Genealogy Chat

Heather, you are alway a great help and believe me any ideas are most welcome as I may not have thought of them and they may give me new ideas. Janet, thanks again. You have given me so much more to think about and I will contact the Mtichell library about shoemakers. The family appear to have been members of the Free Church of Scotland. I think speculation and illimination is the only way forward. I have about 15 Thomas Collins Chelsea Pensioners born Ireland to rule out and yet he might not even have been one. I have also seen an IGI baptism of a Sarah Hughes in Monaghan which would fit. Maybe the Thomas who transferred from there to Paisley had been married to her? Thanks everyone for all your thoughts they really are very helpful. I will let you know if I ever do crack this one. Lyla

Hi - Quite often you won't find the man's name using Procat and you just need the regiment to put into the search engine and the approx date of discharge and the initial for the surname will then give you the relevant documents- his papers could then be in that box/film. When are you at Kew - I'm there in early August. Jan

Actually, not wanting to throw a spanner in the works re engineers in the army but I have a long distant ancestor who was known as an engineer in the army in the 17th century - he studied the canals of Holland and helped design the canals in Liverpool. Would this be a likely sort of job for your guy?

Hi Jan Last year I went through every regiment on Procat (it took days) and printed off every Thomas Collins that was born in Ireland and in the right time frame. I didn't know or maybe you couldnt search by name then. I shortlisted 15 possibles and looked at a couple of them at Kew but none of the records gave any useful clues. Someone suggested I go through the pension books for Glasgow and I found the one Thomas Collins who could well be mine so I went back to the regiment given and he wasnt there. I think I need to give myself more time when I can get to Kew again and look at each record more thoroughly. Thanks for your input. Lyla

Heather, anything is possible with this man. I have been typing this from memory as I was at work today. The only mistake I made was 1874 wife's death - sometime marine engineer 1879 death - mechanical engineer (master) Doesn't really change anything does it? Unless the marine part was just a hobby. Lyla

Hi Lyla, not sure if this is of any use, but I have found this site invaluable in getting my head around different regiments etc. It takes some navigating, but is worth it once you get it right! It helped me track my illusive chealsea pensioner, and the records I got were pretty good. It also mentions two 32 regiments: 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot 1702-1881 32nd Regiment of (Light) Dragoons 1794-1796 http://www*regiments*org/regiments/uk/lists/bargxrefn*htm Replace * with . Hope this is of some use, good luck. Sarah

Thanks Sarah, What a brilliant site! I can see what you mean about navigation and it might take me a while to find anything useful but even if I don't its still very interesting. Thanks very much. Lyla

Lyla I did say that I would look at my Mags to see if I could find the lists of Chelsea Pensioners I remembered seeing in an FHS mag. There was a list of Chelsea Pensioners 1810-1824 in the Magazine 'Family Tree Magazine' December 2004 and January 2005. (Parts 1 and 2) Idid look at the list but could not find any Collins. You can obtain past copies of these mags but as there are no Collins in the list you may not be interested. There are many Irishmen on the lists. The following websites in case you have not got them were also highlighted in the same mags. These are: www(.)chelsea(-)pensioners(.)co(.)uk(/)home(.)htm (The Royal Hospital Chelsea) www(.)24hourmuseum(.)org(.)uk(/)museum(_)gfx(_)en(/)AM16862(.)html (The Royal Hospital Chelsea Museum, with details of their collection) www(.)rhk(.)ie(/)index(-)2(.)html (The equivalent Irish Chelsea Pensioners Site at Kilmainham in Dublin) (Remove brackets) The Kilmainham hospital in Dublin still stands but it is now a conference centre and the records have been transferred to Kew. He may have been pensioned to Kilmainham and not Chelsea, and this may well be worth researching at Kew, as the Kilmainham Records are now at Kew. You could probably try PROCAT to see if the Kilmainham Records have been kept separately from the Chelsea Records. I think the records were transferred to the UK around 1920 but you will need to check that out through the Kilmainham site. Kilmainham Hospital Dublin was also founded in the reign of Charles 2 as was Chelsea and paid pensions to many discharged British Soldiers in its own right (Remember British in this instance at this time includes Irishmen) Hope this is of some use to you. Janet

Janet That is fantastic. Thank you so much for all the help and advice you have given me. This will keep me busy for quite some time! I've got lots of new ideas and angles to try thanks to this thread and will certainly come back to gloat when I find him (and I will!). I'm so excited today because I heard back from the current Minister of the church where Thomas's son was the Minister for 30 years. He said he is still remembered there and an honoured part of their history! He is going to send me some pages from a book that mentions him. What a brilliant day! Lyla

Just wanted to share my latest findings with people who won't tune out as soon as I mention my family tree! I have now laid my hands on a newspaper article announcing the retirement of Thomas Collins (the minister son). It says 'Mr Collins, who was a native of Glasgow, spent his early years in the office of his brother, who owned the Elliot Street Engine Works' So this would have been before 1868 when he went to university. From 1861 census with Thomas & Rebecca are 3 sons. William 20 steward on steamboat Henry 18 calender (my gggrandad who became a ships boilermaker) Thomas 13 calender (who became a minister) I have looked at all the Williams on scotlandspeople but the only likely one is a shoemaker and anyway he seems too young so I think there must have been an older brother. I have spent all morning googling Elliot Street/Engine Works/Collins combinations but have found nothing useful. At least it might explain why their father Thomas switched from being a shoemaker to an Engineer! Well, it's something. Thankyou for listening Lyla