Intimate friend = husband of great niece

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:08 pm

I think there was once a discussion on here about this .
But here's my question anyway - would a death informant who was the husband of the deceased's great-niece be likely to give his relationship
with the deceased as intimate friend instead of husband of great-niece ?

( In reality I don't know if he was husband of great-niece or not - but I would like him to be ! )

Sally

Post by **Anne H** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:47 pm

Hi Sally,

But here's my question anyway - would a death informant who was the husband of the deceased's great-niece be likely to give his relationship
with the deceased as intimate friend instead of husband of great-niece ?

I would say it would be a good possiblity!

I had an informant who on the DC for my 3xg grandfather was noted as an 'intimate aquaintance' and on other DC's for two of his children the same informant was noted as an 'inmate'. After a few more years of research, I found that she was the cousin of my deceased 3xg grandfather.

Regards,
Anne H

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:22 pm

That's good to know Anne ! As long as he could be, I can justify to myself why I keep spending money trying to prove it !

If anyone can categorically prove that William Nicol(l) son of Donald Nicol and Christian Manson born 1792 in Thurso is not the same guy* that married Grace Scott in South Leith in 1819 , then you could save me a fortune ! ( Donald and Christian had a daughter Elizabeth who died in Newhaven in 1889 , and her death informant was the husband of my William Nicoll's granddaughter ) .

(* Of course it would be even better if there was proof that he is

)
Sally

Post by **HeatherH** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:09 am

I have a death cert with the words Intimate friend. Turned out to be a black sheep in the family. Though he had divorced and their children all carry his surname he never married the mum. So I assume Intimate friend could be a close friend of the family or could be a way to identify people who had been in a comman law type arrangement ( irregular marriage???
Any other ideas anyone

HeatherH

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:17 am

Hello all,

The meaning may depend on when the term was used as meanings can change over time.
“Intimate” according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary means “close in acquaintance”.
But it's probably not just a close friend but a confidant, one who knows your personal circumstances.

It can also mean “make known”. In an old death notice you may see “Relatives and Friends please accept this intimation”.
So maybe it means “friend making known” or “friend reporting” or something like that. As in http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intimation

Alan

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:20 pm

Currie wrote:Hello all,

The meaning may depend on when the term was used as meanings can change over time.
“Intimate” according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary means “close in acquaintance”.
But it's probably not just a close friend but a confidant, one who knows your personal circumstances.

It can also mean “make known”. In an old death notice you may see “Relatives and Friends please accept this intimation”.
So maybe it means “friend making known” or “friend reporting” or something like that. As in http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intimation

Alan

Alan has it to rights, i.e. “close in acquaintance”, - nothing more than that !

mb

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 7:52 pm

thanks for all your replies

I have re-examined my weak evidence and noticed something that I had failed to until right now ( despite having re-examined it many times before) !

I knew that the death informant lived 2 doors away from the deceased ( 8 Annfield Newhaven)
( he and his wife Isabella Nicoll the possible great-niece lived at n° 6) and that sometime later they would also live at N° 8 .
I knew that the deceased Elizabeth Nicoll could only have moved to Newhaven after 1881 ( she had been a nurse in Glasgow and Edinburgh)
and that she had definite family alive in Edinburgh , whom she had lived in the same street as , so if she was not related to my Nicoll's then surely one of the Edinburgh rellies would have been chosen as the death informant ?
I also thought my relative was doing very well then to know the parents' names of someone who had been born 90-odd years previously in Caithness , where her parents presumably also died (I think I have her mother in the 1841 census in Thurso along with the brother James who later lived in Edinburgh)

But looking again I now realise that N° 8 Annfield was where the previous generation of my Nicolls were living
at the time of ELizabeth Nicoll's death !!!! So Elizabeth Nicoll died not just close to but at my Nicoll's home !
Isabella's father William Nicoll junior had been lost at sea in 1884 , and his wife was illiterate - so .. informant duties would then pass to the next generation no ?

Is it really a coincidence ? grrrrr - I feel I'm so close and yet so far ...

Sally