Isabella Reid and William Reid

[jjlmary312]

Hi,

I have got a copy of the census for 1901 and 1911 for the above 2 people and their father was Robert John Reid and mother Mary MS McNicol and in 1911 they lived at XX Donaldson Street, Hamilton, Scotland. On the census it says Isabella was born in Dumbarton, Alexandria and William was born in Maryhill or Kelvin?> I have tried SC but the records do not match the fathers name. Any suggestions how i can pick up the correct records. The one i pulled off the father does not match the person involved. Mary & Robert John Reid Jnr I can confirm are the correct people as one was my gran and I can remember Robert John Reid Jnr. I am trying to complete my records.

[Montrose Budie]

Hi,

I have got a copy of the census for 1901 and 1911 for the above 2 people and their father was Robert John Reid and mother Mary MS McNicol and in 1911 they lived at XX Donaldson Street, Hamilton, Scotland. On the census it says Isabella was born in Dumbarton, Alexandria and William was born in Maryhill or Kelvin?> I have tried SC but the records do not match the fathers name. Any suggestions how i can pick up the correct records. The one i pulled off the father does not match the person involved. Mary & Robert John Reid Jnr I can confirm are the correct people as one was my gran and I can remember Robert John Reid Jnr. I am trying to complete my records.

Hi jjlmary

Part of the problem here is the frequency of occurrence of the surname REID, but there's a wee trick worth trying.

If Robert John REID and Mary McNICOL used a naming tradition introduced in the general population from the mid 1800s onawrds, then there's a good chance of the respective parents' mother's maiden names being used as middle names, - in this case ALSTON and AITKEN, - or the mother's own maiden surname, here McNICOL, - so search on that basis on ScotlandsPeople in the birth indexes.

Starting with Isabella I can see directly that there was an Isabella Alston Black REID born in Bonhill (the registration district containing Alexandria) in 1888. (The BLACK will very probably be a clue to an earlier generation.)

Similarly, for William, there's a William McNicol REID born in Maryhill in 1897.

Both have the 'correct' parents, Robert John REID, mother's MS ALSTON, Grocer in 1888, and Grocer's Assistant in 1897: and Mary REID MS McNICOL, mother's MS AITKEN.

Even without searching on the basis of these middle names, just searching on the basis of plain Isabella REID and William REID, the districts derived from the censuses, and the likely years derived from their ages in the censuses, you would very quickly have come up with the same possible hits, and, from the middle names shown in the index, very quickly deduced that it had to be worth spending the credits.

I assume that the Mary, aged 18 in 1911 is your direct ancestor ?

Any family stories that explain why Robert John had become a 'Car Conductor' [probably tramcar] in 1901, and a 'Lorry Salesman' in 1911?, always assuming, of course, that these census entries are for the correct family .......

mb

Later PS

Searching in the SP death indexes on the basis of the above Isabella and William, and their middle names will produce one death, - in 1948 in Dalziel, in the County of Lanark, leading to a marriage in 1915, and the death of the groom in 1926, quite possibly as a result of his WWI service in The Cameron Highlanders.

mb

[Montrose Budie]

I meant to add that it's sufficient just to use the relevant maiden names in the given name field; here ALSTON, AITKEN and McNICOL.

This can even help in the following generation.

mb