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Pleasure to help. As William was only 50 when he died in 1909 in would have been reasonable to expect to find him on the 1911 census. I think most of us today would expect to see our sixtieth birthday but so many of our ancestors didn't. Apart from medical advances our ancestors had to work so much harder to keep body and soul together.

I am not seeing an obvious death for Catherine using her married name but it may show better using her maiden surname but I have run out of credits.

Rootgatherer,

Thank you so much for your time and effort, you certainly have set me back on the right track.
I had (wrongly, it turns out) assumed that as William was alive at the time of Peters wedding in 1909 that he would be on the census for 1911.
Schoolgirl error.

You have been such a help
Gail

Gail, have sent you the images of 1911 census and William's death registration.

Found them in 1911.

Catherine is widowed, still living in Newton Street. Mary and James are at home with her and also a Robert Bannerman, aged 1 , a relative?

Will have another look now for William's death.

Found it.

William died at the Western Infirmary. Married to Catherine Fury. Died 21st. August 1909 aged 50. Father John Meechan, farm servant deceased and mother Margaret Meechan ms Tolan deceased. Informant daughter M. Maguire, daughter, 33 West Bothwell Street.

Gail, I have sent by message a photo of Peter's birth registration. Catherine's ms on that is Fury. Date and place of parents marriage is given as January 29th. 1878 at (looks like?) Inver, Ireland. To double check, I looked at Margaret's birth and date and place of marriage match that one I posted yesterday - 29th. December 1877, Frosse(?), Donegal. Catherine's ms on Margaret's birth is Furey. Catherine was the informant for both registrations and she was unable to sign and made her mark.

Can you tell me when and where their son Peter married please? Was his father still alive then?

Before I use any more credits, have you found the family in 1911 please?


If any of the other helpers have a sub for Rootsireland.ie perhaps they would be good enough to have a wee look at that Donegal marriage to help us out. Thank you in advance.

Gail, my gut feeling it that that's Your William and Catherine's marriage in Donegal in 1877.

I think you are very near the mark with Catherine's surname, even without seeing any of those birth certificates, I think it is Furey. It may be that William and Catherine were unable to read so that would explain the variations in surname spellings. The Registrar would just spell the name as best he could understand it to be from the accents.

I'll have a wee look and see if I can see a birth registration for Peter to help you out.

The infomation I have got to date is from the 1901 census, Peter meechan (one of the sons - My great grandad) marriage and death certificates.

The marriage looks like Fury and the death cert looks like fuly, thats where I thought it looked like feely.

rootgatherer

No offense taken, I really appreciate your help. It is easy to get caught up and I feel like I have been going round in circles for ages.

Thank you

Gail, there is an option on Scotlandspeople to select surname variants. Don't narrow your search too much as you can get up to 23 results to a page. It costs 1 credit to view search results whether there is 1 result or 23 results.

My apologies if my statement regarding the credits was a bit abrupt. I didn't mean it to be. I was suggesting really that (hopefully) £7.00 of credits would let you confirm the date and place of William and Catherine's marriage by viewing a child's birth certificate and still leave enough credits to view William and Catherine's death registrations.

If you are coming up to Scotland and intend going to the Mitchell, try to book into the search room for a day to search the Statutory records. I think it costs about £17.00 for the day but you can view as many BMDs as time permits. There is no charge to view the Poor Relief records but it can be a little time consuming as only the index is computerised. The actual records are the old original tomes brought by the porters from the store for you to view.

Hi rootgatherer,

Thank you for this,
"If you want your tree to be accurate, get some credits for Scotlandspeople.", Unfortunately, I've spent a fortune on Scotlands people and I have been unsuccessful.
However, your suggestion has been a great help as I have been searching for Meechan or Mechan but you have highlighted a Meehan...I think I have been too narrow in my search.
I will widen the spellings and try again.
Next time I am in Scotland, I will try to get to the Mitchell Library
Thank you for taking the time to get in touch :-)

Gail

A tree on Ancestry has Catherine's surname as Feely but I think that is wrong. I think your Fury is nearer the mark.

Thinking this is a possible for William and Catherine's marriage.

Name: William Meehan
Date of Registration: 1877
Registration district: Donegal
Volume: 17
Page Number: 46
FHL Film Number: 101253

Records on Page:
Name
William Meehan
Catherine M'Guire
Catherine Furey
Michael Martin


If you want your tree to be accurate, get some credits for Scotlandspeople. Then get

A birth registration for a child of William and Catherine to confirm Catherine's m.s. and the date and place of William and Catherine's marriage.

A death registration for William to find the names of his parents.

A death registration for Catherine to find the names of her parents.

If the date and place of the marriage above match that on a child's birth certificate, get the marriage certificate. When you have collected as much information as you can, it may be possible to locate some of William's and / or Catherine's family on the 1901 or 1911 Irish census.

The daughter's birth certificate will give you the date and place of her parents' marriage. If they married in Ireland it may give a specific place.

A useful source for tracing Irish ancestors that came to Glasgow can be the Poor Relief records. These have survived and are indexed and held at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. If any of your ancestors claimed relief these records often name the place of their birth and name their parents.

Scottish death certificates name the parents, including the mother's maiden surname, if the informant knows the details. So, if William Meechan and his wife died in Scotland, she should be able to get the names of their parents. Look on Scotlandspeople for possible deaths.

I thought Catherines surname was Feeny but I think it might be Fury

You should be able to download a copy of the birth cert of any of the children from Scotland's people, which will tell you Catherine's maiden name.

The parents MAY have married in Scotland, so try looking for that on SP.......although a marriage in Ireland would seem to be more likely

The census from Newton street is as far a Ive got...I think I might need to go down the irish route

Thank you Jacqueline.

1881 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Dobbies Loan, 580, City, Milton, Lanarkshire, Scotland

First name(s) Last name Relationship Marital status Gender Age Birth year Occupation Birth place
William Mechan Head Married Male 21 1860 Iron Labourer Ireland Transcription
Catherine Mechan Wife Married Female 20 1861 - Ireland Transcription
Margret Mechan Daughter - Female 2 1879 - Lanarkshire, Scotland

You could try looking for info about William on familysearch website

1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
31, Newton Street, Govan, Patrick, Lanarkshire, Scotland


First name(s) Last name Relationship Marital status Gender Age Birth year Occupation Birth place
William Meechan Head Married Male 39 1862 Mason's Labourer Ireland Transcription
Catherine Meechan Wife Married Female 40 1861 - Ireland Transcription
Margaret Meechan Daughter Married Female 22 1879 - Cleland, Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription
Catherine Meechan Daughter Married Female 20 1881 - Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription
John Meechan Son Single Male 17 1884 Miner's Labourer Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription
Peter Meechan Son Single Male 15 1886 App Lathsplitter Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription
William Meechan Son Single Male 13 1888 Scholar Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription
Mary Meechan Daughter Single Female 11 1890 Scholar Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription
James Meechan Son Single Male 6 1895 Scholar Partick, Lanarkshire, Scotland Transcription

Look in search all member trees to see whether anyone else on GR is researching these people

You will need birth year info to be able to so accurately.

Have you found any of the earlier ones on censuses?

What was Sarah's maiden name?