The mysterious and untruthful Jenny Morrison or Robertson...

[brodie]

Although my personal surname interests are noted below, I am doing some work for others and have hit the biggest brick wall of all time. So help! This is a long story!

Janet Robertson was born 1859 Kinnoul Perthshire - illegitimate daughter of Janet Robertson (parents Peter Robertson and Ann Stewart of Collace) and William Morrison. Her mother later became the 3rd wife of Alexander Clark of Dundee. Janet Jnr at some stage decided to call herself Jenny. In 1881, I found a probable entry, working in service in Edinburgh. The next formal record of her is a marriage in 1907 in Glasgow to W Campbell MacKay when she said she was a spinster, lied about her age, and said her name was Jenny Morrison, quoting her father.

Her father William Morrison started off as a farm servant in Perthshire, became a policeman in Leith and then landed up as a newspaper proprietor and town councillor in Hawick. He then apparently abandoned the lot, including his wife and emigrated to California where he died in an accident. He was definately known to Jenny because family items were amongst her possessions. He is another mystery in himself but I'll save that for another day!

My brickwall is the period in between 1881 and 1907. During that time, according to family tales, Jenny is supposed to have married a man who may or may not have been doctor, who may or may not have been called Robert Morrison, who may or may not have been involved in the Boer War, who may or may not have had something to do with a prisoner of war camp in S Africa, who may or may not have died fairly young. She also supposedly had a son James Stuart Morrison in Leith in July 1884, a son Sydney Morrison later but no date/place known and a daughter Margaret who died as a baby. The only fact that is confirmed is that James Stuart Morrison was living with his step-grandfather Alexander Clark in Dundee at the 1891 cenus. He later emigrated to the USA (another long story full of unlikely adventures) and then Canada. His mother followed him in 1915 and said on her emigration papers that she was a widow, next of kin a cousin in Dundee (despite the fact that her son Sydney was supposed to be alive and well living in England) and she lied about her age again, although a different lie from the one on her marriage certificate. (There is yet another possible age on her death certificate!).

All the above story comes from the oral family history of James Stuart Morrison (who definately existed) and from letters he wrote home to his future wife during WW1. They show that he is definately the one I found in the 1891 census and mention the brother Sydney. He also makes reference to his parents being in Heidelburg S Africa when he was a child taking Sydney with them but leaving him behind with his 'aunt' in Dundee.

BUT I can't find - a marriage for Jenny to anyone before McKay in 1907, any record amongst medical, military or other records for Robert Morrison, births for any of the children, trace of any of them in 1891 or 1901 apart from James in 1891 as noted above, any trace of Sydney although he is supposed to have done all sorts of things in WW1. My searches have included days and days at GRO and hours at Kew (for the military stuff and medal rolls etc).

The clearest fact is that Jenny was the best liar around and I think it passed to James in the genes. So anything and everything she or her son said is suspect. But the tale is far too involved to not have a grain of truth somewhere. And James definately existed - he tried to get his own birth certificate from GRO in the 1930s but failed as they said they had no trace with the information he gave.

So - anyone any bright ideas? Or is there anyone out there researching Robertsons from Perthshire / Dundee? As I said - HELP!!! I know this is one of those occasions when I should just give up but gee it bugs me.

Brodie

[Liz Turner]

Hi Brodie

I apologise if I re-state the obvious and since you've obviously been looking at this puzzle for a while, I may well do that ...

Well that is certainly a tale and a half - you could write a book about it! There seems to be so much potential information contained in your post, that surely the folks on here can help you tease out some hard facts ....

If I've got this right, Jenny/Janet was living and working in Edinburgh in 1881 (presume from Census) and she would be aged about 22/23. Who was she working for? Did her mother have any other children - you might be able to trace her via them in the 1891 and 1901 census records ... I had a relative who did marry a doctor (well a very recently qualified medical student). What about trying the University archives and/or the Royal College of Physicians to see their archives hold any information? I do know that back then University qualifications were not the same as they are today. My relative attended Edinburgh for about 2 years and got letters from his professors to say he'd attended classes. This was enough to get him employment as a doctor (and we're talking 1880s here!!).

It's not much, but hope this might help.

Liz

[brodie]

Thanks for the suggestions Liz. I haven't found any trace of siblings for Jenny - her mother married late in life to a widower who had two previous families and said on her marriage certificate that she was a spinster. That does not of course preclude more illegitimate children but I've found nothing to suggest that so far. I've looked at Jenny's employers in 1881 (yes - it was the census) and the other people working in the household but gained zero.

I've tried every record of civilian and medical persons known to me - university records, royal college, army list, etc - nothing about this Robert Morrison. I've also tried Edinburgh Directories for the right period - nothing.

By 1891, Jenny's mother was dead and I can't find anybody in 1901 except for the step-relations through the mother's marriage. I keep feeling it would really help if I could find Jenny and her mother in the 1871 census but I've tried several times and failed - I can only think that they were not living together for some reason. I've tried tracing all Jenny's mother's siblings to see if either of them was living with them but no luck again.

As you say, I could write a book!

Kath

[emanday]

Kath, I can well understand your frustration.

One of my lot was married and (apparently**) widowed twice, had children by both husbands and died in a poorhouse.
Can I find her birth, or either of her marriages? Nada!
Nor can I find the births of her two, first family, daughters. By the way, just to add to the muddle, both of them were married twice as well and both lied about their ages throughout their lives!

** Never found the DC for the first husband, so he could have run off, or she did!

It's maddening innit!