Looking for Maggie Skinner nee Porterfield- progress?

[Anniespangles]

Hello again,Iam fearing I might have to let this one go,but I just don't want to let her go!Ive posted recently about this ggaunt.Maggie or Margaret nee Porterfield was born 19/5/1886 at 129 High Street Dumbarton to parents Robert Porterfield and Margaret Porterfield nee McGregor. On September 27 1912 in Dumbarton she married Henry Skinner, (b.8/4/1881 to parents William Skinner and Elspeth Skinner nee Wallace).Henry was a marine engineer.Nine months after their marriage on the 30/6/1913 Maggie gave birth to a wee boy named Henry who tragically died a week later from conginital syphilis.I can't find DCs for either Maggie/Margaret or Henry,neither can I see them in the 1911 census which would be before they married.I have been to the Mitchell for a look as did another lovely member for me and nothing,Ive tried going through Henrys siblings from the 1901 census but that got confusing and expensive and Ive bought credits and gone over Ancestry UK but I found this a tricky site to navigate.In saying that there were a couple of Margaret Skinners going outwards to the USA but without a defo DOB and no Henry on the records its difficult to say if it was her or not.Just one last note of intrest both the BC and DC for baby Henry were signed by Allan McPherson who was Maggies brother in law,no sign of Henry.Now either Henry was to traumatised by the events,or wasn't there,or was feeling guilty,or was denying the baby was his who knows but he didn't sign his sons certificates.The only thing I have left is to check the valuation rolls for their last address but that won't tell me where they went.I could also do a lair search for baby Henry but that again won't lead me to Maggie.Is this it for this branch or does anyone have any other ideas?I hope you can help Anne

[carolineasb]

Can I ask where you got the dates of birth for Henry and Margaret/Maggie? I may be doing something wrong but I can't find a birth for Margaret Porterfield in 1896 and the birth for Henry is on Family Search as a slightly different date.

[Anniespangles]

Sorry Maggies year of birth is 1886 NOT 96 and Henrys BC is messy looking and could read the 8th of April instead of the 18th!Doh!Carolineasb Ive PMd you,thanks

[AndrewP]

Hi Annie,

I've had a look at a few documents concerning this family. Maggie Porterfield was alive and kicking earlier than 1896. Maggie appears as a youngster in the 1891 census in a family headed by her widowed mother. This is borne out by the age she gave on her marriage certificate. Her birth was on the 19th of the month, but not May.

If you are looking for her mother's death certificate, you will need to seek POTTERFIELD as it is misindexed. In the 1891 census, Margaret may have been vague about her age, or at least it seems that way compared with her age on her marriage certificate.

In the 1901 census, mother and daughter are both enumerated as MARGRET (no "a" in the centre of the name). They are a couple of doors away from the Skinners.

Margaret (the mother) had died before the 1911 census. Margaret (the daughter) is in the 1911 census with her brother, both indexed as POTTERFIELD.

Like you, I see no obvious sign of Henry or Margaret having died in Scotland.

All the best,

AndrewP

** edit ** I see you have corrected the year for Maggie's birth since I started composing this reply, while looking up various documents.

[Anniespangles]

Thankyou for this information,I was so scunnered when I couldn't find her in the 1911 census ,but now I will check it under Potterfield.Thanks Anne.

[Anniespangles]

Ok being new to all this and loving it I went to my local library yesterday when something hit me! The library has indexed all the births ,deaths and marriage announcements taken from our local newspaper THE LENNOX HERALD from about 1901 to 1949 . I thought I should look under SKINNER and as luck would have it up turned Henry It reads "At 32 Studley Road ,Forrest Gate ,London on 9th March 1930,Henry Skinner,beloved husband of Margaret Porterfield and youngest son of the late William Skinner boilermaker Dumbarton"Now can someone please direct me as what to do next please? I would love to know his cause of death and the informent but what I really really REALLY would dearly love is to find a DC for Maggie so I know how things ended up for her. Id like to know if she worked and what she died from and who was the informent.Iam delighted to see she was alive in 1930 and thanks to google map I was able to look up the address and see she lived in a lovely wee victorian terrace. What would be the best English site to use and do they give you as much detail as SP and can English certificates be printed off.If someone looks this up for me I would be over the moon as I am not sure just what to do now with this info.Thanks

[StewL]

Hi Annie
I had to send off for my great grandmothers BC, she was born in Alverstoke, to Scottish parents.
It was a while ago, but I remember having to search individual areas, paying a fair bit of money, then waiting for it to arrive.
I am not sure, but I read somewhere that English certificates did not have as much information as Scottish ones.
Someone will come along and clarify the situation.

[trish1]

There are a number of deaths for Henry Skinner on FreeBDM for 1930, but if he was born 1881, this looks to be the likely one

Skinner Henry 48 W.Ham 4a 47 (does west ham district fit with the London address you have given?)

You can purchase the certificate online for 9 pounds (sorry 9.25) - postage paid worldwide - usually takea about 7 days - sometimes longer (& that is to Australia for me).
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certi ... efault.asp

You will need the index information - double check it - on FreeBDM http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

English death certificates - as you may know, do not contain much information - cause of death, place of death and informant (address of same can help research) - I have, however managed to glean some useful information from a couple of English death certificants - one was recent & the informant was a legal eagle - I located him online - and amazingly he instantly replied to my email with very useful information.

Using ancestry to search for an english death for Margaret (ancestry allows input of birth year) gives a few possibilities - I'm not sure where to go from there.