Missing Records For Scottish Ancestor

Shaun50

Hello,

I've just started researching my family history and I was hoping someone could explain why one generation of my family seems to have gaps in their records.

My Ancestor, Thomas Menagh, first appears in the 1841 Scottish census in Girvan aged 22 and born in Ireland. He marries a Janet Hepburn in 1850 in Girvan. He next appears in the 1851 census in Glasgow, without his wife, with his place of birth listed as Girvan. This is the last time he appears in any record.

I can find no births records for his three children, Maria (1851), Isabella (1854) and Thomas (Circa 1857). I have found Isabella's 1856 death record where Thomas is listed as deceased. Maria appears in the 1861 and 1871 census before disappearing. I have all of Thomas Jnr's records apart from his birth. I've searched the OPR and ScotlandsPeople but found no trace of the missing records.

Does anyone have any ideas on what may have happened or where else the records might be?

Paul W

@Shaun50

I am registered to use ScotlandsPeople so have been trying to find records, but have had as little success as you. When you say you found Maria in the 1861 census, I assume you do mean you found mother Jane(t) and brother Thomas, too. (All listed against the same reference at Bridgeton, Lanarkshire.) Also, that she and brother Thomas are found at Bridgeton in 1871 with a MENICH surname.

I suppose they might be found under another surname (that the search engine hasn't picked-up), otherwise, no - just nothing elsewhere.

I have had similar problems recently in tracing a RAE / REAY family in Scotland - no trace of the baptisms I was looking for in the 1830s period. Parish records are often patchy in their coverage, but from the mid-1850s I would expect better results (from statutory records & census).

Had a brief look in the England census for 1881, but found nothing there, either. Perhaps they emigrated, although I often can find no explanation at all why a family suddenly completely vanishes after a particular date.

Obviously, I wish you well in your searches, but have only really responded here as there has been no help offered from any other member of this group! It was recommended by someone that the Kirk Sessions records (found under Virtual Volumes on ScotlandsPeople, and free to use) are sometimes of help. There are records for Girvan covering the 1850s, but these are usually only minutes / accounts that just might mention a relative - I have found them of little use personally, but possibly worth a glance.

Eviebb

Shaun50 I just noticed your question this morning. I had a wee look to see if I could find any information for you. May I suggest that you add Thomas Menagh onto your tree as he already appears to exist on FamilySearch.with the ID 9MVX-MC5. I am assuming this is who you are looking for? If he was 22 on the 1841 census we can assume he was born around 1819 in Ireland although this is not a given since ages did not seem important before official registration and often differ on census especially.

Once you have entered Thomas Menagh, on your tree, on his person page you will see a box headed Search Records. You can search for him on Ancestry. If you click on Ancestry Search and select public member trees you will see he appears in 22 trees.

Of course you need to check that they are referring to your Thomas Menagh. You will see that the name is spelled in different ways which does not help.

(When we are searching Scotland'sPeople we sometimes need to choose the different options for names they offer beside the names and keep searching until, hopefully, we find who we are looking for).

From the information I found it would appear Thomas Menagh died before 1856 as he is noted as deceased on the death record of his daughter Isabella Meinoch. Remember many people could not read or write at this time so the spelling of their names was often phonetically spelled by the Registrar. We are looking at differing accents here too.

Thomas (1856 -1916) was born after the death of his father and has the surname Minney again probably a phonetic spelling of what the Registrar heard.

There is a mountain of information here and hopefully it will lead you to the records you seek.

The research is often more difficult before 1855 but we can get round it by being imaginative.

Best wishes for success in your research.

Eviebb