Missing Greer Family.....

[AnneMT]

From 1881 census I have g.grandmother's sister's details i.e. Isabella Greer, (m.s. Cairnan, or variations) aged 50 a widow, with her children living at 50 Biggar Road, Bothwell, Lanarkshire. Husband died 1880 in Calderbank

Isabella was born in Ireland, as was her son Francis, but other children born either in Old Monkland or Bothwell. Ages of Children are as follows : Francis (21) John (19) James (17) Patrick (14), Cathrine (10) William (7)

Can't seem to find this family after this date. Anyone know anything of this family, or lead me on the right track towards finding them

[joette]

Hi what was her Husbands name & where was he born? I have Greers in my Line.Robert Greer married Catherine Jenkins in Argyll.He came from Renfrewshire & his Father was Gilbert&his mother Mary Simpson. Robert,Thomas & William are favoured names.
I will check my tree for dates,places.Most were masons & My GGGreatgrandfather worked for the Clyde Trust & lived in Old Kilpatrick where his brother lived too.Most of the Greers living in the area are descendants of the two brothers.Thomas married/lived in Edinburgh.

[AnneMT]

Hi what was her Husbands name & where was he born?

Thanks for replying. Isabella's husband was John Greer. Since their first child was born in Ireland, I assume they must have lived and married there, but assume would have been about 1858-60. Assume also they came to Scotland between 1860 and 1862, when 2nd child was born. As yet have not looked for birth certs for children. Tried sometime back and gave up. John Greer's father had same name and mother was Margaret Hasson.

[WilmaM]

I hada look at Scotland's People and the IGI for the children.

Nothing on th eIGI - but if they were Catholic they wouldn't be found on the Parish Reg.

Scotland's people was much more informative:
There is a John Greer born in 1862,
1 James in 1863 another 1864
Patrick in 1866
Catherine 1869
and a William born 1874 - Calderhead

None of them seem to be in either Monkland [New, Old ] nor Bothwell.

I couldn't narrow it down any further, and am out of credits

I think it's too much of a coincidence for the names and ages to match up for it not to be the right ones.

Have a look and see what more information they give you.

Edited to add:

As a grandmother was Margaret I looked for that too
some births around the right era - she could have already been out of the house married or working by 1881.

[AnneMT]

Scotland's people was much more informative:
There is a John Greer born in 1862,
1 James in 1863 another 1864
Patrick in 1866
Catherine 1869
and a William born 1874 - Calderhead

I think it's too much of a coincidence for the names and ages to match up for it not to be the right ones.
.

Thanks for info.
Looks like I will have to have a look at Scotlandspeople to see if I come up with anything, from birth certs. Been promising myself I was spending no more money on this site, at present (Ah well that's my Lenten
resolution gone for a burton.

By coincidence, Isabella's sister Mary (my g.grandmother) and her husband Peter Waters) also seem to have disappeared. They were on 1871 census, before my grandfather was born, yet on 1881 census were missing. On older Scotlandspeople site discussion group, others checked this for me and confirmed there was no sign of this couple in records after that period. i.e. no death records. Surely, they would not abandon a child under 9 to be looked after by older siblings.

Derek Acorah or Mystic Meg may be needed here.

Bye

[DavidWW]

There's a 66 year old Isabella MORRISON MS GREER who died in Glasgow in 1902, but that means that your ancestor would have had to remarry a MORRISON, with the informant, a son-in-law, not correctly reporting the name of the first husband .........

David

[isobelc]

Hi,

I was a bit surprised that the Greers found on Scotlandspeople were not also in the igi. Did a bit of cross-referencing and all the Greer births which appear to match your family were actually the children of other couples and none were born in Bothwell or Old Monkland.

As none of your births appeared to be on the igi I started to look for other possible spellings of the surname that they might be hiding behind in the index. Finally succeeded in finding them all under McCreer/Mcreer, including Francis, who was actually born in Old Monkland as well, despite the 1881 census saying he was brn in Ireland. There is also an earlier son, William, born in Bothwell in 1856 (presumably he must have died before 1874 when they named a second son William)

Details are:-

William born Bothwell 1856 son of John McCreer and Isabella McCairn
Francis born Old Monkland 1860 son of John McCreer and Isabella Cairney
John born Old Monkland 1862 son of John McCreer and Isabella Cairney
James born Old Monkland 1864 son of John McCreer and Isabella McKairnan
Patrick born 1867 Old Monkland son of John McCreer and Isabella McKairnan
Catherine born 1870 Bothwell daughter of John Mcreer and Isabella Cairnon
William born 1874 Bothwell son of John McCreer and Isabella McCairnon

The use of different spellings of their surname may be the reason you can't find them after 1881 under Greer.

Have you located them in 1861 and 1871?

Isobel (Edinburgh)
ps My partner's g/grandmother was a Greer. Her family came originally from Ireland and settled first in Port Glasgow around 1840 before moving into Glasgow.

[Jack]

That was an excellent bit of detective work Isobel - well done!
This is the nearest match i can see for the family in Lanarkshire 1861.
The 1861 census address may be the same as one, or both, of the 1860 & 1862 BC addresses.
(if neither agree, then this is could be just a rather similar family)
--
1861 cens 652-2 Ed 13 p 14 (Old Monkland)
87 Merryston Square? Coatbridge.
John GREER, head, marr, 30, coal miner, b Ireland
Isabella GREER, wife, marr, 24, ----------b Ireland
Mary GREER, daur, 5, scholar, b Chapelhall, LKS
Ann GREER, daur, 3, --------------b Chapelhall,LKS
Francis GREER, son, 1,------------- b Coatbridge,LKS
Francis McCormack, nephew, u/m 21, coal miner, b Ireland
--
Jack

[AnneMT]

Hi,

Finally succeeded in finding them all under McCreer/Mcreer, including Francis, who was actually born in Old Monkland as well, despite the 1881 census saying he was brn in Ireland. There is also an earlier son, William, born in Bothwell in 1856 (presumably he must have died before 1874 when they named a second son William)

Thanks for your help. I was concentrating on checking variations of Isabella's name. Never thought for a minute Greer was the mispelled name. Have not managed back to the site, since last message was posted.
Have you located them in 1861 and 1871?

Isobel (Edinburgh)

ps My partner's g/grandmother was a Greer. Her family came originally from Ireland and settled first in Port Glasgow around 1840 before moving into Glasgow.

Please ignore the above gobbledegook. PC and I were overexcited at Isobel's brill info about Greer family

[AnneMT]

Thanks for the info. Never thought to look at variations of Greer was concentrating on variations of Cairnan.

Sorry I haven't replied sooner. This is 1st time back at site, since message last posted.

Isabel,you are wonderful!!!

Will report back on success of locating certs.

Thanks again