Searching for Muir ancestors in Wigtonshire

Den Rees · Post by **Den Rees** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:58 pm

My Gt Grandfather William Muir was born 10 March 1841 at Inch Wigtonshire died 22 March 1920 at West Cluden Dumfries and buried at Stoneykirk. I've tried without success to find his parents. His wife was Susan Wilson born 12 July 1842 in Ireland, they married at Stoneykirk 27 November 1862, she died at Lochans Stranraer 12 dec 1910 and was buried at Stoneykirk. Her parents were John Wilson and wife Jane both born in Ireland but in 1861 census shows them living at Culmore Cot House Stoneykirk. Any help to find further generations of the Muir or Wilson families would be much appreciated.

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:53 am

Hello and welcome to Talking Scot!!
Do you have William's marriage and death certificates and neither one lists the parents? Just wondering where you got the date of birth. As you will have noted, the only William Muir on the IGI born in Inch around that time was on 6 Sep 1838, son of William Muir and Elizabeth Gunion. Hmmm

k
All the best,
Sarah

mcgrice · Post by **mcgrice** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:34 am

Hi Den,
I have a William Willison married Margaret Muir Nov 1846 in Barony Parish. Their children I know of were William, Isabella, Alexander and George.
Ring any bells for you??

Regards
mcgrice

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:12 pm

SarahND wrote:Hello and welcome to Talking Scot!!
Do you have William's marriage and death certificates and neither one lists the parents? Just wondering where you got the date of birth. As you will have noted, the only William Muir on the IGI born in Inch around that time was on 6 Sep 1838, son of William Muir and Elizabeth Gunion. Hmmm k
All the best,
Sarah

Here is that family in 1841 -

Piece: SCT1841/886 Place: Inch -Wigtownshire Enumeration District: 7
Civil Parish: Inch Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Inch
Folio: 7 Page: 4
Address: Barsolas

Surname First name(s) Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks
MUIR William M 40 Ag Lab Wigtownshire
MUIR Elizabeth F 35 Wigtownshire
MUIR John M 15 Wigtownshire
MUIR Elizabeth F 13 Wigtownshire
MUIR Jennet F 11 Wigtownshire
MUIR Robert M 9 Wigtownshire
MUIR Margaret F 7 Wigtownshire
MUIR James M 4 Wigtownshire
MUIR William M 2 Wigtownshire

Interesting to not that most of the children were born in Inch and christened in Stoneykirk.

Kind regards,
Annette M

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:35 pm

I hope I'm not confusing the issue here but -

I know the children's ages are way out but I'm fairly sure this is the same family from 1841. I found this later from 1881 census showing William as unmarried so I guess this is not the correct family..

Dwelling: Auchencloy Farm Ho
Census Place: Stoneykirk, Wigtown, Scotland
Source: FHL Film 0224063 GRO Ref Volume 898 EnumDist 6 Page 7
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
William MUIR M 82 M Inch, Wigtown, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Farmer Of 75 Acres Empl 2 Men & 1 Girl
Elizabeth (Bessie) MUIR M 75 F Old Luce, Wigtown, Scotland
Rel: Wife
Occ: Farmers Wife
Wm. MUIR U 36 M Inch, Wigtown, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Farmers Son
Margaret MUIR U 40 F Inch, Wigtown, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Farmers Daur
Elizabeth GIBSON U 22 F Stoneykirk, Wigtown, Scotland
Rel: Servant
Occ: General Servant Dom
James CUMMINS U 21 M Inch, Wigtown, Scotland
Rel: Servant
Occ: Farm Servant
Hugh MC DONALD U 16 M Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
Rel: Servant
Occ: Farm Servant

A check of the 1851 census gives William's age as 12 and Margaret's as 17.

Kind regards,
Annette M

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:46 pm

After all that I found William and Susan in 1881 and discovered that he was born in Kirkcolm

around 1844.

Could this be him in 1851?

Name: MUIR , William
Address: Village of Kirkcolm(887)
Parish: Kirkcolm
Relationship: son of Hugh Muir
Marital Status:
Occupation:
Age: 8
Born: Kirkcolm Wgt
Household No: 14/18

You will find the rest of that household here at the dumgal site.

Here they are in 1841 from FREECEN-

Piece: SCT1841/887 Place: Kirkcolm -Wigtownshire Enumeration District: 10
Civil Parish: Kirkcolm Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Kirkcolm
Folio: 10 Page: 10
Address: Village Kirkcolm

Surname First name(s) Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks
MOORE Hugh M 34 Agricultural Labourer Wigtownshire
MOORE Elisabeth F 32 Ireland
MOORE Ann F 12 Wigtownshire
MOORE Saml M 10 Wigtownshire
MOORE Agnes F 8 Wigtownshire
MOORE James M 6 Wigtownshire
MOORE Elisabeth F 4 Wigtownshire
MOORE Susan F 2 Wigtownshire
MOORE Sarah F 1 Wigtownshire

Kind regards,
Annette M

Den Rees · Post by **Den Rees** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:47 pm

My thanks to SarahND mcgrice and nelmet for their help. I'll try a composite reply to you. No I don't have any certs. my info comes from the family bible which I saw and took a photo of the entries many years ago. There are errors in my entry for William Muir 1. correct birthday 4 april 1841 2. birthplace - Kirkcolm. I have also found an entry in the 1881 british census and 1 in the 1871 census giving William born Kirkcolm Susan (Wilson) his wife born Ireland with children David, John, Andrew, Jane, William, Charles (my grandfather) Margaret and Mary. Although not shown on these there were also Helen, Joseph Elizabeth also Nathan and James born in 1880 and 1882 respectively. Your post of 10 March nelmit looks certain to be correct. Thank you all. Look forward to going further back.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:08 pm

Hi

Please don't take the Family Bible entries as absolute dates. Often the dates were entered a some time and date removed from the original event and the person writing them down may not have had correct details.
My own family bible had several dates wrong. Not by much, but inaccurate when checked against actual Birth and Marriage Register entries.

Russell

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:08 am

A key aspect in this situation is how the handwriting and the entries appear.

If the handwriting, ink, degree of fading, etc., are exactly the same, then it's more than likely that the information on all the events involved was entered at some same later date, with the result that it has to be deduced that there is a lesser degree of certainty regarding the info; compared to individual entries made at the time of each event.

In other words, the entries involved were probably made a later date than most, at least, of the events involved, and therefore subject to errors that may have crept into the memories of those involved in making the entries

In the case of contemporaneous entries for the events concerned, it's unlikely that the writing, penmanship, ink, degree of fading, etc., will be identical. Not impossible, ken, just unlikely

David

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Searching for Muir ancestors in Wigtonshire

Searching for Muir ancestors in Wigtonshire

Muir / Wilson family