Why Go To Gourock.....

[maggiehill]

I am trying to find out why my grandfather John Lando Kerr was born at Gourock in 1878, on his birth certificate he was illegitimate and born at Anderson Telan (this is not clear), Gourock.

My ggrandmother Margaret Finlayson had an illegitimate daughter Janet Finlayson Kerr in 1852 just before she married John Lando. The daughter Janet then had an illegitimate son John Lando Kerr. She was lived with the Lando’s in West Linton.
Why travel all the way to Gourock from West Linton to have a baby unless she had relations living there ie the Kerr’s or Finlayson’s.

Anderson is a name that appears in both Gourock and Greenock I wonder if the place Anderson Telan has any connection.

Maggie Hill

[Andy]

Could you possibly post the cert into the gallery so that we can have a look at the address. I live in Gourock and have a fair knowledge of present and historical place names Anderson Telan aint one.

[AndrewP]

Hi Maggie,

Is it definitely Anderson? Could it be Lunderston? - a house (and bay) at the far end of the parish from Gourock (town), close to Inverkip. As for the "Telan" bit - no sign of anythong similar on the 1890s parish map.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[nelmit]

I was wondering if it might be Anderson's Land.

Annette M

[DavidWW]

I am trying to find out why my grandfather John Lando Kerr was born at Gourock in 1878, on his birth certificate he was illegitimate and born at Anderson Telan (this is not clear), Gourock.

My ggrandmother Margaret Finlayson had an illegitimate daughter Janet Finlayson Kerr in 1852 just before she married John Lando. The daughter Janet then had an illegitimate son John Lando Kerr. She was lived with the Lando’s in West Linton.
Why travel all the way to Gourock from West Linton to have a baby unless she had relations living there ie the Kerr’s or Finlayson’s.

Anderson is a name that appears in both Gourock and Greenock I wonder if the place Anderson Telan has any connection.

Maggie Hill

Maggie

As is still occasionally the case today, if a birth is going to be illegitimate, then it was much, much more common back then, especially if the family could afford it, for the coming mother to be "sent away" to distant relatives or just somewhere far removed from her domicile so that the illegitimate birth wouldn't be become known to people in the locality .........

Davie

[AndrewP]

Hi Maggie,

I see you have uploaded the John Lando Kerr birth certificate.

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... p?pos=-210

I have had a good look at all three entries on that page. Unfortunately the registrar's writing was not consistent in style from one entry to the next. My feeling is that the address is Anderson Place, Gourock. The Te that you had seen in it is what I am assuming is P in Place. The only other capital P on the page is in Paisley in one of the other entries.

A quick web search gave someone else's genealogy page with a birth in Anderson Place, Cove Road, Gourock.

http://www.cwsoft.demon.co.uk/colin/family/d_6.htm

Armed with that, I found Anderson Place, off Cove Road, Gourock, near the centre of this 1897 map --> click here.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[StewL]

Hello Maggie and Andrew

I would definately agree that it is place, have seen a few written like this while trancribing FREEBMD. It is amazing the flourish they used to put in their writing Miss Gemmel would have rapped my knuckles for such a flourish.

[maggiehill]

Thanks everyone,

I had to wait for my son to put the certificate on the site. I am at present searching the 1871 and 1881 census to see if any Kerr or Finlayson family relations are in the area, no luck so far.

Can any one solve another problem I have with my granddad? His illegitamate mother Janet Lando (born Janet Finlayson Kerr 1852) and her son John Kerr Lando (born John Lando Kerr in 1878) lived with the Lando's in West Linton.

Margaret and John Lando also had a son named John born 4 December 1859 died 9 Sept 1879 at West Linton. My query is, is John senior or John junior the father of my grandfather John Lando Kerr.