Missing death record

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:00 pm

I think I've exhausted every avenue in looking for the death of Murdoch Macrae, so I'm turning to you to find out what roads I might've missed.

Murdoch Macrae was born 13 August 1815 in Shieldaig to Donald Macrae and Christian MacLennan, as confirmed by the IGI and his marriage register.

He married Janet MacKenzie on 30 Jan 1855.

His occupation on most documents is given as ship owner, with one mention of his being a fisherman. On the 1861 census, Janet is listed as wife of the head of the household, but he does not appear on the census with the family, which leads me to believe he was possibly out at sea that night.

Their last child was born 26 November 1863 in Inverness, with Murdo listed as the father and apparently still living. By the 1871 census, the family is in Shieldaig with Janet listed as the head of the household. On Janet's 1876 death register, she is listed as the widow of Murdo Macrae.

So it seems that he died between 1863 when their son was born and 1871 when his wife is the head of the household.

Several various wildcard searches at SP have turned up only two deaths in the entire country for his name and ballpark age, neither of which is the right one, and none at all on minor records, which I tried just in case.

I followed all the useful links on the seafaring forum, but have been unable to find anything about him so far in that vein.

If he died at sea, should his DC still be at SP?
Am I just missing something obvious in my search attempts?

Thanks as always!
Kathy

Post by **joette** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:12 pm

Did you search for his death before 1861?It would not be the first time that a child is named after several years death of his purported Father.I have one where her Father died in a mining accident seven years before she was born.!
It is possible that his death is lurking under some obscure spelling.Will have a little play around with possible perimeters & see if I have any joy.
I guess he could have died/death registered abroad depending where he sailed to??

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:18 pm

Excellent point! I hadn't considered the last baby not being his, but it might explain why she was in Inverness instead of home when he was born. I'll expand the years of my search and see what happens.

Kathy

Edited to add that I came up blank for 1861-1863. He registered his 1861 baby, so couldn't have died earlier than that.

trishtrash · Post by **trishtrash** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:49 pm

Welcome to my world!!

I also have a Murdoch with no registered death details and guess what, he is a McKenzie!!! He was also a seafarer. If you come up with any good ideas for this type of search I would love to know.

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:23 am

Kathy

Until recently (last week) I couldnt find the DC of my gggrandmother but thanks to Jack I finally found her. Her MS was mistranscribed which led to the problem of not finding her using this information. Even then I had to search with limited location information to find her.

This might be teaching granny to suck eggs but sometimes less is more.
Even SP isnt perfect in the data it holds or how it is transcribed

Dont give up that is all I am trying to say

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:36 am

Trish, frustrating, isn't it? I hope yours turns up for you.

Stew, I won't give up. Thanks. Congrats on finding your gggrandmother's DC!

Kathy

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:14 am

Hi Kathy

Nope I've not got any wallsmashing suggestions at the moment. In the line of Joettes previous thinking (and perhaps you've already attempted it)...really stretch out and consider he may have been away from home on his boat or at another home entirely. The same for a supposed death...he might have left the family and they just said he was dead. This doesn't happen often and I don't want to accuse your innocent ancestor of shenanigans....but I've seen it occur before.

One other long shot possibility.....do you think his "ship" was just a small fishing boat or a larger merchant type vessel? I don't know the full criteria involved in the registration of mariners but do know the Guildhall Library in London holds some records. If he was a captain that maybe went down with the ship then there might be a record of that with them.

Best wishes
Jean

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:19 pm

Thanks for the ideas, Jean.

I think it's likely that his "ship" was a fishing boat, but I'm still investigating that route in case it was something bigger.

It did occur to me to wonder whether ggg grandfather Murdo might've run off and left his family pretending he was dead, but so far I haven't found any evidence to support it. I'll keep looking!

Kathy

trishtrash · Post by **trishtrash** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:34 pm

Mine was a steamship stoker according to his marriage details. I have also wondered if he ran away... On the other hand, his wife went to live in the US and married again and guess what....after a few years hubby disappears and theres no death record found yet!! I am beginning to get suspicious.

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:35 pm

Hmmm... what _was_ she doing with her husbands?

Kathy