 1863 in Edinburgh.
- Donald, born 23 Nov 1823 in Abernethy and Kincardine, seems to have died young. I still can't find anything more about him.
The births of Donald and Margaret's children range over 13 years. There must have been other pregnancies between these live births. Their children gave them at least 28 grandchildren. I'm still adding all of those new cousins and their descendants to my family tree.
As I pored through records, documents and family trees, I found Margaret and my 2nd great grandmother in the 1841 census in Inverness, where I also found in that household a future son-in-law (John Dow) of Margaret's. I found that Margaret lived with her daughter Anne Smith Falconer and her family in Edinburgh when the 1851 census was done. Following Anne's death sometime after that census, Margaret seems to have moved to her son Peter Smith's Edinburgh home, as the 1861 census has Margaret living with him and his family.
I found a note on another family tree that Margaret died in 1863 in her son Peter's home. A statutory death record on Scotland's People confirms that Margaret died on 1 Mar 1863, aged 85, from old age. The death was reported by Peter, who died two months later. But the best part? The record provides Margaret's parents' names: Donald Davidson and Ann Green, my newest 4th great grandparents.
I'm thinking that Donald died before 1841. Scotland only began a centralized, statutory collection of BMDs in 1855. Before that, there are only old parochial registers (OPRs) to rely on. Sadly, these are far from complete, with many not standing the test of time. I've not found a record of Margaret and Donald's marriage. And then there is the name "Smith". Don't get me started.
I'm so impatient for new DNA matches to come to light, what with all the new names I've added to my family tree this week. This is one of those times when I have to remind myself to manage my expectations.
The never ending story continues.....
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