Missing death

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:29 pm

Is it possible that a death in the 1880s could have been missed from the records? I am looking for the death of Janet (possibly known as Jessie) Crosser, nee Small. She was born in 1856, married John Crosser in 1875 & had 3 children, the last born in 1881 - she registered the birth, so did not die in childbirth. By 1886 John is remarrying as a widower & as it is in the area where he lived with Janet I don't think we're talking bigamy here

I've tried every wild card I can think of without success. Any ideas anyone?

Muriel

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:17 pm

Hi Muriel
Where were they living at the time?
There is an odd entry for a Jessie Small on SP, died 1881, aged 27, other surname Doak which seems like an odd surname to me.... Greenock Old or West, Renfrew. Could this be her hiding behind a mistranscription?

Best wishes
Lesley

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 5:25 pm

Thanks for the thought Lesley but I'd already checked her out. Janet was born in Stonehouse, Lanarkshire & married there. She then lived in Larkhall, altho' her last child was born at her parents in Stonehouse. I'd wondered if the reason for that was that she was ill & had died in childbirth or shortly thereafter. The child, Catherine's, birth certificate shows that Janet registered it so she didn't die immediately. John remarried in Dalserf in 1886 so Janet must have died before then. Perhaps it's one of those that got missed on the index & I'll have to look at the fiches sometime when I'm in NRH. I HATE these ones that disappear without trace when they should be easily traceable

I know that some people from that area went to Hawkhead if they had TB but there are no deaths in the Paisley/Barrhead area that fit.

Muriel

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 3:08 am

Hello Muriel,

Perhaps she didn’t die. Maybe they separated or she disappeared without trace and he remarried (in which case maybe it would be bigamy). Perhaps they divorced. Funnily enough in the Glasgow Herald 4th December 1891 there’s a divorce action against a Janet Crosser or Bulloch, places such as Larkhall and Bellshill are mentioned and things are happening in 1881 and 1886. She doesn’t seem to fit your relative at all but makes interesting reading and might be worth a look.
viewtopic.php?t=11449

Hope this helps,
Alan

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:10 pm

Hi Alan

What an interesting read about Janet Crosser & William Bulloch. I guess she may be a Crosser relative but, as you say, not mine. I think it unlikely that it was a bigamous marriage - there were too many family members (on both sides!) in the area for that! I think it is more likely that she is hiding in the index somewhere - it can happen that people have been missed when the orginal indexes were done and they are there but no visible.

Muriel

killearnan · Post by **killearnan** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:02 pm

Did they go somewhere else for a while? I had one couple I looked all over Scotland for.....the information from my grandmother had William Paterson dying in Edinburgh in 1878 - but I found him in the 1881 census with the wife who had also supposedly died in the late 1870s. But I couldn't find a death record on SP, despite looking at death records for many of the William Patersons in Edinburgh and elsewhere over a couple decades. Turns out William died in Perry, New York, in 1906 and his wife in the same place a few years later. Family stories had no trace of this immgration, even though my grandfather (son of a daughter who remained in Scotland when the rest of the family left) stayed with cousins when he immigrated and my father remembers visiting these cousins when he was a child/teen......

Another possibility is that there was a divorce. I have a couple in the US in the 1820s where I know there must (ok, it is just highly likely.....) have been a divorce (she left and went to another state, he stayed in the same small town and remarried) but I haven't been able to find it. If she'd remarried, I'd guess she claimed widowhood, but he remarried while living in the same town of 500 people -- some of whom were his wife's cosuins/etc., so claiming she'd died wasn't really feasible

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:17 pm

I have looked at all the possible deaths in Scotland, not just Lanarkshire area without success. I've also checked FreeBMD.

John Crosser lived in Larkhall & remarried in the C of S church in Larkhall, describing himself as a widower so I think it unlikely that they divorced in the area. There is no sign that he moved very far - his mother moved to Bonhill, Dunbartonshire & his younger daughter was brought up there. Her older sister went to her maternal grandparents & the son stayed with his father & new wife. He's there in the 1881, 1891 & 1901 censuses (with a different wife each time!) & was in Larkhall at the time of his second marriage in 1886 & in Hamilton at the time of his 3rd in 1896. I suppose they could have moved away between 1881-5 during which time he "lost" his 1st wife but it doesn't look particularly likely.

I'm due a visit to NRH shortly so will have a dig through the fiches for Stonehouse & Larkhall & see if anything turns up.

Muriel