not in the poorhouse where she belongs

donna petrie · Post by **donna petrie** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:14 pm

Hello: I was at the Mitchell ( while home on holiday) looking at the Poorhouse records for my ancestor. For one of them I had a problem. On her death extract it states she died in Govan Poorhouse where she had resided for five years. So, I searched under her maiden name , married name, son-in-law's name (various spellings for all) and all strays and could not find her.

It does state that Govan records are complete. Someone from another website also had no luck. I sent a query to the Mitchell but am awaiting reply. What could this mean? Would it be helpful to actually see the death certificate to find out if there is more information on it? Her son-in-law registered the death. Thank you, Donna

Post by **joette** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:43 pm

My GGGGreat_grandmother died there c1879 but there is no record of her in the Mitchell Archives.She had her son/grandson living near by.her son was also in receipt of Poor Relief because of ill-health & the fact he was almost blind may be one of the reasons the Superintendent of the PoorHouse registered her death with no details of her parentage which was a blow as she was a good age,never married & always gave the same birthplace on the Censuses which would have made confirming her parentage a good help!
It did however lead me to her Granddaughters Poor Relief & filled in many blanks & explained many family dynamics which are still resonating after a hundred years!
Good luck if you give names I will be there Aug & happy to have another hunt for you.

donna petrie · Post by **donna petrie** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:57 pm

Hi: Thank you for your reply. It made me think of something I did omit to search for. I did not search for her daughter and son-in-law on the poor records. She did live with them in the 1851 census. Maybe I thought as he was a Master baker and employing helpers he would not be on poor relief- but you never know. That would be very kind if you would make a search for me- but please don't waste time if it not fruitful.

her name was Margaret Murray born circa 1777 in Windsor England (according to census) She married Alexander Clark in 1811. Now I think that is them because it is the only combination I found. however the last name is transcribed as Clerk. I tried that on my search too. In 1851 she was living at 24 Portugal street with her daughter and son-in-law- James Dow a baker , daughter Christina and children Alexander, Marion, James, Christina, Janet. Margaret died 1857 and the extract states that she had been residing at the Govan Poorhouse for approximately five years. She is buried in the Glasgow Necropolis. I also did not try Marion as a first name. I just thought of that as I was writing this information. Thank you. Donna

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:39 pm

Hello Donna,

My English ggg gran also died in Govan poorhouse in 1857. There is no record of it at The Mitchell. When I asked they looked at the index of records they hold and that time span was not listed.

Don't let that stop you looking under her daughter's name name though.
Her daughter might even have an application of her own that may tell of her mum's birth.

Regards,
Annette M