Scottish-Born McPhersons

At this point, I'm ready to say that I've located the right McPherson family in the Scottish records.  When I was at the Archive yesterday, I did a fairly thorough search to be sure I wasn't confusing them with the many other McPhersons in the record.  I even searched the Old Parish (Protestant) records, even though I was confident they'd be in the Catholic ones.

My strategy was to locate possible birth records for the children (James and Mary) and match the parents across them.  I had to find two records:  one for a James born to John and Mary and one for a Mary born to John and Mary.  However, since the US census records I found had been inconsistent in reporting ages, I had to search more broadly than just single years.  I chose a 5 year span for each.  If several matches existed, I would still be able to narrow things down because the age gap between the children had been consistent enough from census to census:  James was about 2 years older than Mary.

There turned out to be fewer matches than I expected -- only one for each of them to parents with the correct names.  Fortunately, the age gap matches so I'm can say with relative certainty, it's them.

Results for "James McPherson"

Results for "Mary McPherson"

So, as it turns out, the records I had found previously (in a somewhat less rigorous search) were in fact the correct ones.

I also decided to search for other children born to the couple, since they had married several years before James was born.  Sure enough, there was a match:  Jessie McPherson was born in 1849 (another Jessie in the family!).  She doesn't appear in any of the US records, so I also searched to see if there was a Scottish death record.  I only found a couple, but they weren't until 1905 and 1920.  If she didn't die as an infant, why didn't she go with them to America?  Or, maybe she did, but didn't survive the journey.

Jessie McPherson:  born 1849

The last thing to note is that I've started to question whether or not the census record I found earlier is actually them.  There are a lot of John and Mary McPhersons on the 1851 census, and without other family members listed, it's hard to be sure.

Kisielius / Valaitis

On my last visit the National Records, I found the first bit of evidence that there might still be a branch of the Kisielius line living here in Scotland.  Yesterday, I traced that a little bit farther and found that is indeed the case!  Marrie (Marijona), machute's first cousin, my first cousin twice removed, had one daughter with Juozas Valaitis named Anele.  She married Louis Tracy and had two sons.  Both of those families are still living.

Anele Valaitis, born 1926

Louis Tracy and Anele Valaitis, married 1952

It wasn't until I'd traced down through most of those families that something occurred to me.  The name that Chute initially gave me when she told me to look for the Scottish part of the family was "Helen Tracy Louis". I'm quite sure, now, that was her foggy memory trying to recall "Anele Tracy & Louis".  Which, I'm pretty sure, means that Chute has been in contact with Anele previously!  She'd be about 86 by now but, very hopefully, still living.  I'd really be interested in what she knows about her American cousins, particularly if she knows something more about the missing Kisielius brothers (still no trace of them remaining here).  Now I've just got to track down a current address.

Chute's Note

The previous post on Marrie showed that Juozas was her second husband.  As it turns out, they were both widows at the time that they married.  I searched but found no death record for her first husband, Konstantinas Adomaviczia, which makes me believe he was also deported under the 1917 Anglo-Russian Military Convention, but was not as fortunate as my great-grandfather Kazimiras.

Juozas Valaitis and Marijona Adomaviczia (Kisielius), married 1936

I did find, however, that they had one surviving son, Juozas Adomaviczia (later, Joseph Adams).  Unfortunately I ran out of time before I could search much further than that.  He could very well lead me to more living relatives, however.  Next time.

Juozas Adomaviczia, born 1915

Ona Adomaviczia, died as an infant, 1918

Death Certificate

Recently, I wrote that I was pretty sure I'd located records of my McPherson ancestors in Scotland.  I found two birth records and a marriage record that fit the names and ages of the four that originally emigrated.  The records showed that Mary McPherson had been Mary Johnston before marriage and that they lived in Paisley.  Since all the names were so common, though, I wanted to locate a record to corroborate what I had found.  Mary's US death record, I suggested, would indicate her maiden name and confirm the connection.

I managed to track down a death record, but it was lacking the information I needed.  Apparently the person who reported the death did not know Mary's parents' names.

Death Record:  11 June 1887

This was quite disappointing because it can't confirm what I had hoped it would.  Of course, it doesn't refute it either.  In fact, there's nothing on the death record to know that is actually the correct Mary McPherson either (it's not signed by John or any of the children and the address isn't the one that shows up on the US census records, although it is just around the corner).  An obituary for the same date would have more information, but I haven't located one yet.  All I managed to find was a Report of Death that is rather unhelpful for such common names.

Report of Death:  11 June 1887

On further consideration of the Scottish birth and marriage records, however, I am fairly certain they are the correct ones.  The names and ages of 4 people match, which despite the common names would be rather unusual.  I'm confident it's them, so I'll pursue it further, but I'll still keep trying to find more evidence to support it.

As just a start, I've already found John and Mary on Scotland's 1851 census.  John was a "Draper's Assistant" and born in Linlithgow, not 20 miles from where I currently live in Edinburgh.  He must have moved to the Glasgow area and met Mary because the census puts them at 25 Gauze St in Paisley.

1851 Census