Doyle family living in West Lothian 1860s/1870s

[doddie]

"Hi, I am doing some family research on behalf of my girlfriend and a newly discovered cousin of hers (their family connection was only recently discovered via the Ancestry website's DNA database). It turns out that my girlfriend had an uncle that she - and indeed, none of the rest of her family - knew anything about. The gentleman concerned was born in Scotland in 1930 and adopted by a married couple living Northumberland when he was about three months old. The gentleman died in 1993 (if I remember correctly). We know next to nothing about the circumstances of the adoption. We are not even sure if the adoption physically took place in England or Scotland. If it took place in England, is there an archive containing records of adoptions? Secondly, who would the relevant information be accessible to. I obviously have no family connection to the the gentleman concerned, but would I at least be able to find out if any specific information relating to his adoption actually exists? If so, I could then let his daughter (my girlfriend's cousin) know and perhaps she could apply for permission to see this information. There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the adoption and it would be very rewarding for all concerned to get to the bottom of it".


Hi, I need help with a bit of a conundrum. I have included above a post of mine that was originally on RootsChat. It relates to an adoption. This is a long (and convoluted) post, so I hope you’ll please bear with me.

Does anybody have Doyle ancestors from the West Lothian area that may have had connections (marital, social or work, anything really) with any Stewarts from the Stirlingshire and West Lothian areas? I know this is a very broad question.

A coal miner, Michael Doyle came to Scotland from Ireland. In 1845 he married Mary Courtnay from Dumfriesshire. They had 13 children altogether, born between 1845 and 1872. Some were born in the Glasgow area, but after 1862 the rest of their children were born in the West Lothian area - Mary Doyle in Torphichen (1863), William Doyle also in Torphichen (1864), Bartholomew in Bathgate (1866) , Thomas Doyle in Armadale (1870) and William Michael Doyle in West Calder (1872). The relevant Stewart family members who I have managed to trace so far (Christina Stewart, Duncan McLaren Stewart, Jane McLaren Stewart and Janet Dunlop Stewart) were born in Gargunnock near Stirling, but by the next generation some of the Stewarts were living in Bonnybridge. In the post from RootsChat (which didn't feature any names when I originally posted it in April of this year), the “married couple living in Northumberland” that I mention were Thomas and Evelyn Doyle who already had two children. Thomas (b. in the Newcastle area in 1886) was the son of James Courtnay Doyle (b. 1857), one of the Glasgow born Doyle children. Therefore, the West Lothian born Doyle’s were his aunts and uncles. I am convinced that the fact that there was an adoption arrangement between two couples that were living so far away from each other (quite unusual?) suggests that the Doyle and Stewart families were already familiar with each other. Another factor further convinces me of this. The birth name of the adopted child was Norman Stewart. His birth father's name was John Brown Stewart. Once adopted Norman's name was changed to John Stewart Doyle. I have been searching for a possible connection for about a year now but haven’t managed to establish one yet. I would be SO grateful for any help.