Thomas Lynch in Dundee

[jennyblain]

Some of you may know that my searching for Thomas Lynch, born around 1831-2 in Dundee according to later census records, has been a nightmare. But I think I may have found him... things are starting to add up.

He has been a 'mystery person' in my mother's family (he was her grandfather), to whom various stories have accrued. However the RC records gave a start and there are various other clues I've been following. Here's the story as I've currently pieced it together.

He was born in 1830 in Dundee, baptised in January 1831 in the Catholic church (St Andrew's) in Dundee. His father was Michael Lynch, mother Margaret Haghey or maybe Harvey (as an earlier child James is born to Michael Linch and Margaret Harvy, and it could depend on how the priest or clerk heard the name when they wrote it). But his father died in 1834 - there is a burial for Michael Lynch in the Howff in Dundee, which I found thanks to the online transcriptions. (According to this, Michael Lynch was from Drogheda.)

Then, there is a Thomas Lynch in a household in Auchterhouse in the 1841 census. I had not known what to make of this, especially as the age - 12 - isn't right. However I've now talked to some people in Auchterhouse and Dundee, and learned that pauper children were routinely boarded out, some in neighbouring areas such as Auchterhouse. Today in Dundee, I've been looking at printed lists of pauper children (and others of the poor whom the parish council or kirk session took responsibility for). These aren't available for every year. However they are for 1836, 7, 8 and 9, and these show Thomas Lynch in Auchterhouse, first in the household of an Andrew Scott in Bonnettown, then with a Mrs Crichton in Kirkton, with a payment of eight shillings a month for him. There is also a George Lynch in the same household in 1836, then in 1837 he is listed with others who 'have been struck off the roll, or put to service, during the year'.

At this point, Thomas Lynch is an unusual name in Dundee. I think these are all the same person. The inconsistency of age could result simply from his being farmed out to Auchterhouse and then transferred to a second household there. The person giving information for the census in 1841 (Charlotte Chrichton as head of the household) might well not actually know - but would know he was bigger than the other children. Thomas knew (at least later) that wasn't right, may not have known his actual birth date but may have estimated it around 1831 or 2, and so from then on it's a bit fuzzy.

And, this Thomas Lynch would have ceased to be on the roll of the Dundee poor at around age 13 or 14, and then started in service, probably with a local farmer as the 'boy', the lowest in the pecking order. Alas, there aren't any more lists of poor until 1848, by which time Thomas is certainly too old to be mentioned on the roll, so I can't find the point at which he drops off it. He may then have moved around several farms, probably in the area of Auchterhouse, Glamis, Meigle, Kirriemuir, being fee-ed where there was work, and then in Kirriemuir met up with Euphemia Low, whom he seems to have married in 1850 - and in the 1851 census she's a linen weaver and he's an ag lab ... But they didn't stay together, and that's another story.

Or of course this whole construction could be quite wrong...
(And I still have to find him in 1861, and work out how/why he went from Angus to Glasgow where he turns up in 1868, with Dundee lass Margaret Cassidy.)

Jenny

[jennyblain]

Dear all,
Some things to add to this story. I've found what happened to Thomas's son James Lynch, born in Kirriemuir in 1851, and some of the story of George and Ann Lynch, orphans sent to Auchterhouse at the time my great-grandfather Thomas was sent there.

Wee James lived in the household of his mother's family, with grandparents James Low and Jean McQueen, probably raised mostly by his aunt Katherine. He then worked as a farm servant and is in a bothy in Alyth in 1871. Then he emigrated to Illinois in 1877, and in 1880 is named as a farmer there, with his grandparents, aunt and some cousins in his household. By the 1900s he's in Colorado, farming, married, and leaving a good trail of family names (including McQueen). I've the US census info for him, thanks to a member of a rootsweb list who had access to this. He died there in 1945, and I think there are still descendants of his there today.

George Lynch must have been a couple of years older than Thomas in 1836 when he appears as a boarded-out child in Bonnetton of Auchterhouse. The next year he's apparently gone into service. A likely George is in the 1841 census as a servant on a farm in Tealing, aged about 13. Two younger children there are identified as 'orphans'. In 1851 he is a farm labourer in Panbride. He married Agnes Osler in 1857 and they're in the 1861 census in Dundee: he's a ploughman, living in Cotton Road. By 1871 Agnes is at 3 Crescent Street in Dundee with several children, and George elsewhere - 1881 again elsewhere - he died in 1890, address 3 Crescent Street, the death reported by his son Alexander Lynch at 11 Crescent Street. From George's death and marriage records, his parents were James (not Michael) Lynch and Margaret Haggart (not Haughey but close).

Ann Lynch was initially boarded with a different family in Bonnettown of Auchterhouse, with a higher rate paid for her, then from 1837 with a Robert Moncur in the Hawkhill in Dundee, at the regular rate (8s per month), and she's there in the 1841 census. In 1851 there's a likely Ann Lynch, a general servant in a household in the Hawkhill. Then in 1861 there's an Ann Lynch as female servant in a house in the Nethergate, aged 27 with an infant of 7 months, Mary Lynch, for whom I can't find a birth record (though it should have been registered.) No direct evidence of course that this is the same Ann - but in 1871, when I cannot find a likely candidate for Ann, a Mary Lynch aged 10 appears in the household of Agnes Osler the wife of George Lynch as 'niece'.

So, there's a possible pattern of interrelationships, particularly between George and Ann, but no direct evidence of such, only people glimpsed here and there, and apparent disagreement regarding parents' names. I'll go on pursuing this! My feeling is that the children are related, but the only births recorded are that of Thomas and of a possible earlier sibling, James in 1823 (parents Michael Lynch and Margaret Haray ...) It all adds to the fun.

Jenny

[Russell]

My Jenny you have been busy. It may well be that you never get authenticated clarification for this family but the way you have pieced it together certainly gives it a feeling of correctness (if that is a proper word ) The hard ones are the most satisfying as you garner in a snippet of information here and another one there until it all starts to fall into place. Maybe you'll be back in about six months with grandparents, birth records, Irish lineage and who knows what else is hiding out there.
The difference in paternal name and mothers surname is to be expected if they were farmed out when quite young. They would only remember a Dundee version of an Irish name and it would take a linguist to guess what that might sound like
Russell

[nelmit]

There is a death registered at Dundee of a Mary Lynch age 2 in 1862.

Could this be the neice with George and his wife in 1871?

MARY LYNCH

21 FEB 1862 Dundee, Angus, Scotland

Parents:
Mother: ANN LYNCH

Regards,
Annette

[jennyblain]

Hm - that would knock a hole in the connections! Based on Annette's post, I went looking for the death of a Mary Lynch, born around 1860 give or take a few years. didn't find one in February 1862 but did find the death of a Mary Lynch in 1862, mother's name Lynch - but in October.

I've looked at this record and indeed there's a Mary Lynch, illegitimate, mother Ann Lynch, died October 12th 1862, at 72 Cowgate. HOWEVER she's aged only 8 months in the SP scan - so can't be the one in the 1861 census. So there's another Ann Lynch with a fatherless bairn. Various other Ann Lynchs show up in the 1861 and 1871 censuses, but are either born in Ireland or (though not in this case) have married somebody named Lynch.

Thanks Annette. Do you have access to more Dundee death records (other than via SP or the Howff burials)...? Where did you see the death in Feb 1862 of a Mary aged 2 ...)?
Jenny

[jennyblain]

... certainly gives it a feeling of correctness (if that is a proper word ) The hard ones are the most satisfying as you garner in a snippet of information here and another one there until it all starts to fall into place. Maybe you'll be back in about six months with grandparents, birth records, Irish lineage and who knows what else is hiding out there.

Thanks Russell! I fully agree about the satisfaction - it's the ones who tease you and give little bits here and there that feel the most rewarding to pursue, in part (for me) because of the need to get into the social history, class and gender stuff and so on. My heart bleeds for these children sent out into the countryside with little prospect other than to become labourers, and for the women making the best of their circumstances which were never easy.

But doubt I'll have it in six months - it's taken 25 years so far! These Lynchs have been the hardest to find, of all my relatives. Others take a while, yes, and there are brick walls, and vague connections of cousins and such in specific regions, but back considerably further than these Dundee-Irish people. Thomas Lynch, my mother's grandfather, was a family mystery when I was growing up, with various speculations and wild rumours there, and so when I started this task I looked first for him, initially fruitlessly. But I think now I have found him and some of his kin. It's interesting to me not only to have the Irish Catholic connection but to know that they must have been very early Irish immigrants to Dundee - part of the first small wave in the 1820s or so - with many more people coming in the 1840s and subsequently. The Catholic records were a great help - I've since seen some transcriptions in Dundee library but the scans are much better. SP may take a bit of my income but I think the payments are certainly worth it.

As to correctness - yes, it's that feeling there, and I'll probably never know, but it does 'feel right' in some ways. Proof isn't everything! I think that family historians have to (like social scientists, one of whom I am) be reconciled to dealing with uncertainly, informed speculation, and balance of probability.

All best,
Jenny

[jennyblain]

Ahh - Annette - did you mean to type 'birth'? I can see there is one on that date, but how do you know she is aged two on registration - and is this the registration rather than birth date? I'd be tempted to think, from the familysearch information, that this is the birth of the wee lass who died in October 1862 aged 8 months.

There are two other Mary Lynchs with births registered in 1862, to couples, and also a Mary Ann to a couple.

Jenny

There is a death registered at Dundee of a Mary Lynch age 2 in 1862.

MARY LYNCH

21 FEB 1862 Dundee, Angus, Scotland

Parents:
Mother: ANN LYNCH

[nelmit]

Sorry about mix up but I did mean death. My thoughts were that the first Mary had died and it was the same Ann who had another Mary in 1862.

I don't have access to records other than searhing SP and that's where I found a death indexed of a Mary Lynch age 2 in 1862. Like you say though there were a few Mary Lynch births in 1860.

Hopefully I've made up for it by finding the birth of the wee 'Mary' at Nethergate in 1861.

MARIAN JANE PATERSON LINCH

26 JUL 1860 Dundee, Angus, Scotland

Parents:
Mother: ANNE LINCH

I've downloaded it and if you PM me with your email I'll send it to you.

Regards,
Annette

[jennyblain]

Again an update.
Thanks to Annette , we have a likely birth for Mary Lynch (full name Marian Jane Patterson Lynch, just to be intriguing and confusing at once) in 1860. Then this Mary or Marian/Mary Ann is in the census of 1871 and 81, in the house of her aunt-by-marriage Agnes Osler, wife of George Lynch. She then disappears - I've found no likely deaths or marriages, so maybe she emigrated? Her mother, Ann Lynch, seems to disappear in the 1860s and I've found no death or census records, or formal marriages, but there may have been an informal marriage. Probably I'll never know, as I can't check every occurrence of a death for an Ann Lynch, anywhere, alas.

So, I pursued possibilities for James Lynch, born in 1823 to Michael Lynch and Margaret Haray/Haughey/Harvey, and indeed there is one likely person. This is a farm worker at Carlungie in the 1841 census, then in Dundee subsequently, if it's the same one, first doing market gardening,then as a carter, finally coal carter. This Dundee one married Margaret Laing and there are several children, making tracking through 1851, 61, 71, 81, 91 quite possible, even though his birth year swings wildly around between 1821 and 1827! Then, he is likely to be the one who's institutionalised in the Dundee west poorhouse in 1901. James and Margaret had one of their children, James, born in 1855, so I went haring off to spend money on that scan, which turned out to be completely illegible (I've sent the necessary message to SP). However, I found a death of a James Lynch in 1904 and as soon as I saw 'mother's name' given as 'Haggart' knew I should get it.

James's parents are given on the death record as James Lynch and Margaret Haggart, so he's certainly the brother of George. The question remains whether he's the James born in 1823, or whether there was another James Lynch born around the same time but not recorded (as with George and Ann). To add to the confusion, his father's occupation is given as 'coal carter' which was latterly James's own occupation for a time, and I think that the reporting is mixed up - the death was reported by his daughter Helen, who couldn't sign her name and may not have been able to read the details. The death, however, was in the Dundee west poorhouse, confirming the 1901 census.

There was certainly no James Lynch (senior) or Margaret Lynch or Haggart around by 1841. James's father was dead by then, and from the 1841 census occupation for him, I'd think that James was also 'farmed out' to Auchterhouse or elsewhere. Alas the records of the boarded-out children that I've seen, in a volume in Dundee Library, aren't extant for every year. He may have been sent out for only a year, then taken off the roll in 1835 and placed into service as a farm worker, the same pattern that George seems to have followed in 1836-7, and probably Thomas too after 1841. I wonder how much communication there was between them?

Jenny