Looking for ggg grandparents (McLean).....

Southpaw · Post by **Southpaw** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:21 pm

Looking for parents of my great great grandfather Alexander McLean. Alexander was born on Islay circa 1821. I have his extracted marriage record from IGI in Cambuslang in 1846. Also have him in 1851 (Hamilton), 1861 (Renfrew) and 1871 (Renfrew) censuses and have his death image in Renfrew in 1875. The stumbling block is that his death image doesn't contain any information about his parents even though it seems to have been witnessed by one of his sons. The 1841 census has two Alexanders of about the right age on Islay, one living with a family of Gilchrists and another living with his parents and siblings but nothing conclusive. I assume if I got his OPR marriage extract it wouldn't contain any information about his parents. Any ideas on what I might be missing or what other avenues I can pursue to find Alexander's parents would be appreciated. I have records on 14 of my 16 ggg grandparents on my father's side of the family. It would be nice find the other two. Thanks to all.

Southpaw.

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:11 pm

Hi Southpaw

Any clues in his children's names?

Best wishes
Lesley

Southpaw · Post by **Southpaw** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:46 pm

Hi Lesley:

Children with birth dates and places are as follows:
Janet Turner McLean (my great grandmother) B. 1847, Cambuslang
John McLean B. circa 1848, Cambuslang
Flora McLean B. 1851, Hamilton
Alexander McLean B. circa 1853, Hamilton
Mary Ann McLean B. 1855, Govan
Susan McLean B. 1858, Renfrew
Susan McLean B. 1860, Renfrew
Rachael or Rachel B. 1863, Renfrew
Catherine McLean B. 1866, Renfrew

Not really any clues. First daughter was named after mother's mother and second son was named after his father. Susan is the mother's name. If the naming system was strictly followed that would mean Alexander's parents would be John and Flora but I haven't found any evidence of this.

Only the girls are on the IGI. That's why I only have tentative birth dates for the two boys based on census ages. Presumably the first Susan died in infancy but I haven't found a death record.

Thanks for your reply.

Southpaw

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:16 pm

Hi Southpaw
On SP there are these two girls who are possibly yours? At least it gives you the dates if they are.*
You searched for: Surname: "M*clean"; Use Soundex: Off; Forename: ""; Sex: "Both"; Date From: 01 January 1845; Date To: 31 December 1854; Parish: "CAMBUSLANG|HAMILTON";

05/09/1847 MCLEAN JANET ALEXANDER MCLEAN/SUSAN PLUMPTON FR297 F CAMBUSLANG 627/00 0002
27/07/1851 MCLEAN FLORA ALEXANDER MCLEAN/SUSAN PLUMPTON FR311 F CAMBUSLANG 627/00 0002

The only John who turned up was this one, who does not look like yours.
27/12/1846 MCLEAN JOHN JOHN MCLEAN/AGNES MUIR FR1089 M HAMILTON 647/00 005*

Best wishes
Lesley

*Duh

just noticed it was the boys you were unsure of dates for....

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:33 pm

And these are the Alexanders born on Islay on SP:

You searched for: Surname: "M*CLEAN"; Use Soundex: Off; Forename: "ALEXANDER*"; Sex: "Male"; Date From: 01 January 1810; Date To: 31 December 1831; Parish: "BOWMORE OR KILLARROW|KILCHOMAN|KILDALTON|KILMENY|PORTNAHAVEN"; (I checked the parish of Oa separately and there were none there in the same time period)

1 20/09/1820 MACLEAN ALEXANDER ALEXANDER MACLEAN/MARY WHITE M BOWMORE OR KILLARROW
2 16/02/1818 MCLEAN ALEXANDER ALEXANDER MCLEAN/JANET SPENS M BOWMORE OR KILLARROW
3 08/03/1820 MCLEAN ALEXANDER MALCOLM MCLEAN/CATHERINE MCMILLAN M KILMENY
4 01/11/1822 MCLEAN ALEXANDER MALCOLM MCLEAN/CATHERINE MCMILLAN M KILMENY
5 12/03/1823 MCLEAN ALEXANDER HECTOR MCLEAN/JANET CARRICK M KILMENY
6 03/11/1823 MCLEAN ALEXANDER HUGH MCLEAN/CATHERINE MCARTHUR M KILMENY
7 01/12/1827 MCLEAN ALEXANDER JOHN MCLEAN/CATHERINE BELL M KILMENY
8 10/03/1831 MCLEAN ALEXANDER JOHN MCLEAN/MARGARET MCQUEEN M KILCHOMAN

I'd be tempted to think that the ones with the father Alexander look most likely, if only becasue there is no hint at all in the children's names of a Malcolm, a Hector or a Hugh, and both the John's sons are a bit later. From the point of view of telling them apart in later census material its a pity both those Alexanders are in the same Parish though....
If it were my lot, I'd want to check the OPRs for the area, see if there were any small clues to be gleaned. Sometimes just sorting out family groups and finding out who was who (occupation and location wise, if you are lucky) makes it easier to work out which is the most likley to be your family, then you can go chasing siblings' deaths for the parents' names!

Als found this, which I'm sure you will have seen:
http://www.isle-of-islay.com/genealogy/index.html

A list of Islay People: extracted from Minutes of Presbytery of Kintyre 1655-1833, The Stent Book of Islay 1718-1843, Kilarrow and Kilmeny Free Church Communion Book 1843-1871, Kilarrow and Kilmeny Free Church Baptismal Register 1843-1856.

A second list of Islay People: extracted from the Book of Islay 1895. Rent Rolls 1686, 1733, 1741 and map, Statistics of the Parish of Kildalton, Rent Roll 1843, A Rent Roll of Islay 1817, The New Guide to Islay 1900, lists of The Founders of Port Ellen in 1821. The Trustees of the Museum very much regret that, due to a lack of suitable records and restricted staff, they are unable to assist with specific family history searches. Steve Gilchrist in Seattle USA hosts an excellent Islay Genealogy site which can be accessed at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/islay/info.htm

Hope this is of some help
Best wishes
Lesley
JJ

Post by **AndrewP** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:52 pm

LesleyB wrote:... Date From: 01 January 1810; Date To: 31 December 1831; Parish: "BOWMORE OR KILLARROW|KILCHOMAN|KILDALTON|KILMENY|PORTNAHAVEN"; (I checked the parish of Oa separately and there were none there in the same time period)

The parish of Oa was raised as a Quoad Sacra parish within Kildalton Parish in 1828. The OPRs exist from 1833 to 1854. Hence no results for that parish in the timeframe you were looking at.

All the best,

AndrewP

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:04 am

Ahh, thanks Andrew. ....I would have to admit I had never heard of Oa until trying to help Southpaw this evening!

Post by **AndrewP** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:29 am

Hi Lesley,

Similarly, Portnahaven was a parish (Quoad Sacra?) raised within Kilchoman Parish. Its OPRs are only from 1831 to 1854.

All the best,

AndrewP

Southpaw · Post by **Southpaw** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:32 am

Thanks Lesley and Andrew.

Yes, Lesley, Janet and Flora are mine and their parents Alexander McMurray and Susan Plumpton are my great great grandparents. I'll do some homework on the rest of the information you provided. Thanks again.

Southpaw.