Elusive death certificate - where to go now?

Castlehayes · Post by **Castlehayes** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 4:29 pm

I'm trying to locate a death certificate for Thomas Johnstone born 1816 (ish) in Bothwell, Lanarkshire. He married Jane Torrance in Bothwell in 1836 and raised many children.

The 1881 census showed him still living in Bothwell with his wife and youngest son, Thomas. By 1891 Jane Torrance had become a widow.

Using the SP site I listed all the deaths of Thomas Johnstone between 1881 and 1891, checking all likely candidates produced nothing.

So where now, any suggestions or help would be most appreciated

ellenavon · Post by **ellenavon** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:32 pm

Hi there

There's the following death on SP which could be a possibility:

Thomas JOHNSTON, 68yrs, Holytown, Lanarkshire, GROS Data: 625/02 0173

Regards

Ellen

Post by **AndrewP** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:31 am

Hi there,

To add to Ellen's advice above, with a name like Johnstone producing no results with the expected spelling, I would have suggested searching for Johns*on* to cover for the common variations.

In those days spelling of names was inconsistent. In some cases the person registering the death may have not been literate so unable to check it as correct. Or more likely the name as it was spoken was more important than how it was written, so there wasn't really a right or wrong way to spell it. More consistent spelling of names was more a 20th century thing.

All the best,

AndrewP