A case of Stolen Identity - Would You Concur ?

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:55 pm

A case of Stolen Identity - Would You Concur ?

& if you do - how would you put this lot in your tree ?

Robert's Story ...
Robert Cameron born about 1827 (Birth reg not found) in Edinburgh .

His mother Helen Balloch of Lasswade married Robert Cameron ( Nov 1828 Canongate).
Robert senior died 1829 .
1841 census , Robert Cameron aged 14 with mother Helen - now a grocer- in Cockpen
1847 Robert Cameron a baker marries Lilias Murray in Lasswade.
1851 Census , Robert and Lilias with 2 young sons in Lasswade.
1861 Census , Lilias and 2 sons plus daughter Helen born 1852 Lasswade in Edinburgh . Lilias an office cleaner.
Possible sighting Robert Cameron in Govan as a labourer.
1871 Census , Lilian and children in Edinburgh. No sighting of Robert.
1881 Census Ditto !
1886 Lilias dies - death cert says married to Robert Cameron, no sign of divorce.
1889 Jan. Mother Helen Balloch dies . Her will (originally written in 1874 ) mentions that Robert is a cabman in Glasgow.
1889 May Robert Cameron , cabman, widower marries Jane Bryce widow, maiden name Penny in Edinburgh.
1891 and 1901 Census at 5 W Scotland Street, Edinburgh has Robert and Jane with a bunch of kids with surname Cameron .
1891:
Robert Cameron 63 Carriage Hirer, Edinburgh
Jane Cameron 53 Bathgate, Midlothian
James Cameron 17 Coachman, Glasgow
Jane Cameron 16 Domestic Servant, Edinburgh
John Cameron 13 Scholar,Edinburgh
Daniel Cameron 7 Edinburgh
1901:
Robert Cameron 75 Cab Driver Edinburgh
Jane Cameron 65 Cab Driver's wife Ireland
John Cameron 23 Cab Driver Edinburgh
Daniel Cameron 17 Edinburgh

None of these kids' births were registered under Cameron, or Penny or Bryce (should be Bryson I'll explain later ).
It seem's they were all registered under the name Hennessey !.

Lawrence Hennessy/ Jane Penny's Story ...
Jane Penny married Neil Bryson in 1858 Milton .
They had a daughter Isabella in 1860 . Neil died in 1861.
1861 census Jane and Isabella are with her father Richard and some of her brothers .
In 1862 Jane Penny married Laurence Hennessey.
1871 Census : Jane Penny & Isabella are with Jane's brothers . No sign of Laurence or any children by him.
Then she and the invisible Laurence produce Jane in 1871 , James 1873 ( these 2 are on the IGI) in Bridgeton, Glasgow
then Jane/Jeannie (1875 ) , John (1878 ) , Richard (1880) , Daniel (1883) in Edinburgh
1881 Census Jane and Laurence Hennesy are in Edinburgh !

Laurence Hennesey 52 , Labourer Cabman, Ireland
Jane P Hennesey 46, Labourer Cabman Wife ,Ireland
James Hennesey 8, Scholar, Glasgow
Jeannie Hennesey 5, Scholar, Edinburgh
John Hennesey 3, Edinburgh
Richard Hennesey 9 mths, Edinburgh

The last child Daniel Hennesy was born May 1883 at 31 Hawthornbank. Jane signs the birth (with an X) - Laurence is shown as a foundry labourer again.
However in Sept 1883 , Richard Cameron son of Robert Cameron (mason's labourer) and Jane Cameron ms Mclean ( where did she get that one from ?) aged 3 &/2 dies at 33 Hawthornbank - again Jane is the informant.

In 1889 Jane Bryce ms Penny ( no mention of Hennessy ) marries Robert Cameron , who is after all free to marry now.
And from there on in the name Hennessy is banished .

Jane's death cert does not mention her marriage to Neil Bryson or Laurence Hennessy !

Well I thought I had it sussed:
Shortly after Laurence married Jane in 1862 , he joined a monastery/ emigrated / went on a pub crawl and got lost for 9 years .
He came back in late 1870/ early 1871 and he and Jane settled down to have children ( but he was off somewhere on census night ) .
He took on the work of a cabman in Edinburgh as well as a foundry labourer. But he had a major relapse between
1883 and 1889 , disappearing and dying in some unindexable place . Jane then married recently widowed Robert Cameron , and being so grief stricken she blanked Laurence not only from her memory , but also from her childrens'. Robert himself had just reemerged into society after being locked in a cupboard in Govan for more than 20 years .

But then I wondered if perhaps Robert took over the identity of Laurence Hennessy around 1871 to avoid detection by his estranged wife ?

If so - I wonder what happened to the real Laurence?

And how should I enter the Camerons registered as Hennessy's in my tree ? None of them used the name Hennessy as far as I can see.

Sally

Helen Balloch left the bulk of her estate to her other child Jane...

Post by **AndrewP** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:39 pm

Hi Sally,

A grand piece of detective work.

Families like these defy the software writers of most (all?) genealogy programs. I think you have to select which names to call them by, and if your genealogy program has a place for also known as, then the other name(s) go in there.

All the best,

AndrewP

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:42 am

Phew ...... They're "treed" now - Thanks Andrew .

I've entered them all as Cameron Aka Hennessy.I've only just noticed that I can add a source citation for "AKA" names( I use Legacy ) . So I put all my notes in one new source and attached it to the AKA for all of them . Don't know if this is correct , but should help any future perusers of my tree .

Sally

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:44 am

Hi Sally
Sounds about right to me. I use Legacy as well, and have used the aka feature a few times, but not like you

I have used it when they might be known by one first name, but there birth registry name is differen or a variation on the name.

Post by **Anne H** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:09 pm

Hi Sally,

I too use Legacy and frequently use the AKA section for the different names and although I put sources in for everything else, not once did I ever notice the source button for this AKA section. I'll be using it from now on, and besides any notes, I'll also attach a copy of the document if available.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Regards,
Anne H