Please help with search

Post by **SarahND** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:24 pm

Hi Dugie,
Here they are in 1851. I can't tell from the Ancestry transcription if Alexes is a widow or not yet. If so, it must have been recent if the "Unknown" child is hers (likely to be the WILLIAM DOBSON BLAIR BROWN that Wilma found)

1851
16 Cathcart Street, Greenock, Renfrewshire
Livingston Blair, 60, born Greenock, Anpposterby Sons (! sorry, this is what the Ancestry transcription says for the occupation!)
Alexes Brown, 32, Daughter, born Greenock
William Blair, 30, Son, born Greenock, Spirit Merchant
John J Blair, 24, Son, born Greenock, Spirit Shopman
George A Blair, 19, Son, born Greenock, Commission Agents Clerk
Dugald B Brown, 4, Grandson, born Glasgow
Un, 1 Mo, Grandson, born Greenock
Elizabeth Young, 20, Servant, born Killfinan Par, Argyleshire, General Serv

All the best,
Sarah

Dugie4 · Post by **Dugie4** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:45 pm

Goodness me Sarah, you found it!
Thank you very much!
And she was living with her parents, and her husband was gone by then. I'll need to look at the actual record to see if she is described as a widow in the 1851 census.

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:45 pm

Sometimes unusual names can be a good thing [few of them] or a bad [too easily to spell wrong!]

I can't see a marriage for Livingstone Brown but there are 2 deaths showing up on Scotland's People, 1 in renfrewshire but she seems to be a young woman. I dont think they fit in age-wise though.

Post by **SarahND** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:05 pm

Well! I think this must be them in England in 1861, under the name Blair:

Penningston St, Rugby, Warwickshire
Alexandrina Blair, Head, Widow, 35, no stated occupation, born Scotland
Dugald Blair, Son, 12, Scholar, born Scotland
William D Blair, son, 9, Scholar, born Scotland
William Dobson, visitor, unm, 65, Retired Medical Officer Army, born Scotland
Mary Tomalin, Serv, Unm, 20, House servant, born Leicester, Kilby Wall

Do you know who William Dobson is? A relative, no doubt.

All the best,
Sarah

Dugie4 · Post by **Dugie4** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:33 pm

Sarah, I don't know how you're finding all this, but it's just wonderful. It's answering question after question that I had in my head. I was wondering what kind of merchants the Blairs were and the 1851 census says spirit merchants (would that be rum from the West Indies I wonder, being shipped into Greenock, or wine from France?).

And I was also wondering why Dugald Blair Brown would have joined the Army Medical Corps after studying medicine in Edinburgh University (when there must have been more lucrative openings available) but in the 1861 census we have this William Dobson in the house who might well have influenced him in that direction. I wonder who he was?

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:37 pm

SarahND wrote:William Dobson, visitor, unm, 65, Retired Medical Officer Army, born Scotland

Do you know who William Dobson is? A relative, no doubt.

All the best,
Sarah

Perhaps this is him?

WILLIAM DOBSON
Christening: 30 JAN 1790 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland
Father: WILLIAM DOBSON Family
Mother: MARGARET IRELAND
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record

I was just wondering if they had decamped to England, as John Stewart Brown was from Liverpool at his marriage, and seems to have been born there in Liverpool 1825, though his father Bryce could have been born in Greenock.

The Ireland name appears on the extended family so could well tie in.

don't get too confused Dugie, but keep all this information for future use.

Post by **SarahND** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:41 pm

Here's another one to throw into the pot:

1841
Harbour, Glasgow Broomielaw, Lanarkshire
Bryce Brown, 50, born Scotland, Mer S
Callum McIntyre, 20, born Scotland, Mer S
W Warden, 15, born Scotland, Mer S

All the best,
Sarah

Post by **SarahND** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:49 pm

...And just so that everyone is up on the latest developments and no one wastes time looking for things that are already found, I just sent Dugie the 1841 record for William Dobson, an army surgeon in the Winchester Barracks.

Sarah

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:33 pm

The above William Dobson's siblings appear to be:

1. THOMAS DOBSON
Christening: 18 APR 1792 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland

2. WILLIAM DOBSON
Christening: 30 JAN 1790 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland

3. LIVINGSTON_ DOBSON
Christening: 20 JAN 1788 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland

4. ROSANNA DOBSON
Christening: 11 JAN 1784 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland

5. WILLIAM DOBSON
Christening: 24 DEC 1789 West Or Old Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland

6. JAMES DOBSON
Gender: Male Christening: 05 DEC 1785 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland

using the parents: Father: William Dobson, Mother: Margaret Ireland

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:41 pm

Hi Dugie

1851 census says spirit merchants (would that be rum from the West Indies I wonder, being shipped into Greenock, or wine from France?)

I think, from the few I've found in the past, that a "spirit merchant" can simply be someone who sold booze, or perhaps even owned a pub. But no reason why it may not turn out to be something more exotic!

Best wishes
Lesley