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Who Was My Great-great Grandfather's 1st Wife?

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ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Carole

Carole Report 15 Oct 2008 21:00

Yes Julie
The Knox family website is great!!!!
Doesn't tell me much about Robert though.
I have also had a look at Stair Church Memorials. James Candles is there and also Robert's siblings, Henry and Jane but once more we draw a blank on Robert!

Jooleh

Jooleh Report 15 Oct 2008 20:56

I presume you are aware of the Knox family website that shows the links to the Murdoch's and Barbeth?

http://www.geographyhigh.connectfree.co.uk
/familyhistknox.html

Carole

Carole Report 15 Oct 2008 20:52

Hello Julie
Sorry to have disappeared but hungry husband needed feeding!!
Yes that is Robert. There are quite a few spelling variations! Jane is the ' lady ' friend. To all extent and purposes they were husband and wife. Actually the plot thickens as they called themselves Carr on the next censuses ... but this has been dealt with in previous threads ... , so I only mention out of interest!!
The reason for their unwed state is what I am after?
I don't know about your second find??
I suppose the thing is to see if that Robert continued in Scotland in later censuses? Mine was definitely in England in January 1862. (birth of twins in Jarrow ... again already dealt with in previous threads}
Thanks for your interest
Carole

Jooleh

Jooleh Report 15 Oct 2008 20:11

Hi Carole
I'm not very experienced at searching but I do like a puzzle! I had found a Robert Petticrew (spelt with a c not g) in the England 1871 census and wondered if it was him.

Name: Robert Petticrew
Age: 40
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1831
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Jane
Gender: Male
Where born: Ayrshire, Scotland
Civil Parish: Lanchester
Ecclesiastical parish: Lanchester
County/Island: Durham
Country: England
Street address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Disability:

View Image
Registration district: Durham
Sub registration district: Lanchester
ED, institution, or vessel: 16
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 184
Household Members:
Name Age
Christopher Petticrew 4
Henry Petticrew 1
Jane Petticrew 44
Margaret Petticrew 9
Robert Petticrew 40
Robert Petticrew 7
Sarah Petticrew 9



I also searched the 1851 Scotland census for Robert born Stair Ayrshire 1829 and found

Name: Robert Murdock
Age: 22
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1829
Relationship: Lodger
Gender: Male
Where born: Stair, Morshire
Parish Number: 490
Civil Parish: Stirling
County: Stirlingshire
Address: King Street
Occupation: Coach Driver
ED: 5
Page: 13 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 55
Line: 2
Roll: CSSCT1851_104
Household Members:
Name Age
Cathrine Maham 53
Mary Maham 16
Duncan Marten 25
Robert Murdock 22
Robert Willer 30

Have you located him for 1861?
best wishes
Julie

Carole

Carole Report 15 Oct 2008 18:05

Another snippet is that Robert did not use the Murdoch name during his early years in England. He went by his mother's surname and only reverted to Murdoch, or Murdock, towards the end of his life.
I did not mention this earlier as the English years are not the ones that matter here! ...

Carole

Carole Report 15 Oct 2008 10:41

In case it is any help: Robert's siblings were : Margaret, Agnes, Henry, Jane, and William.

Please, Please!!! If there is anyone out there with experience of Scottish family History research; I would be grateful for guidance if nothing else? I know about Scotlandspeople but I seem to have purchased hundreds of credits and have had little success! There must be less expensive avenues to pursue?
Also, I don't know how to find early Scottish death records? .. I live abroad, so travelling to Edinburgh, or wherever, is out of the question.

Carole

Carole Report 12 Oct 2008 21:32

A Michael has just sent me a PM telling me that Sarah Pettigrew, Robert's mother, died on 6th August 1835.
Thanks Michael
I have added it here, as it contributes to useful information.

Carole

Carole Report 12 Oct 2008 19:03

A definite I think!
Margaret was Robert's eldest sister. She went on to marry a John Knox and there is lots of information there, but none of it touching on Robert!

Carole

Carole Report 12 Oct 2008 18:46

Missing years, mystery wife, Please Help!!!
HE, WAS ROBERT MURDOCH, b 1829 Barbeth Farm, Stair, Ayrshire: youngest son of Sarah Murdoch, formerly Pettigrew and James Candles Murdoch, farmer.
I have been told that Sarah died when Robert was five or six but I have been unable to find a Scottish death record for her. (Added .. I now have a date .. see below)
Other than the above, I know next to nothing about Robert before 1862, when he is to be found living in Durham with a 'Scottish lass' (my great great grandmother) ... who, it turns out, had left her husband and children in Haddingtonshire.
For the remainder of their lives, she and Robert lived together, in NE England, producing five children. They FINALLY married in 1886. (almost thirty years after they left Scotland!).
HER deserted husband had died in 1870 and it had puzzled me that she and Robert had not married then? ... But when I finally tracked down their 1886 marriage certificate, there was the possible answer ... not only was SHE listed as a widow .. Robert was a WIDOWER!! Could it be that Robert's WIFE had been alive until 1886 and this was why they had been unable to marry for 25 years? Had he deserted a family too??.. Or maybe his 1st wife had left him? (Of course she could have died young? .. that spoils my theory but if it was, it was!))
I am desperate to discover WHO, WHEN and WHERE Robert had married and what became of his 1st wife? Were there any children?
I SUSPECT that it occurred in Scotland, as I don't THINK he moved to England until the end of the 1850s or early 1860s?
There are a couple of possible candidates, and whilst these show up in the IGI, they don't seem to exist according to census records.
Maybe someone, with more experience at searching, might be more successful than I have been? I would be so grateful for some help!!
Or do you think, with so little to go on, that this search for an unknown wife is a fruitless task?
Thanks for taking time to read this
Carole