A few months ago, I had a bit of a brickwall smash with my great grandfather Frank Gillanders Matheson, when I discovered that Gillanders was Frank's middle name. Today, I revisited his parents' names on Scotland's People. And what great finds I made!
I had my maternal 2nd great grandparents' names, Donald Matheson and Margaret McKenzie, thanks to finds my mother had made many years ago, but have been on the hunt for more information. I knew, thanks to Frank's 1866 first marriage to Isabella McKenzie (no doubt a cousin), that both his parents were deceased at the time of that marriage. But I had no other information. Because all of Donald and Margaret's children were born and baptized in Urray, Ross and Cromarty, I've made assumptions that they too were born there. That may not necessarily be the case.
Starting first with Margaret McKenzie, after discarding adding a county in my search parameters I quickly found her March 1865 death registration, with the added bonus of her age and father's name (John McKenzie). My grandfather John Matheson was named after his great grandfather, John McKenzie, who was a labourer. Margaret's mother's name is also listed, but the first name (also Margaret) is crossed out, so that must be confirmed. Oh, and Margaret's mother's maiden name was also McKenzie. Margaret died at East Grange, Kinloss in Elgin. A new place name to add to my research arsenal. Kinloss is very near Forres, where I have some ancestral roots on my Ross side.
My 3rd great grandmother was just 67 years old when she died, yet her cause of death is listed as "infirmities of old age". Today, 67 is hardly considered old age, but their lives were so very much harder then, compared to ours in the 21st century.
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| Margaret McKenzie Matheson 1865 death registration |
Next, I looked for the death registration of Margaret's husband, Donald. Her death registration helpfully noted that Donald was already deceased in 1865, narrowing my search window, and confirmed that he was a farm grieve, which is listed in Frank's marriage and death registrations.
Bingo! I found Donald, a farm grieve in 1859, having died at Erbusaig, Lochalsh, in Ross-shire--more new place names to add to my research arsenal. Donald's death registration tells me that his parents were Dugald Matheson, whose occupation was mason, and Isabella Gillanders. I knew that the Gillanders name would open doors. Unfortunately, Donald's cause of death is blank on the registration form.
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| Donald Matheson death registration 1865 |
The person who reported Donald's death is identified as his sister in law, Mary MacKay. I haven't yet started to research who her husband was -- that will be a much more difficult task, I think. Was she married to a brother of Donald? Or was she married to a brother of his wife, Margaret McKenzie?
Will these new finds help to have more DNA matches? That would be fantastic.
My search for information about Dugald and Isabella and John and his wife will be harder now, as it is hard to find Scottish records from the 1700s. I'll keep looking though. My glass is still half full.
As always, the never ending story continues.....
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