William McGowan and Family

[alistairmac]

Hi everyone,

I can't find my grand uncle William McGowan or his family after the 1891 census, I was wondering whether they emigrated to the US or somewhere else? Details in 1891 were:

Address: 40 Crawford St., Govan
William McGowan, 32, born Ireland, Boilermaker
Margaret (m/s Newlands), 31, born Glasgow
Children:
Martha, 8, born Clydebank
Margaret, 4, born Clydebank
Rebecca, 2, born Clydebank
William, 4mon, born Partick

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks
Alistair

[SarahND]

Hello Alistair,
They appear to have gone to Ireland, where two more children were born before Margaret died. William and children Margaret (15), Rebecca (13) and William (10) are in Shankhill, Antrim in 1901. The children were all born in Clydebank, Scotland. There are further children Fannie (9) and Annie (4) born Belfast. Then there is a new wife Agnes, born in Bangor, Co. Down and a step daughter Mary Ann Phillips (2) born in Belfast.

Have a look yourself: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

All the best,
Sarah

[alistairmac]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks very much for this. It never occured to me that he had gone back to Ireland. I don't know why I was surprised as William must have had relatives and friends there and his father, Robert seemed to be going back and forth a bit.

Incidentally, William had 3 siblings who stayed in Glasgow, Edward (my grandfather), James and Annie (who married a William Smith). According to the LDS site, William had at least 2 more siblings:

Fanny McGowan, born 1868 and David Richard McGowan, born 1871. Both were born in Londonderry and the parents were Robert McGowan (1831-94) and Martha Wallace (1840-1901).

I haven't been able to find any further mention of Fanny and David. On the 1881 census most of the family are in Glasgow, Martha is living at 16 Sharps Lane, Anderston with William, Annie and Edward. James has married a Catherine Campbell and is living at 114 Blackburn St, Govan. But there is no mention of Fanny who would have been 13 and David, 10 in 1881. So I don't know whether they died or went to live with other relatives in Ireland.

Any suggestions where I might look?

Thanks again
Alistair

[nelmit]

Hi Alistair,

There is a death indexed at SP of a David Richard McGowan in 1875 of the right age and also a Fanny Mcgowan in 1872.

BTW your Robert is driving me (as well as a few others I'm sure) crazy! Have you contacted Glasgow University archives to see if he went there? I found a reference to plant study in the 1920s last night but can't find it again.

School records are held at The Mitchell Library but you'd have to know what school he attended. What was their address in 1911?

Regards,
Annette

Later.................it's ok I've remembered your Wishart's Buildings post.

Even later...............I wonder if he attended Hillhead Secondary. They used to give bursaries for clever children who couldn't afford to go there otherwise.

[alistairmac]

Hi Annette,

Thanks very much for this. It's funny, I looked at SP for these two ages ago when I started out on this quest. I must have done something wrong.

Yes, sadly these are my missing relatives, I've just got the death records. Fanny died from inflamation of the bowels and David from consumption. They were both only 4 years old. Life sure was tough then.

Robert is driving us crazy here as well. He did tend to tell the odd porkie, for example he listed his father's occupation on both his marriage certificates as civil engineer. He was actually a retired crane driver! As I mentioned in an earlier post, he told my mother that he went to Edinburgh University and we now know that he didn't, so I'm not even sure that he actually went to university. I will contact Glasgow next. I'll let you know the outcome.

I remember as a child Hillhead being mentioned in the family and I had always thought that was where Robert was born. So, I was surprised when I found out that he was actually born in Yoker. So, maybe he did go to Hillhead school? Sadly, we have absolutely no records in the family of his life before he married my mother. I guess like many people, I regret not starting this investigation until after most of my relatives are no longer with us.

Thanks again
Alistair

[dannyboy3033]

Sarah,

Here's a picture of Sharps Lane in Anderston just in case your interested.

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/dl/immigration/HUAM312956soc

All the best,

Dan

Hi Sarah,

Thanks very much for this. It never occured to me that he had gone back to Ireland. I don't know why I was surprised as William must have had relatives and friends there and his father, Robert seemed to be going back and forth a bit.

Incidentally, William had 3 siblings who stayed in Glasgow, Edward (my grandfather), James and Annie (who married a William Smith). According to the LDS site, William had at least 2 more siblings:

Fanny McGowan, born 1868 and David Richard McGowan, born 1871. Both were born in Londonderry and the parents were Robert McGowan (1831-94) and Martha Wallace (1840-1901).

I haven't been able to find any further mention of Fanny and David. On the 1881 census most of the family are in Glasgow, Martha is living at 16 Sharps Lane, Anderston with William, Annie and Edward. James has married a Catherine Campbell and is living at 114 Blackburn St, Govan. But there is no mention of Fanny who would have been 13 and David, 10 in 1881. So I don't know whether they died or went to live with other relatives in Ireland.

Any suggestions where I might look?

Thanks again
Alistair

[alistairmac]

Hi Dan,

Great picture, very atmospheric. Thanks for posting the link

Cheers
Alistair