Robert COWAN missing from 1851 Scottish Census

[Jean Jeanie]

Hi Jake

As Andrew edited this in later, I think you may have missed it!

Hi Jake,

[edited in later]
Go to www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and do a search for Robert Cowan, aged 18 upwards, died in Fife after 1861. That produces 9 results. If you use the places you already know from your posts above, you will find both father and son Robert, hopefully in your first two tries out of the nine.

All the best,

AndrewP

If I'm wrong I apologise

Best wishes
Jean

[Jake Drummond]

Thanks, just got it!
Robert Cowan aged 73 years, died in 1901, father Joseph, mother -? Rattray, both dead. That places his birth in 1828.
I'll just have to guess the reason for his non appearance on the 1851 and 1861 census returns. So far!

[AndrewP]

Hi Jake,

A look on the online IGI shows the parents marriage, or more probably their banns being called in two parishes - Dalgety and Dunfermline, both in January 1825. These should both be available to download from ScotlandsPeople. However the spelling of Margaret's surname is inconsistent. If you want to find them on one search you will need wildcards - Ratt*r*y.

Two of their offspring appear on the IGI - James (1829) and Joseph (1832) in Dalgety. I haven't checked, but there is always the possibility of some more on ScotlandsPeople.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Jake Drummond]

I have the children or Robert Cowan and Eliz. Penman already; Joseph 1848, Robert 1849, James 1853, Janet 1855, Margaret 1858 and Colin in 1860, SO I'm guessing here that the names and dates you've found may be brothers of Robert 1828, born to Joseph Cowan and ? Rattray.

SP showed nothing in the search for Robert Cowan 1828-1901 and Elizabeth Penman's marriage or banns between so perhaps I should use the IGI instead? Where do I find that though Andrew? (I'm showing my inexperience here!!)
I've been using SP and occasionally LDS but been wary there of mistakes, especially in submitted entries. (I have a HUGE cockup in my tree posted there by a Canadian Couisin!)

I trhink I need to get more experience in doing searches, though I've found nearly 500 family connections so far.

[AndrewP]

Hi Jake,

The online IGI can be found at:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... _form=true

Its limitations are as follows:
(1) Data submitted by LDS member is included. This inormation may be good or may be bad. Often there is no means of verifying it. Treat it with care. Look at the foot of any result page and see if the record you are looking at is a submission or is extracted from the records.

(2) There is a significant number of parishes where only the female births are shown. The male births are completely omitted. This applies only to the online version of the IGI. The version seen in LDS Family History Centres or on microiche in some libraries includes both male and female birth entries.

(3) Pre 1855 records are far from complete. Significant numbers of births or baptisms were never recorded, or the records have not survived. This was most common for families who did not belong to the (Established) Church of Scotland - the keepers of the Parochial Registers (which became the Old Parochial Registers - OPRs). Also, the further back you get, the fewer records survive. This limitation applies equally to ScotlandsPeople and the LDS.

For pre-1855, ScotlandsPeople has only the OPRs. It does not contain the LDS submissions that appear on the IGI. In that sense, all of their records are there to be verified.

The James (1829) and Robert (1832) that I referred to earlier were the children of Joseph Cowan and Margaret Rattray (or Rattery as it is spelled on one of them).

These two births and both parish records of Joseph and Margaret's marriage can be found on ScotlandsPeople. Unfotunately there is no obvious sign of Robert (of about 1828) in the birth indexes.

A parent search on the IGI (put the father's and mother's names in the boxes at the top right, and British Isles as the region - leave everything else blank - then search) shows only five of the children that you have listed. I take it you have found the others in the censuses.

ROBERT COWAN - Birth: 10 JUN 1849 Beath, Fife
JANET COWAN - Birth: 16 MAR 1855 Dunfermline, Fife
JOHN COWAN - Birth: 26 MAR 1860 Beath, Fife
ANDREW COWAN - Birth: 30 SEP 1862 Beath, Fife
WILLIAM COWAN - Birth: 03 SEP 1865 Balingry, Fife

If you haven't already done so, the main recommendation is for you to download the 1855 birth certificate for Janet. 1855 certificates give more information than is given in any other year.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Jake Drummond]

Super Andrew, thanks a lot.

I did as you said and found the marriage certificate for Joseph and Margaret, but it neither prints nor saves, but the information is there as I need it.
Strange that their son Robert of 1828 to 1901 is given parents as Joseph Cowan and ? Rattray on his DC, unless of course his given age at time of death (73) was incorrect, as your search shows Robert dated 1832.
The informant was son Joseph, and he seemed vague about his Grandmother Rattray's Christian name so may have been mistaken about old Joe's age.

You mention Robert 1849 and Janet 1855 as children of Robert and Elizabeth Penman and I agree with the ages/dates as found on the 1861 census, with the added Joseph and James, Margaret and Colin, but an anomoly which I noted earlier in my search was this;

A Robert Cowan showed up in the 1871 census at Cowdenbeath, age 47, wife aged 50 named Elizabeth (all correct so far except that their ages are only just out) and I had supposed that they were not the same Robert and Elizabeth, as they had a John, Andrew and William, but not the other children. I had thought that he could have been a cousin you see, with the couple of years of difference in birth years for Robert, and the fact that Elizabeth had 'aged' by three years since 1861 (37yo in 1861, 50yo in 1871)

On reflection I suppose the older kids could be out of the house by then, aged (in 1871) 20 years and married in Robert's case, 18 for James, 16 for Janet which I thought a bit young, but worse still is Margaret at only 13 and Colin at 11 years old, supposing he survived infancy.

It's all very confusing for amatuers like me I'm afraid, and I hope yopu don't mind me bouncing ideas around in the Forum like this, but there are times when that's what is needed I suppose; different approaches to the same problem.
I appreciate all of you pitching in with ideas and comments, and if you wish to view my tree such as it is it is on Genesreunited, just type in John Drummond 1951 and it should appear.
All and any help is welcome!!

[AndrewP]

I did as you said and found the marriage certificate for Joseph and Margaret, but it neither prints nor saves, but the information is there as I need it.

Hi Jake,

To save one of the OPR images (jpg format), right-click on the image and the click on the "save picture as" option.

Also, it's not uncommon for ages to be mistaken or massaged on the censuses, so be wary of taking all of the ages there as solid fact.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Jake Drummond]

I tried that Andrew, but no joy.
I contacted SP last week about another OPR which would not print, or rather printed all black, but as usual with Government run agencies, I'm still awaiting a reply!

I'll bear in mind the human errors in the census returns, as they do seem to creep in often.
I'll do a search again tonight to see if BC's of the kids help clear up the anomolies.

[Jake Drummond]

Seems Scotland's People are having difficulties this morning (Monday 4th June) with viewing images, so perhaps that will correct the problem mentioned above.
Fingers crossed.

[Merlot]

Jake,

On the page which gives you the information on the file that you want to open e.g.

SMITH JOHN (Statutory Deaths 625/01 0192) 90Kb

Right click on this and then click "Save Target As", you can then save your file.

Hope this helps.

Merlot