William and Jessie Mackay

Fiona O · Post by **Fiona O** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:26 pm

I am trying to trace my family tree on my father's side of the family. I have managed to find a marriage certificate for my great grandparents who were William and Jessie Mackay. I am struggling now because I have been unable to find a birth record for Jessie - I believe she was born around 1879 but believe that this date is very much in doubt. She was born in Strathy and as far as I am led to believe lived in the Shepherds House in Acharagary (don't know if that's the correct spelling) and also lived at some point in time at Armadale Road, Armadale. William was born in Strathnaver although was living in Edinburgh at the time of his marriage.

If anyone can help with any information on Jessie Mackay of Strathy or William Mackay of Strathnaver I would be very grateful. Her maiden name was also Mackay which makes it even harder to find information on her.

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:50 pm

Hello Fiona, Welcome to Talking Scot.

Have you tried looking for Jessie in the census returns?

If you have her marriage certificate, you will have her parents' names on that which should help you track the family down.

Jessie is often used for Janet and other names so you should keep that in mind.

If you could give us all the information you have from the marriage,[where, when, addresses, parents ages etc] and where you have looked yourself we can help you on your search.

Fiona O · Post by **Fiona O** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:02 pm

Thanks for that. I have a list of Jessie in the 1901 Census, just before she got married. I did manage to find a marriage certificate for her parents Angust and Mary Mackay but unfortunately the certificate itself is very faint and I could not read the information on it so that has left me at a loose end with this search. I have heard through a cousin of my father that Jessie's sister's family still run a shop in Tongue so it may be that I'll have to write there to see if they have any information on Jessie's family.

As for William I'm really stuck - I don't know if his family still lived in Strathnaver even although he was in Edinburgh or if all his family had moved to Edinburgh before he married Jessie.

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:06 pm

Fiona O wrote:. I did manage to find a marriage certificate for her parents Angust and Mary Mackay but unfortunately the certificate itself is very faint and I could not read the information on it so that has left me at a loose end with this search.

If you can't read a certificate downloaded from Scotland's People, then do contact them and ask for a legible one.

If you could give us the details that you do have then we will be ablre to help you further.

Looking for both of them on the censuses - using what info you do have will help fill in more details.

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:00 pm

Have you looked at the 1879 birth of Jessie Mckay at Strathy?

As far as I can tell she is living at Strathy in 1881 & 1891 with parents Angus born 1842 Durness and Mary.

Regards,
Annette

Post by **emanday** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:03 pm

Hi Fiona,

Annette has picked up on something you might bear in mind when searching for a name starting with Mc or Mac on SP.

It's usually better to use the "wildcard" and enter M*c as the spelling could vary, depending on who wrote it.

In the early days of my research I searched for a very long time for one of my rellies before one of the members used that very method to find her for me.

Fiona O · Post by **Fiona O** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:45 pm

Thanks for that Annette - it looks as though that could be her after all. I never thought to check under McKay. I knew that her birth hadn't been registered right away and there was always some doubt as to the exact year she was born but I'm sure that's her.

Thanks again.
Fiona

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