benjamin mcgilvray - aberdeen

[gillian macgillivray]

hi, can anyone help my relatives exact birth details is a mystery, i know that he was married to emma wood in 1877 aberdeen and that he died 1916 aged 61 making him being born around 1855, but i cannot find any proof of this also his parents james mcgilvray and margaret (walker?) they are mentioned on his marriage cert and death cert but i cant find any marriage date for them. thanks gillian

[Russell]

Hi Gillian

The dreaded McGivray strikes again. I noticed that your spelling of surname differs from Benjamin's and his father.
We had a similar problem until we found that the most frequent occurance of the McGilvray spelling was from Mull and the isle of Colonsay. A check on Colonsay and we found our elusive Archie McGilvray with the gaelic spelling of McGilvra.
There are about 24 different variants on the surname which makes the use of wildcards a bit of a gamble.

Russell

[nelmit]

hi, can anyone help my relatives exact birth details is a mystery, i know that he was married to emma wood in 1877 aberdeen and that he died 1916 aged 61 making him being born around 1855, but i cannot find any proof of this also his parents james mcgilvray and margaret (walker?) they are mentioned on his marriage cert and death cert but i cant find any marriage date for them. thanks gillian

Here he is in 1881 with family -

Dwelling: 24 Pork Lane Lobby
Census Place: Aberdeen St Nicholas, Aberdeen, Scotland
Source: FHL Film 0203446 GRO Ref Volume 168-1 EnumDist 52 Page 23
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
Benjamin MC GILVRAY M 26 M Auchterader
Rel: Head
Occ: Iron Ship Riveter
Emma MC GILVRAY M 24 F Auchterader
Rel: Wife
Mary MC GILVRAY 5 F Auchterader
Rel: Dau
Margaret MC GILVRAY 3 F Auchterader
Rel: Dau
Benjamin MC GILVRAY 3 w M Auchterader
Rel: Son

I was going to suggest looking for him in 1871 but can't get a hit from SP.

Kind regards,
Annette M

[Anne H]

Hi Gillian,

I looked through every Benjamin in 1861 & 1871 and couldn't see him, but here he is in 1891 and 1901 courtesy of Ancestry.

Name: Banjamin McGilvray
Age: 35
Estimated birth year: abt 1856
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name : Emma
Gender: Male
Where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
Registration Number: 168/1
Registration district: St Nicholas
Civil parish: Aberdeen St Nicholas
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: 29 Wales Street
Occupation: Iron Ship Rivetter
ED: 22
Page: 9 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 60
Line: 11
Roll: CSSCT1891_49
Household Members: Name Age
Banjamin McGilvray 35
Benjamin McGilvray 11
Emma McGilvray 33
Emma McGilvray 3
Jane McGilvray 7
Margaret McGilvray 13
Susan McGilvray 10 Mo


Note Ancestry's translation of McGilvray on 1901...

Name: Benjamin McGilloway
Age: 47
Estimated birth year: abt 1854
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name : Amelia Wood
Gender: Male
Where born: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
Registration Number: 168/1
Registration district: St Nicholas
Civil parish: Aberdeen St Clements
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: 11 Hanover Lane
Occupation: Iron Ship Builder
ED: 34
Page: 22 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 120
Line: 24
Roll: CSSCT1901_52
Household Members: Name Age
Alexander McGilloway 2
Amelia Wood McGilloway 44
Amelia Wood McGilloway 13
Annie Smith McGilloway 9
Benjamin McGilloway 47
Ernest Wood McGilloway 7 mo
Gilbert McGilloway 7
Jane Johnstone McGilloway 17
Maggie McGilloway 22
Robert Wood McGilloway 6
Susan Grant McGilloway 10
Regards,
Anne H

[SarahND]

Hi Gillian,
Welcome to Talking Scot!

Could this be the family in 1861, all with the surname Walker? If so, then perhaps Ben was illegitimate and his birth can be found under his mother's surname.

1861 Dundee, Angus
Margaret Walker, 45, Head, born Aberdeen
James Walker, 23, born Aberdeen, Carter
Peter Walker, 16, Son, born Aberdeen, Clothier
Jessie Walker, 12, Daughter, born Aberdeen, Mill Worker Shifter
Cathrin Walker, 9, Daughter, born Aberdeen
John Walker, 7, Son, born Aberdeen
Benjeman Walker, 5, Son, born Aberdeen
Catherine Walker, 10 Mo, Grandaughter, born Dundee, Forfarshire
William Peacock, 17, Boarder, born Dundee, Forfarshire, Mill Worker
William Davie, 27, Boarder, born Aberdeen, Carter
Camellia Douglas, 25, Boarder, born Aberdeen, Mill Worker

All the best,
Sarah

[gillian macgillivray]

thankyou to you all who have gave me some info on benjamin mcgilvray and hints how to find him appreciate it very much, i now have the macgillivray name but it is through marriage and spelt differently what a
co-incidence.

kind regards
gillian

[SarahND]

Hi Gillian,
As you said in your pm, Margaret Begg was married to Charles Walker. Here they are in 1851 (I have my doubts about Ancestry's transcription of Margaret's birthplace The IGI gives the birthplace of several of her children as Lumphanan)

1851
50 East North Street, Aberdeen North, Aberdeenshire
Charles Walker, 42, Head, born Cuthbert, Aberdeenshire, Grocer
Margaret Begg Walker, 37, Wife, born Sumpherson, Aberdeenshire
Elizabeth Walker, 12, daughter, born Sumpherson, Aberdeenshire
Charles Walker, 7, son, born Turiff, Aberdeenshire, Scholar
Peter Walker, 5, son, born Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scholar
Jessie Walker, 3, daughter, born Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scholar
Helen Walker, 2 Mo, daughter, born Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
Margaret Garden, 17, Servant, born Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, House Servant

Here is Margaret's extracted birth entry:

MARGARET BEGG
Birth: 22 SEP 1814  
Christening: 02 OCT 1814  
Lumphanan, Aberdeen, Scotland
Father: JAMES BEGG
Mother: HELLEN CRAIGMILE

Regards,
Sarah

[SarahND]

Hi again,
Since the Walker family was in Dundee in 1861, I looked on Scotland's People for Charles' death there. There is one Charles Walker born 1809 +/- 2 years who died in Dundee, Angus between 1855 and 1861 (1858 actually). Have you looked for him? Or are you more interested in finding Margaret's marriage to a McGilvray? I'm sorry I seem to have led you away from your original question of Benjamin's birth But you never know what little nugget of information will suddenly give you the clue you need
All the best,
Sarah

[gillian macgillivray]

help me i have hit that brick wall again, i am still trying to trace a bengamin mcgilvray being born, i have went down the route of his mother margaret walker being married before and it seems to tie in as i find a bengamin walker being the right age of 5 in 1861 census but he is missing in 1871 census and his mother dies in 1864 a widow of charles walker could she have met james mcgilvray between 1961 and 1864 and married cant find that either, but i have read that usually if someone marries again the children can take on the stepfathers name easily no laws to stop it back then.

Is there records outwith a church wedding that the answers could be, i noticed my bengamin mcgilvray married at 28 skene square aberdeen would that be like a registry wedding?

Its a costly business finding out this but i have the family history bug that i really want to find out, where is his birth and that of his parents??????????

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

gillian

[Susan]

Hi Gillian

I’ve found some answers for you – but have probably created a good few more questions too lol This was hard work getting there – but little snippets just suddenly started falling into place and several more pieces of your jigsaw are now gonna fit.

Wish there was a quick way to make this a long story short – but best to tell it as is then you can follow it easier. Lunchtime at work today I had a wee look at your latest comment on this thread – I had noticed it when you put it up a couple of weeks ago but hadn’t really had the time to delve far then. There was just something that wasn’t sitting easy with me about Benjamin Walker in 1861 being your Benjamin McGillvray – too many things did not quite add up. I’ve seen times when folk end up having step-parents names or even grandparents names on their MC and DC instead of parents – or even the name of other family members who brought them up after they were orphaned. It was possible perhaps that Benjamin Walker’s mother had remarried – but as you said there was a very small time window for that and the fact that there was no mention of another husband on her DC was also niggling. So I wondered had he been brought up by a McGillvray family following his mother’s death – I couldn’t really see any likely McGillvary folk around on the scene for that so ticked that off the list as well.

The names of Benjamin & Emma (Amelia) McGillvray’s children did not really fit so well with Benjamin Walker’s siblings either and none of their children had any reference to Begg in their names – whilst several had middle names for Emma’s parents Robert Wood and Annie Smith – this was something else making me feel that this was not one and the same Benjamin.

So I hunted around at lunchtime for any Benjamin born 1855 +/- a year or two on Ancestry.co.uk looking at all names thrown up to see if anything jumped out. Eventually I came across Benjamin Walker b1856 Aberdeenshire, living in Jarrow in 1881 with a wife Helen and a son Charles aged 1, born in Dundee – this started ringing bells – looked like it was gonna rule out the 2 Benjamin’s being one and the same after all. I then checked SP and found Benjamin Walker marrying Helen Candow in Dundee in 1879, the parents of Benjamin being Charles Walker & Margaret Begg. This Benjamin appears in 1891 and 1901 still in Jarrow but with a second wife Flora. So at this point it is safe to say that the hunt goes on for the real Benjamin McGillvray !! I decide the next thing to do will be to hunt down another Margaret Walker, but that will have to wait as lunch is over.

Tonight I got down to looking for a likely Margaret Walker in Aberdeen in 1851 on Ancestry.co.uk, reckoning that if Benjamin was born around 1855, she would likely be any age from 16-46 at that time so anything from 12-42 in 1851. There were a few likely looking ones age wise but on hunting down the names of parents and siblings on IGI, they were not looking so good. Then I came across Margaret Walker aged 19 living at 75 West North Street. Also in that household were Benjamin Walker 60, William Walker 26, John Walker 24, Benjaman Walker 15 and James Walker 13. The father is shown as being born at Huntly, all the children in Aberdeen. On the IGIs there is a Benjamin Walker born 1791 in Keithhall & Kinnell, about 20 miles from Huntly – so a possibility. There is a Benjamin Walker marries an Elizabeth Gordon in 1819 in Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, however searching for children of this couple does not come up with much info. There are extracted entries for christenings of an Elizabeth 1821 and a James 1822 shown in Nigg, Kincardineshire, just on the outskirts of Aberdeen and a submitted entry for a Benjamin christened 1836 St Andrews RC, Dundee. This Margaret having Benjamin as her father and brother made me think she was a likely mother for Benjamin b1855/6. So struggling for ideas at this point it was back to Ancestry.co.uk for another trawl through all Benjamins born 1855/56. I worked down to the other Benjamin Walker in 1881, where I had stopped at lunchtime – and then - !!!!!!!!!!!! - just a few down the list was an entry for 1861 census - a Benjamin Gilveng b1854 Aberdeen, Scotland, living in Jarrow. Could this possibly be close enough to McGillvray I wondered – well one click more and I’m looking at James Gilveng 31, Margaret Walker Gilveng 27, Jemima Gilveng 9 and Benjamin Gilveng 7, all born Aberdeen, living at Patrick Buildings, Jarrow. A couple more clicks and I’m looking at the image which shows their name as Gilvray, with James shown as being a joiner. Back to the IGIs where I had already tried to find a James McGillvray marrying a Margaret Walker with no luck – but I had just been trying Scotland – I decided to try England too in case they had married there – and then another lucky hit – 28/05/1855 James Gilloreay married Margaret Walker in Northumberland. The two fathers are shown as being James Gilloreay and Benjamin Walker. I then had a stab at trying to find births for Jemima and Benjamin – but no luck there – either in Aberdeen or England. I did however come across a James Gillavray born in Aberdeen, christened on 03/06/1828, parents James Gillavray and Margaret Ross. So then it was back to Ancestry.co.uk to see where they might be in 1851 census – and there was James Gillvray b1828 living in Aberdeen – and his address was 75 West North Street – the same address as Margaret Walker !!!!! However it was on the page following so I had not been able to pick this up earlier when I had found Margaret.

Well Gillian, looks like there’s enough there to work with and lots more for you to follow up on – unfortunately I have not been able to find that elusive birth date for you, nor have I come across the family yet in 1871 – that will keep for another day lol – at least you now have a marriage date for Benjamin’s parents and they are as named – also his sister and his grandparents too.

Susan.