Missing Birth.....

Skene Dhu · Post by **Skene Dhu** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:24 am

Hi all,
Wondering if anyone can help in solving a missing birth. Its for a possible illegitimate child called William Johnston Blackley. We know the following facts

1) William died 8 Jul 1941 in Lanarkshire, he`s registered as William Johnston Blackley, but after the name is "Formerly William Johnston"
2) His father was John Johnston (Iron Moulder) and Mother was Jane (Jeanie) Blackley, but no marriage cert. can be found for this couple.
3) His mother Jane died on the9 May 1872 in Orchard St., Carluke, her death cert. states Widow of John Johnston, it was registered by her father William Yale Blackley
4) In the 1881 census for James St. Carluke, William was living with his Grandparents William Yale Blackley and Mary Carruthers McCallum, and is named "William Blackley".
What is giving us concern, is the fact that no birth cert. circa 1863 can be found under William Johnston / William Blackley / or William Johnston or Blackley, could it be possible that some records for Carluke (1863) are missing, or has his mother Jane committed a very serious offence by not registering his birth.

Any help welcome

John

Post by **AndrewP** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:55 am

Hi John,

I don't know if this is helping, or muddying the water, but there is a Jane Blackley born to a Jane Blackley (no father named) in Carluke on 07 April 1860.

That showed up on the IGI by inserting the mother's name, the region (British Isles) and the batch number C116291 (Carluke births 1855-1875). No sign of William.

I tried a similar search allowing for strange spellings of the surname. On the IGI form, insert first name (William), mother's first name (Jane), region (British Isles) and batch number C116291 (Carluke births 1855-1875). Again, no obvious sign of William.

There is no reason to believe that the records are missing. The IGI shows 259 births in Carluke for 1863.

Is there any sign of them in the 1871 census on ScotlandsPeople?

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:05 am

Hi John

If you first narrow up the likely year of birth of young William by finding him on the 1871 census it will help you. A huge hint is to use the wildcards BL*K*Y and search on Carluke. His age and place of birth that are stated there can only lead to one William Blackley born illegitimately but with an interesting middle name to one Janet Blackley farm servant.

Does this help?

Best wishes
Jean

Skene Dhu · Post by **Skene Dhu** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:11 am

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for that info, we think, we have found the mother Jane Blackley, she`s at 35 Gallowgate, Glasgow under the name Jane Johnston, 33, Widow, Washerwoman, born Leadhills Dumfries, the details fit perfect for the mother, also there`s also a lodger with her John Blackley, 33, unmarried labouer, born in England.

John

Post by **paddyscar** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:29 am

I did a check on

www.Scotlandspeople.gov.uk

A search for [William Blackley] - [birth registries] - [1860 to 1865] - [sex - male] - all districts produces 4 matches on 1 page, but when I narrowed it down to CARLUKE, there were no matches.

Although there are 172 matches for William Johnston with all other conditions as above, a search restricting the search to CARLUKE returns no matches at all.

Perhaps, you need to search the census for 1861 for Jane/Jeanie Blackley to determine where she was living at a point in time closer to when William was born.

Could locate no registration of a marriage of the parents either.

Hope this helps,

Frances

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:40 am

Hello John and all

Just to clarify what I was getting at......in 1871 there are TWO William Blackley's living with their grandparents in Carluke. One age 3 and one age 9. The one aged 3 is the one I found born at Orchard Street in 1868 to Janet Blackley. The 9 year old was listed as born in Edinburghshire. I have not found the parents of him yet. So I guess it's up to you to figure out just which one is the William that you seek!!!

Best wishes
Jean

Skene Dhu · Post by **Skene Dhu** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:54 am

Hi Jean,
I`ve just slapped the back of ma heid, whats that saying!! you cannae teach an old dug new tricks, yes you can, never gave it a thought using wild cards.
The 1871 census for Orchard St., Carluke, thats William Yale Blackley (Wright) and Mary Carruthers McCallum his wife, the first Grandson William, aged 9 will be our William Johnston Blackley born Edinburgh, the 1881 census has him born Carluke. The Second Grandson William, aged 3 will be William Carmichael Blackley born 24 Jan 1868, illegitimate son of Janet Blackley, sister of Jane (Jeanie) Blackley. I`m off to see if I can find William`s birth in Edinburgh now.

Again many thanks

John

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:11 am

Hi John

Ahha! Well good luck then!! I was stuck on the younger William having to be the one as he was born in Carluke

! This hobby sure does send you round in circles sometimes

Jean

Skene Dhu · Post by **Skene Dhu** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:56 pm

Hi Jean,
Looks like this problem is a Valium cocktail job, I`ve tried the wild card search for William Blackley in Edinburgh, but it only brought up one, and it was a different person

I wonder what the penalty would be in 1863 for not registering a birth

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:34 am

Hi John

I had a wee look on my own and have to concur with your (non) findings.

If his birth registration truly were overlooked I would hazard a guess that he wasn't the first. It seems odd that his mother was off when he was only 3 though....I would have expected to find her in Carluke for sure. I've looked for a death of Mr. Johnston too but no likely candidates yet. I think we're all stuck on this one......and I had such high hopes too.

Best wishes anyway...
Jean