"What was the lineage of 6th G Grandmother Elizabeth Miscally from Wigtown?".
I have hit a brick wall in my Family research . I know my 6th G Grandmother was an Elizabeth Mary Miscally b1740 in Stranraer . "Can anyone help me to find Eliz's lineage/Parents ?'. I do know she Married William Rouffignac b1729 a French Hugeonot. I assume that Miscally is a Scots surname but i'm not sure. I appreciate any support and thank you.
Answers
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Miscally is indeed Gaelic in origin; it's a variant of MacScally/Mac Scalaidhe.
As for finding Elizabeth's parents, you'll want to check the church records for Wigtown for her baptism/christening information. Do you know if she was born in Wigtown proper or the historic country of Wigtownshire? Narrowing it down to her birth town would make your search considerably easier. Wigtown is a very small place (it had a population of 987 in 2001), so it's highly probable that any Miscallys in Wigtown in the mid-1700s were closely related to Elizabeth. By researching them, you may be able to discover connections to Elizabeth.
You'll also want to make sure you're looking into variant spellings of Miscally, such as MacScally, Mac Scalaidhe, Miskelly, and Miskolly. Back in the 1700s, surname spellings were very flexible and could change even from one generation to the next. Different family members may even have spelled the family name different ways according to personal preference.
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Thank you so much for your response reg Eliz Miscally . Your background knowledge is good and informative. As for Elizabeth's Birthplace it was Stranraer Wigtown Scotland . Unfortunately i can't access her baptism record on Ancestry site . too far b ack i think. Eliz was also Married in Stranraer .. All the Surnames i have are spelt MISCALLY . So i will go with that i suppose. I am so curious about this ancestor , she is like a "ghost in my f tree". Thanks again and best wishes.
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Thank you! Happy to help. The FS Wiki actually has a page specifically for Wigtownshire research: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wigtownshire,_Scotland_Genealogy That will probably help further guide you. If you happen to know at all which religion Elizabeth belonged to (you may be able to determine that from her marriage record), that would help you know which church's records you should probably be searching for her baptism/christening.
And I mention the surname spelling thing because I think it's also possible that Elizabeth started spelling her name differently than her parents at some point, and the Miscally name just stuck going forward. Surnames can change within a single generation, so I think it's worth investigating the alternate spellings, because that may be why you're having difficulty finding her parents. My great-grandfather was born under the surname Arizpe in Mexico, but when he immigrated to the US he changed the spelling to Arispe (they're pronounced pretty much the same) and that's what subsequent generations have used.
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