I've been searching for a long time for information about Devina Cothill Devine, born Glasgow 1894 to James Devine and Jane (Thomson). After the 1901 census I could find no trace of her.
However, at last I have discovered, through Scotlands People, that she died in 1933, and was married to William Robertson.
I searched back to find her date of marriage, but, very strangely I didn't find anything except a marriage of Mary Devine in 1912 to the same William Robertson.
When I looked at this, Mary's parents are also James and Jane - but how could that be? There is no record of a Mary being borm to them, nothing on the 1901 or 1891 census.
Is it likely that Davina would have changed her name to Mary for the wedding?
I can't think why she would have, but there doesn't seem to be any other explanation unless I'm missing the obvious!
Any advice (and reassurance that I'm not going mad) would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Bernadette
Strange name change?
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Bernadette
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Strange name change?
Searcning for DEVINE, THOM(P)SON, BRADY, McGONIGLE, FAIRLIE in Glasgow, Paisley, Ireland.
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AndrewP
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Re: Strange name change?
Hi Bernadette,
You may need to wait a few months for the 1911 census to be released on ScotlandsPeople to see if there are any more clues to whether she was calling herself Mary or Devina at that time.
All the best,
AndrewP
You may need to wait a few months for the 1911 census to be released on ScotlandsPeople to see if there are any more clues to whether she was calling herself Mary or Devina at that time.
All the best,
AndrewP
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Bernadette
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:49 pm
- Location: Yorkshire
Re: Strange name change?
Thanks Andrew that's probably the best I can hope for.
Maybe she just didn't like the name she'd been given at birth - I suppose it is a bit of a mouthful.
Regards
Bernadette
Maybe she just didn't like the name she'd been given at birth - I suppose it is a bit of a mouthful.
Regards
Bernadette
Searcning for DEVINE, THOM(P)SON, BRADY, McGONIGLE, FAIRLIE in Glasgow, Paisley, Ireland.
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Montrose Budie
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Re: Strange name change?
Hi Bernadette
Just to make searching even easier !, I see that death index in 1933 shows her as Davine Cottril DEVINE as opposed to the birth registration entry of Davina Cothill DEVINE.
'Davina' may well be a shortened version of Davidina. Take any Scottish male given name you like and you'll find a wee wain lumbered with the matching .......ina . I gave up long since being surprised at what names parents gave their daughter via this route.
Some Davidina's, Davida's, Davina's chose to be known by the 'pet' name of Vida or Vina, but, here it looks like Davina decided to be known as Mary, - after her paternal granny ?
More often than not, the original birth registration name is shown on subsequent records, (maybe sometimes lacking the middle name), but not always, as here, on the marriage register entry.
Given the facts that the parents names match on the birth, marriage and death records it would appear that Mary was indeed Devina.
The fly in in the ointment is that while the age of Mary DEVINE in the 1912 marriage record of 18 implies a birth year of ca. 1894, which matches, the 1933 death record age of 39 implies a birth year of 1899, compared to her actual year of birth of 1894 ! But then ages on death records can often be way off.
Very sad to see that Davina died of Placenta Praevia, Haemorrhage, and Acute Bronchitis; for the former see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placenta_praevia
Against that, the only kids in the 1901 census entry for the family are Devina and John, ages unreadable on the image; never mind that the surname has been severely mangled in the indexing, but the parents' ages match the 1891 marriage entry as far as I can see in the census image , and, as important, James's occupation (the father) is a perfect match, as is the address of 1901 census address of 16 Newton Street a match to the 1894 birth record of Davina.
mb
Just to make searching even easier !, I see that death index in 1933 shows her as Davine Cottril DEVINE as opposed to the birth registration entry of Davina Cothill DEVINE.
'Davina' may well be a shortened version of Davidina. Take any Scottish male given name you like and you'll find a wee wain lumbered with the matching .......ina . I gave up long since being surprised at what names parents gave their daughter via this route.
Some Davidina's, Davida's, Davina's chose to be known by the 'pet' name of Vida or Vina, but, here it looks like Davina decided to be known as Mary, - after her paternal granny ?
More often than not, the original birth registration name is shown on subsequent records, (maybe sometimes lacking the middle name), but not always, as here, on the marriage register entry.
Given the facts that the parents names match on the birth, marriage and death records it would appear that Mary was indeed Devina.
The fly in in the ointment is that while the age of Mary DEVINE in the 1912 marriage record of 18 implies a birth year of ca. 1894, which matches, the 1933 death record age of 39 implies a birth year of 1899, compared to her actual year of birth of 1894 ! But then ages on death records can often be way off.
Very sad to see that Davina died of Placenta Praevia, Haemorrhage, and Acute Bronchitis; for the former see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placenta_praevia
Against that, the only kids in the 1901 census entry for the family are Devina and John, ages unreadable on the image; never mind that the surname has been severely mangled in the indexing, but the parents' ages match the 1891 marriage entry as far as I can see in the census image , and, as important, James's occupation (the father) is a perfect match, as is the address of 1901 census address of 16 Newton Street a match to the 1894 birth record of Davina.
mb