Who was Janet Hamilton Ritchie ?

[littlealison]

Hello again, all.
I have been trying to find the parents of my g-g-grandmother Janet Hamilton Ritchie.
She was born in Ayrshire (in ‘Muscott’) in 1827, and married John Little from Dumbarton, the bottlemaker, in 1849. I have a possible clue – in the 1851 census she has a sister Ann staying with her family in Glasgow, born about 1831 (in ‘Mascow’, Ayrshire.).

So….I did find the family of a William and Janet Ritchie with children born in Ardrossan, including a Janet born 10 May 1827, a slew of brothers and an Ann born in August 1829….only trouble is, she is one of twins (from the birth dates) and died in September. I don’t think this is the right place, either. No more sisters found.

Any more clues as to who my g-g-grandmother was? In the 1871 census, there are a young nephew and niece of John Little living with them, David (a tailor) and Jean Morton. Janet is now 44, they are 24 and 23. They must be related to Janet, and the next generation. So….I eventually found a David Morton (a tailor) and Jean McPherson couple, via an ancestry tree; her mother was Agnes Ritchie, married Gavin McPherson.

I may have missed something obvious in another census, but although I can follow the Mortons later, I can’t find them earlier, or Janet or Ann Ritchie. I can’t connect Janet and Agnes.
I may have the wrong family for Janet altogether.
Any ideas, please? - Alison

[SarahND]

Hello Alison,
Have you found Janet or Ann's death certificates? If they died in Scotland, their parents' names should be on that document (to the best of the knowledge of the informant).
All the best,
Sarah

This household seems to fit the bill in 1841, but you'd need to verify the names of the parents with information from a death or marriage certificate.

1841
Waterside, Fenwick, Ayrshire
Thomas Ritchie, 50, born Ayrshire, Miner of Limestone & Sp Deal
Janett Ritchie, 50, born Ayrshire
John Ritchie, 15, born Ayrshire
Jane Ritchie, 15, born Ayrshire
Anne Ritchie, 10, born Ayrshire
Robert Mckinney, 5, born Ayrshire

[Montrose Budie]

I'd be near certain that this is the wee village of Moscow in the north-east of Ayrshire.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_Scotland

mb

[SarahND]

Sounds right to me, mb. There is an OPR birth for a Janet Ritchie, father Thomas, mother Janet, in Kilmarnock in 1827. Sounds likely she would have been taken there (only 4 miles off according to the wikipedia reference above) for the baptism.

And Fenwick, where the family was in 1841, is only a few miles to the northwest of Moscow.

Regards,
Sarah

[littlealison]

Thank you for swift answers, all!
So Moscow is in Ayrshire? It's pretty small now, I wonder how big was it then?

You're thinking Jane is Janet, not impossible. Baptised Janet, yes. The dates seem right.....wish I knew if Janett was born Janett Hamilton!
I do have Janet Hamilton Ritchie Little's death certificate - but she died in Dublin at her stepson's house. So no more info there. And unless I'm pretty sure that this is the right Janet, I could be on the wrong trail (again) by getting this Janet's birth certificate!

Agnes Ritchie could be an older sister? I'm convinced she's related somehow, having found the Mortons. Will do some more investigating
Thanks again, Alison

[SarahND]

You're thinking Jane is Janet, not impossible. Baptised Janet, yes. The dates seem right.....wish I knew if Janett was born Janett Hamilton!

Jane, Janet, Jean, Jessie were all more or less interchangeable. I have relatives who skipped around from one to another in various records.

If I had to guess, I would say that Janet's mother was Janet Hamilton (i.e. the mother of Janet who married Thomas Ritchie.) At least in many cases I have seen, it skipped a generation that way and the daughter was often named for the maternal grandmother.

There are some submitted records on the IGI that seem to say that the Janet who married Thomas Ritchie had the surname Taylor.
An IGI parent search for all children born to Thomas Ritchie and Janet Taylor gives several extracted birth results, including one for an Agnes Ritchie in 1811 in Sorn, Ayr.

Regards,
Sarah

[littlealison]

Hi.
I've now found on FamilySearch, a parent search which produced 16 children of Thomas Ritchie and Janet Taylor, including Janet (and she's in as Janet Hamilton Ritchie) Agnes and Ann.
Gavin Boyd McPherson married Agnes Ritchie and had 12 more children including Jean who married David Morton - having had 8 with an Elisabeth... Morton!
Is this just a very small place and all intermarrying....?
I think I now have what I needed, thanks everyone. - Alison

PS thanks Sarah, looks like we were both on the right trail - A.

[Montrose Budie]

Thank you for swift answers, all!
So Moscow is in Ayrshire? It's pretty small now, I wonder how big was it then?

In the 1881 census there are only 5 folk shown as having been born in Moscow, Ayrshire, in the LDS Lowlands CD.

Can some kind soul do a search in the Ancestry indexes for 'Moscow' ? ...............

I just can't find a gazetteer entry for the mid or late 1800s.

In other words it wasn't small, but tiny !

mb

[SarahND]

Can some kind soul do a search in the Ancestry indexes for 'Moscow' ?

Here's an attempt:
I get no result for anyone born in Moscow, but then Ancestry has been having trouble with the birthplace field lately. Either you get all results as if you hadn't put any birthplace at all, or you get no results even though there are people listed as born there.

So I checked for people residing in Moscow, rather than those born there.

To get any result you need to put Moscow in the address field, rather than in the civil parish field. The civil parish is always Kilmarnock.

In 1841 there are 13 people at this "address" in 4 households. One of them is a Helen Ritchie age 75.
Can't get any to come up in 1851
In 1861 there are three people at the "Moscow Inn": the innkeeper, his wife and daughter.
In 1871 the village has come back with a bang (I'm sure it was there in 1851 and 1861-- I just can't find it). There are 45 people there now! In 10 households.
In 1881 there are 15 people at this "address" in 4 households (although two of the households have the same surname).
In 1891 there are 30 souls in 6 households.
In 1901 I can't find the place again.

Regards,
Sarah

[littlealison]

Hello again.
Don't forget I had records of Muscott and Mascow - no one doing transcriptions expected a place called Moscow there! - Alison