Where next?

[Ann In the UK]

Hi.

Just thought I'd ask again while it's quiet. Really at a loss as to what to do re my Carrick's. They're my main line - the one I'm closest to and the most interested in - but I've been stuck on them for ages now and don't really know what to do about it.

The only doc my William Carrick actually appears in is the 1851 census, in Rothesay with his wife Flora and their 5 children, Hugh, William, Margaret, Duncan and James. The only other place he's mentioned is 20 years after his death, in an aid appliation his wife makes just before she died. In it, she said he was born in Auchinloch, near Kirkintilloch (c1810 going by the 1851 census) and died in Glasgow (c1852), i.e. when the family were still living on Bute.

But I can't find a birth or death record for him. And, aside from one for Hugh (Glasgow 1840), I can't find birth records for any of their children either - they were all born in different places going by the census's etc. I'm thinking they probably left the CoS after the disruption c1843 and went to one of it's offshoots, but I'm not sure which one.

So, how can I get past William and push my Scottish line back further? Any suggestions?

Regards
Ann

[AndrewP]

Hi Ann,

They certainly seem to have done a disappearing act. Have you found any traces of them in the censuses of 1841, 1861 and 1871 (1861 and 1871 Flora as a widow)?

In my looking around I found one remote possibility for Flora in 1871 in Rothesay. The surname is misindexed as CARRIEN, but on looking at the page it is almost certainly CARRICK, but I can see how the 'c' and 'k' were interpreted as 'e' and 'n'. The birthplace is given as Lochgilphead and the age out by a little compared to the 1851 census for the family. She is a lodger, listed as married, and none of her family are with her. I found this one by looking for surname CARR* and first name Flora for ages 50 to 64.

I assume the death certificate in 1873 is your Flora, registered by her soldier son serving in Aldershot.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Ann In the UK]

Yes, that's her. I have a complete set of census's for Flora - in 1841 she's visiting her parents in Blaich, near Fort William, her husband William is not with her but their son is; in 1851 the family are all on the High street, in Rothesay; in 1861 she's a widow, with some of the kids still at home in the Old Vennel, Rothesay; and in 1871 she's still in Rothesay, back on the High Street. She died in Anderston, Glasgow two years later - yes, that's her death you found, registered by her son William, a soldier in the 79th. I actually have lots of info re Flora and her family, right back as far as I think I can probably get - she was a MacMIllan, and the clan site has been very useful indeed in researching her lot.

It's actually William and the Carrick line I'm struggling with. He and Flora were married in New Monkland (Glenmavis) in 1838. After that, they moved about quite a bit - he's listed as an Ag Lab, farm servant, and fisherman in various docs relating to the others. Their children were all born in different places - Hugh, Glasgow (1840); William, Balfron (c1842); Margaret, Lochgilphead (c1845); Duncan, Glasgow (1848); and, James, Rothesay (1850). Presumably they went where the work was.

On the 1851 census (the only document he actually appears with the family in as he died soon after) his birth place is listed as N K - not known. It's only in the aid application Flora made twenty years after he died that any reference to his birth or death is made. And I can't find any reference to him, or his family, anywhere near where she said he was born - Auchinloch, near Kirkintillock - or any death record, or reference to his death where she said he died (Glasgow).

So I'm stuck.

When they were living in Rothesay, there were several other Carrick's living close by - most notably two brothers, Henry (who lived a few doors away on the High Street) and James (whose wife Janet is listed further along the street, while James is working as a stone mason on the mainland), They were sons of William and Mary (Sivel), from the Old Kilpatrick/Elderslie area, although both ended up dying in the Anderston district of Glagow. I've followed them all but have been unable to connect to any of them so far, just a lot of circumstantial evidence and coincidences. Henry and James even had a brother, William, but he's not MY William because he married a Mary Donald in Old Kilpatrick. In Flora's aid applications (1872/73 in Glasgow) she does say that her husband's family have left her, meaning that at one point they were nearby at least. Just wish she'd said who they were!

I really hope that isn't the end of the line for my Carrick's and someone can help me push them back one more generation at least.

Regards
Ann

[jgmills]

Ann,

You say on the census that his birth place is N K - not known. Are you assuming NK is not known? There is a parish New Kilpatrick, next door to Old Kilpatrick, though nowhere near Auchinloch. Just a thought.

Cheers
John

[Ann In the UK]

You say on the census that his birth place is N K - not known. Are you assuming NK is not known? There is a parish New Kilpatrick, next door to Old Kilpatrick, though nowhere near Auchinloch. Just a thought.

Hi John,

It did cross my mind initially that N K may have been an abbreviation of a place name - and New Kilpatrick had crossed my mind. But I don't think it was common practice to do that for place names - whereas writing NK for not known seems to have been pretty usual. May have to rethink that again though and start looking for other places with those initials if I sit at this brick wall much longer!

Thanks for your suggestion.

Regards
Ann

[Russell]

Hi Ann

I wondered if it was a mis-transcription with Auchinleck in Ayrshire a possibility so I decided to check the surname Carrick (and variables) and was quite surprised when there was not one instance of the name recorded in Ayrshire so that put paid to that line of research Still it is better to rule out possibilities than not explore them at all.

Russell

[Ann In the UK]

Hi Russell.

No, she's quite specific - Auchinloch, near Kirkintilloch. Good on one hand, a blinking nuisance on the other!

Just can't think of what other documents to look at - he must surely appear elsewhere during 40 odd years of life besides one census, his marriage record and first child's birth record. But where?

I've often joked that you can stick a pin in a map of Scotland and find no Carrick's whatsoever. But if you stick a pin in and find one, there are bound to be loads more nearby. Can't find any in Auchinloch. There's a few in Glenmavis - but how do I go about proving they're mine without first making a connection to William?

Thanks for the thought though.
Regards
Ann

[crayspond]

Hi Ann,
Have you looked at this birth as a possibility ? you did say they were married in New Monkland


5 25/05/1806 CARRICK WILLIAM JOHN CARRICK/AGNES MUIRHEAD FR552 M AIRDRIE OR NEW MONKLAND /LANARK 651/00 0020 0431

Regards
Ailsa

[Ann In the UK]

Hi Ailsa,

Yes, I had looked at that one a while back, but can't for the life of me remember why I discounted him! Will take another look - even if it is just to rule him out again!

Thanks. Will let you know.

Regards Ann

[crayspond]

Hi Ann,
Glad to help out - i know what it's like when you go further back, I was the same with my Beveridges in Fife. I got back as far as 1715 officially and even though i went to Dunfermline and trawled through micro film i couldn't find another connection. There is lots of information out there on the Beveridge family but i have yet to link up with anyone connected to my lot.
I had a look at the Hugh Wallis site for your William Carrick and found the following children born to William Carrick and Agnes Muirhead.

John b.3/1/1796
Margaret b. 27/8/1797
Janet b.26/3/1801
Catherine b.23/12/1803
William b.15/5/1806
James b.14/2/1808
Jean b. 16/9/1810
Ann and Agnes (twins) b. 25/3/1813

They were all born in New Monkland, If you go to his site and type in Lanark then you will find New Monkland click on the relevant dates and they will come up. Could the NK on his cert not be NM for New Monkland?
Anyway hope this helps a bit, good luck.

Ailsa