My McKenzie Mystery

[JustJean]

Have you ever found a name oddity in the middle of a perfectly reasonable family tree? I mean a use of a surname from out of left field that bops you right between the eyes and then drops to the ground innocently. So that you walk around with this huge goose egg between your eyes and everyone says “Hey! Wow! what happened to you?”….and being too darned proud to say you were flummoxed by a left fielder you just mumble something about a door and the light being off and go about your business and hope they do likewise. Well I walked around with not one lump on my head but one after another before the first barely had time to subside! They came McKenzie McKenzie almost in quick succession. Ouch what the heck Ouch again. Wait a minute here…someone is trying to tell me something….aren’t they? And then nothing…no more insights…not a single explanation….no rationale….and months pass so that even the lumps are long gone and the bruise mended. Well just the other day when I was visiting the Archives on my side of the pond I got hit by that darn pitcher for a third time! Talk about déjà vu…talk about been there done that…talk about anything…..talk about my problem and tell me the answer….please!!

The story goes like this……

James McMeekin and Jane Niblock got married in 1856 Glasgow. (Except you won’t find them indexed that way….it’s under McNeilly and Nimlock which is another whole sordid tale!) They had Jeremiah in 1857 and he died in 1859. In 1860 they had another son and called him Robert. In the 1861 census there is baby Robert as well as an 8 year old youngster in their household that went by a different last name…Isaiah Ramsay…. but they called him son. James and Jane went on to have Elizabeth in 1864, Jane in 1869, Jessie in 1871, and Agnes in 1874. All the births from Jeremiah right through Agnes state the same parents and mother’s maiden name and all are registered by James and he signs his name and not just an x. Now jump ahead to March 1884 and look out for the first beanball…..Isaiah Ramsay, single and a coal miner,…who since 1871 has been enumerated as Isaiah Ramsay McMeekin dies. James McMeekin registers the death as father and there it is….mother’s name…Jane McKenzie. Huh???...Wow….is that a clue to the real identity of Isaiah??? Was Jane married before or even stating a wrong maiden name???? Hmmm I wonder…..Now just wait 17 more months or so and beanball number 2….Aug 1885 Elizabeth gets married. You guessed it….Mother’s maiden name is stated as McKenzie. Huh?....well that doesn’t make sense….it’s always been Niblock and you didn’t even think that Elizabeth and Isaiah were really related anyhow….maybe they were?...but it doesn’t add up does it? Ok…So now the theory of stress related events comes out…..In the excitement of the marriage moment Elizabeth just got confused. And the year previous James was overcome with grief at the early passing of young Isaiah and got his wife’s name wrong. But why would they both choose McKenzie to be wrong with???.....or maybe right with????? Don’t know….and can’t find another clue. So there it is. Let it go. Don’t obsess. Time heals all wounds and the double McKenzie mystery has been filed so deep it’s virtually non existent. Now are you ready for the third and most recent beanball? Young Robert ends up in Boston tying the knot in April 1886 except the hunt has been long and hard to nail this one down. Every index at the Archives spits out McMeekins (and the long list of spelling variants) but nary a one is Robert’s. So as a last ditch maneuver you search for the bride instead. There it is in the index as plain as the nose on your face. Louisa Hebb married Robert J. McM McKenzie!...and yet in the same index Robert has the nerve to name his parents as James McM. and Jane N. Not surprising though Robert &Louisa are back to being McMeekin on all the census records…his attending Harvard and career as a dentist….his WW1 military file….the births of their children. All McMeekin.

Why oh why within a 2 year time frame does the McKenzie surname pop out 3 times in my little family line never to be seen or heard of again???!!!! Is there some clan link from the name McMeekin to the name McKenzie or Niblock or even Allison (which is another surname Jane is known by…..)????

I don’t honestly expect any answers………………...and I’m now wearing a catcher’s mask whenever I venture into the Archives.

[AnnetteR]

WOW Jean

I'm glad you're not expecting answers as I for one wouldn't even know where to start. This is definately one for the experts and whoever solves it for you should receive a HUGE big lollipop

All I can say is all the very best with it and please keep us informed if you get the mystery solved by yourself.

Happy hunting

Annette R

[sporran]

Hello Jean,


thanks for digging that one out!

I have looked around and found a few certificates, but mainly a lot of zeroes. Is there any sign of James and Jane after 1874? The only one that I can find is Eliza(beth) in 1881 before her marriage. Have you found any of them in 1871? In addition, I can not find Jane's birth in 1869.

Feel free to post more information about the family, or to e-mail me with more data or certificates.


Regards,

John

[AnneM]

Hi Jean

I have nothing useful to add except that we M(a)cKenzies are all trouble and have you heard the one about the great grandfather who thought his wife's first name was not Jane (which it was) but Christina (who was her almost exact contemporary cousin)!! He thought it consistently over many certificates and many years.

[Cathy]

Hello Jean,
I have something similar.
Any chance Jane Niblock died, and James remarried to Jane McKenzie?
I have certs. were some of the children gave their own mother as parent, and others named the stepmother. Some of the children would have been very young when their birth mother died and would not have rememered her or her details,

Cathy.

[JayPee]

Hi Jean ... do we know when Jane Niblock died?
- JayPee

[sporran]

Hello Jean,


ok, found them in 1871 and 1881 (searching on Isaiah - I should have read more carefully), and found Jane's birth in 1869. Any sign of any family members in Scotland after 1885?


Regards,

John

[JustJean]

WOW!! What a stir I've created (And Ann I tend to agree with you that the McKenzie's surely must be trouble ) I have more to the story....yes I know when Jane Niblock died...it was in Boston in 1913...you see she and James and unmarried daughters Jane, Jessie, & Agnes left Scotland and arrived on the ship Nestorian in Boston 9 Sep 1891. Married daughter Eliza(beth) and hubbie Peter Dinnington with children Elizabeth, Jane, and Samuel arrived the next year (I think but now can't find that file!!!)....anyhow....there are no more Scotland records to consult after 1891. (Yes they are on the 1891 census In Patna) Son Robert and his wife Louisa relocated to Nova Scotia shortly after 1900 (Louisa was born there and had family there) just to further complicate the record searching. No more McKenzie's though....nary a one!! One little tiny interesting clue.....Elizabeth McMeekin Dinnington's first child was a son named Isaiah Ramsay Dinnington...and he died in Scotland about age 2. Further proof that maybe Isaiah had been blood related.....or at least well loved Oh...and I have a photo of Isaiah (that is labeled) taken with a man called Uncle David Ramsay. I've fully traced the Ramsay family as far as my pocketbook has allowed....they came from Templepatrick and lived in Maryhill/Milton Glasgow.....and I cannot prove who the father of Isaiah was....but there is an Isaiah brother to David alive in 1851 unmarried and living with parents and never seen or heard from again. My theory has always been that he fathered baby Isaiah and died before statutory records began....whether Jane was the mother I've no idea. The further family story has Jane being raised by an uncle who was high sheriff of Glasgow because her own parents were dead. There was an Allison...and well known too.....in Glasgow at the right time....but no proof to tie that well to do family with the miners and iron moulders from Antrim......which I suspect was simply wishful thinking.....

[Alcluith]

Nothing like a good mystery to get everyone involved

from the IGI with James McMeekin and and Jane Niblock

International Genealogical Index / British Isles - 3
Select records to download - (50 maximum)
1. JESSIE CRAWFORD MCMEEKIN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 13 AUG 1871 Dalrymple, Ayr, Scotland

2. ELIZA MCMEEKIN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 11 APR 1864 Dalry, Ayr, Scotland

3. ROBERT MCMEEKIN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 18 NOV 1860 Dalry, Ayr, Scotland


Then in the 1881 you get with other family members that tie into your names and births

Dwelling: Bridgend
Census Place: Dalmellington, Ayr, Scotland
Source: FHL Film 0203594 GRO Ref Volume 586 EnumDist 1 Page 45
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
James MCMEIKAN M 49 M Stirling, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Coal Miner
Jane MCMEIKAN M 47 F Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
Rel: Wife
Isaiah MCMEIKAN U 27 M Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Coal Miner
Jane MCMEIKAN 12 F Dalrymple, Ayr, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Jessie MCMEIKAN 9 F Dalrymple, Ayr, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Agnes MCMEIKAN 6 F Dalrymple, Ayr, Scotland
Rel: Daur


Still doen't explain the Mackenzie connection as yet

[karenmcc]

Hi Jean,

Do you have Jane Niblocks parents names. Perhaps the Mckenzie name goes back a generation and is a step fathers name that she was also known by. My gggrandfather was known by his stepfathers name of Cunningham, but married under his 'real' fathers name of McGibbon. This continued down to my Grandfathers generation. They are all in the censuses under the name Cunningham but all bdm's use the name McGibbon/McCubbin. Just a thought.

Karen McCubbin