Dikeray

[speleobat2]

Has anyone ever seen this surname before? I've found nothing when I searched. It is the name of a person who lived in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1830's. There was a sizeable Scottish population there, but all I'm getting on Ancestry are phonetic variations: Dickerson, Decker, etc. Her daughter married a Scottish man who may be a family member of mine.

Carol

[Ina]

Carol,

The name is not listed in the Surnames of Scotland book.

Ina

[SarahND]

Hi Carol,
Where did the reference to that name come from? Sounds like someone's messy handwriting or a typo somewhere

Sarah

[speleobat2]

It's from a Family Search transcription of a Minnesota death record. My "cousin" in AU is going to try to get the microfilm so she can see the original. They also got the middle initial wrong so anything is possible.

Ina, thanks for looking for the name for me.

Carol

[Currie]

FamilySearch has this (probably it's the same one?)

Mary F. Spence
Minnesota Deaths and Burials
Name - Mary F. Spence
Gender - Female
Death Date - 11 Oct 1907
Death Place - Herman, Grant, Minnesota
Age - 70
Birth Date - 1837
Birthplace - N.B.
Race - White
Marital Status - Widowed
Father's Name - William Springer
Father's Birthplace - N. B.
Mother's Name - F. Dikeray
Mother's Birthplace - N.B.

Apart from that there's a couple of Dickery's and some Dockery's from Kansas (reminds me of a mouse and a clock for some reason or other?)

Alan

LATER: I must have dozed off while I was typing and posting that.

[speleobat2]

Yes, that's the same one I'm working from. And the mouse and the clock came to mind here too.

Carol

[SarahND]

The index record in the Minnesota Historical Society database also says Dikeray, so I think that is probably how it was spelled by the mouse who was recording the information. I would vote for Dickery as what they were trying to write. If I still lived in MN I would go look up the original for you, but I'm several time zones away at the moment!

Best,
Sarah

[speleobat2]

Hi Sarah,

I've been searching the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick which is a very nice website and New Brunswick is where Mary Jane Springer Spence and her family were from originally. No luck there though. When I used the Soundex feature I got 51 names to try, but none of them were her mother's and most of them were in the 1900's. Many had a French look, but all of her records say she was Canada English. There were some land records under the Springer and Spence names for the correct time period, but nothing that could be her mother. Also, I noticed that Mary Jane was married in Queens County and I'm not seeing many records from that county. We will keep turning over stones!

Carol

[AndrewP]

Hi Carol,

Is NB definitely New Brunswick in this instance. Another possibility to consider may be "North Britain" (aka Scotland).

Food for thought?,

AndrewP

[speleobat2]

Anything is possible with this name. The daughter was married in Cambridge, Queens County, New Brunswick, but all we know is that her parents are described as Canada English on some of the census records. The daughter's husband's parents are from Scotland according to the census. Of course, one of the census takers decided that NB stood for Nebraska too! The Spence line that we are following is from Keith which I think is in Banffshire? Or is it Aberdeenshire? I'll have to go look now. My cousin's Spence family has a Munro in it and my grandmother's Munro family was from Belhelvie which isn't far from Keith. This is starting to resemble a bowl of spaghetti! Which is half the fun of it.

Carol