Physically and mentally challenged in the 19th century 2: Alex Matheson (1880-1946)

I first wrote about my great grandfather's efforts to get assistance for his 15 year old son and my great uncle, Alex Matheson here.

I've just found a second story reporting the outcome of those efforts, this time in the 22 Feb 1896 issue of the Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express. The facts are the same, but the opening paragraph gives a bit more background about past efforts by my great grandfather to seek relief and where my great grandparents lived and for how long.

I can't say this enough: I know it was the language of the time, but how cruel our forebears were to label anyone an imbecile.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Was Donald Matheson estranged from his family?

The 1841 census of my 2nd great grandparents' household at the Bog of Ord in Urray, Ross-shire, lists just four of the nine children born to Donald Matheson (abt 1794-1859) and Margaret McKenzie (abt 1798-1865):

• Isabella, aged 14

• Duncan, aged 9

• Francis aged 7

• Donald aged 2

My 3rd great grandfather, Donald, reports his occupation in 1841 as overseer.

1841 census, Bog or Ord, Urray, Ross-shire Scotland

Except for this 1841 census, Donald doesn't appear in any other census before he died in 1859. Censuses between 1801 and 1831 were statistical only, and incomplete. In hindsight, I realize that of Donald's three children whom I've found, in a rather obvious deviation from the Scottish naming pattern, none named a son after him, whereas, each named a daughter Margaret, after their mother, Margaret McKenzie. I'm leaning more towards the family estrangement theory than ever. For those who haven't heard about the Scottish naming pattern, here it is:

• The first son was named after the father’s father.

• The second son after the mother’s father.

• The third son after the father.

• The first daughter after the mother’s mother.

• The second daughter after the father’s mother.

• The third daughter after the mother.

Margaret appeared in the 1851 census  with three of her children, and in the 1861 census, which she was living with her son (my great grandfather), Frank, both years in Inverness, and as I reported here, she was living with her son, John, in Moray, when she died in 1865. Like all good sons, they looked after their mother. But what of the rest of Donald's and Margaret's children? I've bolded the names of those whom I've found, but mysteries about the rest remain unresolved.

• Janet b 9 Jul 1821
• Alexander b 24 Jan 1824
• Isabel b 3 Jul 1827
• John b 30 Oct 1829
• Duncan b 11 Dec 1331
• Francis b 19 Dec 1833 (my great grandfather)
• Elisabeth b 29 Jun 1838 (AKA Margaret)
• Donald b 29 Jun 1839
• Ann 12 b Jul 1842

There is no trace of Isabel or Duncan after the 1841 census. What happened to them? I have nothing at all about Janet or Alexander except for their baptism dates. All of these are common names in Scotland, which has made for a frustrating search.

Donald died alone at Erbusaig on 1 May 1859, with a sister-in-law reporting his death. But did his family think he was already dead when his son and namesake died in Inverness two weeks earlier? Or was it just easier to sat that he was deceased?

What happened that the family seem to have turned their backs on Donald?

The never ending story continues....


© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Found! And then there were four: Donald Matheson 1839-1859

Slowly, I continue to find the siblings, my 2nd great aunts and uncles, of my 2nd great grandfather, Frank Gillanders Matheson. I first found Frank's older brother, John Mathieson 1829-1908, followed by their youngest sister, Ann Mathieson Hossack (1842-1873).

As a refresher, I first listed Frank and all of this siblings in this 2016 blog post.

The latest discovery is that of the last born Matheson son, Donald, who was born in 1839. I found him in an indirect way, when I recently found the 1851 census record where he is listed with his mother and two sisters.

1851 Census, 12 Grant's Close, Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland

This census shows that in 1851, my 3rd great grandmother, Margaret McKenzie Matheson, was living in Inverness with her three youngest children:

• Elisabeth (misidentified here as Margaret), aged 14
• Donald, aged 9
• Ann, aged 7

Margaret is listed as a pauper. Her 14 year old daughter is a servant, and the only one in the household bringing in income. A visitor was staying with them, but I wonder if he was living with them, and therefore contributing to household expenses as a tile maker.

I went looking for more documentation, and came across a death registration for Donald Matheson at 11 Grant's Close. It had to be this Donald, since the address was on the same street as the 1851 census, and it was, correctly listing his parents as Donald Matheson and Margaret McKenzie.

Donald Matheson 1839-1859 death registration

You'll see here that Francis (Frank) Matheson reported his younger brother's death. I can't imagine being just 19 years old and dying from consumption. Donald had his whole life ahead of him. How sad.

What's intriguing to me is that on Donald the younger's death registration, it is stated that his father, also a Donald, was deceased, when he in fact died two weeks after his son, on 1 May. This suggests to me that Donald senior was estranged from his family. Or perhaps I'm reading too much into this. I wrote about the deaths of my 2nd great grandparents here.

I've come a long way in my research in just three years, but discoveries are still slow to come.

The never ending story continues....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Alexander Ross married the girl next door: the 1841 census

I love connecting dots that lead to an exciting discovery, especially when it comes about in an aside made by another researcher who was writing to me about several overlapping genealogy matters.

It turns out that when the 1841 census of Scotland was conducted in Abernethy and Kincardine, my 2nd great grandparents-to-be lived next door to each other, each with their widowed mother. Stuff you can't make up. Really.

The census handwriting isn't 100 per cent clear, but is decipherable. Previously, I had relied on the 1841 census transcriptions available on FreeCen and Ancestry, not stopping to pay attention to the fact that the parish numbers (90A if you're interested) for both families are the same. I happily purchased the image from Scotland's People this morning.

1841 census of Ross household at Ryduack and Smith household at Straaneruie

First up are the Rosses of Ryduack: Alex, his mother Marjory and his sister Mary. Below that are the Smiths of Straanruie: Isabella and her mother Margaret, who share their cottage with four other people. Both households each have a farm servant, who were both Grants. Are the Grants connected to my Smiths and Rosses? Time will tell.

What's notable in the Straanruie household is that Margaret Smith's son-in-law, John Dow, was then visiting. John had married my 2nd great great aunt, Grace Smith in 1838.

Ryduack on ordinance map

Another researcher directed me to the National Library of Scotland's 1867-79 ordinance map of the area in which Ryduack and Straanruie are mentioned, and explained that these places were about five miles apart in the Abernethy Forest, which is in the mid-to-top of the right side of the map. To find these places, look for the river Duack from Ryduack to south of the Duack Dam. Straanruie is almost due south of that. These pull out shots may help you locate, if you're really interested. No?

Ryduack and Straanruie were both the property of the Earl of Seafield in 1841. I suspect the lands and those surrounding are still held by the current Earl of Seafield, the 13th of his name, in Game of Thrones parlance, who still today owns vast swaths of land in the Strathspey area. Both place names are old Scots Gaelic. The original spellings left transcriptions through the years open to the imagination, when the skills of census takers and ordinance map scribes did not include accuracy and spelling.

Straanruie on ordinance map

Tomgown (or Tomghobhain in Gaelic) in the district of Tulloch, birthplace of Isabella, can also be found on the larger map.

My 3rd great grandmother, Margaret Davidson Smith, was a widow by 1841. I don't know when Donald Smith died, but it is safe to say that it was before the census was done. Here's a post about their family.

Marjory McDonald Ross, my other 3rd great grandmother, was also a widow. Her husband, Duncan, died in 1824. I wrote about their family here.

So, Alexander married the girl next door, only next door in this case was about five miles apart. Did the families visit by boat or by foot through the forest?

The ordinance survey name books collected between 1868 and 1876 and now held by ScotlandsPlaces describe both Ryuack and Straanruie.

Ryduack description, ScotlandsPlaces OS1/16/1/68

 Straanruie description, ScotlandsPlaces OS1/17/1/73

The third word in the description of Straanruie, cothouses, means a home for cottars, who usually had small pieces of land which they worked while also doing work for their land-holder, who was likely the local tenant farmer.

You're wondering when my 2nd great grandparents Alexander and Isabella got married, aren't you? So am I. So far, I haven't been able to find a marriage record. Their first child for whom there is a baptismal record was born in 1846.

Special thanks to three other family researchers who are wealths of information about all things Scotland, genealogy related.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Roderick Mathieson (1868-1902)

Updated 26 Aug 2019

When I wrote this 2018 blog post about my 2nd great uncle John Mathieson and his family in Kinloss, Moray, Scotland, I had lost track of his son, my first cousin 2x removed, Roderick Mathieson, whom I speculated must have been a very strong man, as he was an iron forger.

1893 Toronto city directory

Recently, I discovered what happened to him. Roderick came to Canada, and while I haven't found exactly when, he first lived in Toronto, and by 1893, worked as a drop forger at Massey-Harris, which had massive facilities employing hundreds at that time in the west end of downtown.

He may have been in Canada before the 1891 census, as I've found an 1889 Toronto city directory entry, but he was not included in the 1891 Canada census.

source: City of Toronto Archives

On 7 Jun 1893, in a Presbyterian
ceremony, Roderick married Annie Mary McEachern of Eldon Township, in what was then Victoria County, Ontario. Eldon was settled by Scots, mainly from Argyll, in the late 1820s. Today, Victoria is part of the City of Kawartha Lakes. Annie's parents had emigrated from Scotland in 1861.

I don't know how they met--Annie was still in Eldon in 1891 when the census was done. She and Roderick don't appear to have had any children. Neither appear on the 1901 Canada census in Toronto or Eldon.

But, Roderick was at his father's in Kinloss when the 1901 census was conducted in Scotland, England and Wales, and was included in that census there. But by 2 May 1902, he was back in Canada, where he died from consumption. Did he go back to Scotland for a final visit with his family?

Roderick's death registration notes that he had consumption for up to four years. Perhaps as his health worsened, he was no longer able to work. As I said earlier, he must have been a very strong man to have been an iron forger. But he was no longer strong, and so he and Annie moved to Eldon, where she had a very large family for support. Did Annie go to Eldon when Roderick returned to Scotland for a final visit? Roderick's death was reported by one of Annie's brothers. I haven't found any burial information for Roderick. He was just 34 years old when he died. He and Annie were childless.

In all of the records I've found for Roderick in Canada, the spelling Matheson, with no "i", is used.

And what became of Roderick's widow, Annie? There was no trace of Annie after his death.....well, until, a few days after first writing this, I found that she remarried in 1912, in Victoria to William Clark Thompson, aged 50. And after that, there is no trace of either.

The never ending story continues....


© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

The Cincinnati McCorkell Family

Augustin McCorkell (abt 1845-1904) was the eldest son of my 1st cousin 3x removed Sarah Doherty (abt 1826-1861) and her husband, Patrick Joseph McCorkell (1824-1904), who settled in Mara Township in what is now Ontario. I wrote about Sarah's and Patrick's family here.

Born in Ireland, Augustin was left behind when his parents first came to North America, because they were concerned he was too young for the voyage. He joined his parents in 1859, when his aunt, Elleanor Doherty, brought him across the ocean. We don't know what happened to Elleanor. No further trace of her has been found.

It's not clear when Augustin decided to leave Mara Township, or why, but he made his way to Cincinnati, and on 12 Jul 1868 at All Saints Catholic Church, married Margaret Gleason, who was also born in Ireland. They were both about 23 years old when they married. Subsequent censuses all report Augustin's occupation in Cincinnati as laborer. Was he called Gus for short? His namesake son was.

Was he drawn to Cincinnati because he knew he had family there? Specifically, his 1st Dougherty cousins once removed? Or did they meet by chance once he was living in Cincinnati? Those cousins were my three 2nd great uncles and two 2nd great aunts who made their way to Cincinnati starting in the 1840s from Quebec's Eastern Townships: James, Thomas, Catharine, Mary Louisa and Joseph M., who I write about here and elsewhere in this blog in several posts. They used the Dougherty spelling.

Augustin and Margaret had at least 11 children:

• Sarah (or Sally or Sadie) abt 1868-1959
• James 1871
• Thomas 1873-1901
• James J. 1874-1901
• Joseph Patrick 1878-1953
• Edward 1879-1887
• John 1880-1881
• Mary 1884-1919
• Michael 1885-1917
• Charles 1888-1964
• Catharine 1890-1891
• Augustin F. 1892-1966

Three died in infancy. One died aged 8, and two died in their 20s. Of those who survived, three married and had families. Charles and Augustin adopted the spelling McCorkle. All lived all their lives in the Cincinnati area. 

Did Augustin ever return to Mara Township after making his way to Cincinnati? He had family members there. Did he stay in touch with his siblings, some of whom settled in the United States? 

And did he know his Dougherty first cousins in Cincinnati? 

The never ending story continues....

© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

When Matheson brothers and McKenzie sisters married

Before he married my great grandmother, Annie Ross, in 1878, Frank Gillanders Matheson first married Isabella McKenzie (abt 1838-1871) on 20 Apr 1866 in Inverness. I wrote about their marriage and family here.

Frank's and Isabella's marriage registration names her parents as Roderick McKenzie, wood sawyer, deceased, and Margaret Finlayson. Isabella died on 29 Mar 1871 from rheumatic fever, just four days after giving birth to her third daughter, and namesake. Her death registration confirms her parents' names and other information.

Last year, I found Frank's older brother, John Mathieson, and wrote about his life and family here. Yes, like my Doughertys, the Mathesons are another family where different spellings were used by different siblings in the same generation. This is something that definitely keeps genealogists on our toes.

John married Catherine McKenzie in Inverness on 16 Dec 1864.  While the image of their marriage registration on Scotland's People and while it's not the best reproduction, it is clear that Catherine's parents are also Roderick McKenzie, wood sawyer, deceased and Margaret Finlayson.

John Mathieson & Catherine McKenzie marriage registration, Scotland's People

Frank witnessed their marriage, together with Catherine's and Isabella's brother, Alex.

The 1871 census, conducted a few months after Isabella died, shows that Catherine was then living temporarily at Frank's home at Clash Dhu in Rafford, Moray, caring for Frank's and Isabella's two young daughters, Margaret Finlayson b 1868 (named after her grandmother), and Catherine (yes, named for her aunt), b 1869.

Sadly, Isabella's namesake had died on 4 May. Catherine's nine-month old daughter, also a Margaret, was included in that household census. By that time, Catherine and John had two young children of their own. Their daughter was with Catherine, but what of her son? Well, the 1871 census of John's household at East Grange in Kinloss, Moray shows that Catherine's mother, Margaret was living there.

Catherine died at East Grange in Kinloss on 5 Nov 1873 from pneumonia. In her registration, her father's occupation is given as agricultural labourer. I think a wood sawyer would fall into that broad category.

Catherine McKenzie Mathieson death registration, Scotland's People

Margaret Finlayson McKenzie remained in her son-in-law John Mathieson's household the rest of her life, even after John remarried in 1879. She appears in the 1881 census there, and John reported her death from old age on 19 Sep 1888.

Margaret Finlayson McKenzie death registration, Scotland's People

And what about Roderick McKenzie, Catherine's and Isabella's father? He died in Urray on 30 Oct 1858 aged 57. No cause of death was recorded, but yes, his occupation was sawyer.

Roderick McKenzie death registration, Scotland's People

John, Catherine, Frank and Isabella were all born at Urray in Ross-shire, their baptismal records between 1829 and 1838 show. The Mathesons and McKenzies were neighbours it seems. Since statutory records were collected starting only in 1855, these baptismal records don't offer much more in the way of detail, but I'm quite certain based on the records I've found that Catherine and Isabella were both daughters of the same Roderick McKenzie and Margaret Finlayson. This represents one of those a-ha! moments genealogists love.

Was Roderick McKenzie a cousin to my 2nd great grandmother Margaret McKenzie (abt 1798-1865)? I know they weren't siblings, as other records show they had different fathers.

The never ending story continues....





© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Paul Doherty of Camnish, Dungiven lived a long life: 1826-1914

When my 1st cousin 3x removed, Paul Doherty (1826-1914) died at the age of 88 on 9 Feb 1914, a very lengthy, but not entirely accurate, obituary appeared in the Derry Journal on 13 Feb 1914. In fact, the obituary is so lengthy that I had to capture it in four images, appeared in the Derry Journal on 13 Feb 1914. Paul was one of at least 13 children of my 2nd great great uncle and aunt, Thomas Doherty and Bridget McCloskey. I first wrote about that family here.

Early on in Paul's obituary, you can easily spot the first inaccuracy. He was born in 1826, not "over a century ago" as the third sentence of the obituary states. Paul's 12 Jan 1826 baptism record is one of the few Catholic church records I've found for my Dougherty ancestors in Dungiven or elsewhere in Derry or Donegal. Fact checking was still in its infancy in early 20th century journalism.

Paul Doherty's 12 Jan 1826 baptism, St Patrick's Church, Dungiven

The obituary notes some of his siblings who settled in America. One sentence here I've been unable to verify, despite the plethora of information about the New York and Erie Railway available online and elsewhere: "Two others were large contractors, and under the title Doherty & Hegarty, built the New York and Eyrie Railway, with many other state contracts." The New York and Erie Railway was built between 1831 and 1852. Only two of Paul's sons were in New York, Kingston, specifically. One was a clothier who died in 1853, and the other returned home to Camnish and died in 1854. I wrote about them and their sisters who also made their way to Kingston here in 2016.

Paul and Margaret Ann McKinney (1835-1901) had at least eight children. The obituary doesn't name all of them -- in the cases of his daughters, their husbands' names appear, but not theirs. I found the children through baptismal records:

Thomas (abt 1856-?)
Ellen (1858-abt 1929)
Bridget (1861-1947)
Marcus (abt 1863-bef 1918)
Isabella (1864-aft 1911)
Willie (1867-1957)
Jane (1870-?)
James (1872-1946)

All of them seem to have remained in Ireland, but not all married and had families of their own. Willie was a priest. I've become friends with several of his descendants though, through Facebook and AncestryDNA.

We regularly collaborate on our shared ancestry.

What a long life Paul had -- deserving of this long obituary.


The never ending story continues....

© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Chronicling Truro Township land grants

Eda Maud Nelson (1884-1980) was a 2nd cousin 2x removed from me and a school teacher, as were most unmarried women born in that era, but she also had an avid interest in local history, and wrote in her local newspaper, the Truro Daily News, in Colchester, Nova Scotia.

Here is one of her articles that goes into some detail about the original Truro Township land grants, after the fall of the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1758. I first mention my ancestor Alexander Nelson's own land grant, which is mentioned in the article, here.

Eda's article is full of all sorts of information. She doesn't actually call the settlers New England Planters, but that is what they were. While Alexander received his land grant in 1761, it turns out that it was officially signed until 1765, something that Eda notes was not uncommon. Some grantees responded to ads Nova Scotia's British Governor placed in New England newspapers. Others received the land grants for military service at the Plains of Abraham or elsewhere.

It's not clear when this story was published, but it was definitely in the age of the once dreaded, now obsolete, library card index system. Eda must have had to do considerable paper research, and this would have take lots of time on her part.

Courtesy of Karen Nelson

Eda never married, by the way. She and two of her also unmarried sisters are buried together under one marker.

Eda and my common ancestors are my 3rd great grandparents, Elias Nelson (1783-1871) and Elizabeth Forbes (1786-1877). They were her great grandparents.


The never ending story continues....





© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved