What should I do next? Relatives in Dundee

Isadora · Post by **Isadora** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:59 pm

Hi there

I have some information on some of my Scottish ancestors but what to research all names/lines. Not sure what to usefully do next.

Data I have:

30th Jan 1903 at St Mary's Chapel, Dundee - Alex Daniel Stephen, Sergeant in Gordon Highlanders aged 33 married Theresa Grant aged 26. He lived at 64 Hilltown Dundee.

His father was Alexander Stephen a Shipmaster (deceased). His mother was Jessie Smith formerly Stephen, maiden surname Shaw.

Theresa's parents were James Grant and Helen Grant maiden surname Farrell.

Not sure what is the first thing to do?

AnnieMack · Post by **AnnieMack** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:42 pm

Hello and welcome to TalkingScot. I don't know how other people approached the start of their geneological research but what I did was start with myself and work back - parents, grandparents, grt grandparents and so on.

Along the way I have stumbled and got stuck up different branches of my tree so looked at other ones. I have filled in siblings and cousins and even correspond with real live relatives now. If you fill in as much as you can related to live relatives it helps as their details are not available online - you have to go to New Register House in Edinburgh for them.

Hope this kind of answers your question but there are LOADS of really knowledgeable people on here that keep us all right!!!!

Annie

Post by **emanday** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:07 pm

I'd recommend that your next move would be to find the marriages of Daniel and Theresa's parents.

Their marriage entries will give you THEIR parents, and so on...

Best place for this is www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

It is a pay per view site, but is excellent and it has got me back to the 1600's with one of my lines.

There is also the www.familysearch.com site, run by the Church of Latter Day Saints. Where Scotlands People covers Scotland, these folks seem to have entries from all over the world. However, they do not give as much information as SP from whom it is possible to download the actual pages of the registers where an entry is recorded.

You will read SP, LDS and IGI mentioned often on here.

SP = Scotlands People
LDS = Latter Day Saints
IGI = International Genealogical Index (the favourite place on LDS for searches).

If I am not sure of a year or place of an event, I often use the IGI to get a year, etc... then go onto SP to get the details.

Good Luck

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:03 am

Hi there

Like Mary I use scotlandspeople to get the definitive evidence but usually use IGI to do my first checks since it doesn't cost anything (My middle name should be Scrooge!). The one problem with IGI is that the bulk of their entries are only up to 1875 so you have to take a family line back that far before it proves most useful.

One warning which applies to all sources you use - even the official records. Don't accept that one certificate or Register entry as absolute proof. A Grandson registering his grandmother's death quite often did not know her parents names so you need corroborative evidence from perhaps a marriage certificate or birth entry to be sure you have the correct ones.
Ages on census entries may not be accurate so don't discount a search result just because the wife's age is 7 years out. Look at the naming patterns of the children and there might be clues there. Not every family followed the naming patterns but enough did to allow a few educated guesses to be made.
All of us made, and still make mistakes. If you are not sure about a conclusion you have reached, post it up here and see what others make of it.
We enjoy challenges

Russell

Post by **emanday** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:22 am

Like Russell said, ages on censuses, and even on marriage certificates should not be too heavily relied on as people lied about their ages even back then

, and census enumerators, in some censuses, rounded up or down, sometimes by as much as four or five years.

One of my lot couldn't get her own father's first name right between her first marriage, second marriage and her mother's death. Mind you, the fact that her mother married twice as well didn't help her memory much

.

We all help each other out on here. Believe it or not; not too far in the future you will be giving advice to new researchers as well. You'll also still be asking for and taking it.

Isadora · Post by **Isadora** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:34 am

Thanks to everyone for such a warm and helpful welcome.

Mary, if I try to look up the marriage of his parents on SP what do I need to do? How do I narrow down the odds of finding the right people. Perhaps by looking on IGI? I have already wasted so many credits and got nowhere. It seems that the surnames are so common that I get pages of possibilities.

Alex Daniel Stephen's parents were Alexander Stephen (shipmaster, deceased) and Jessie Smith previously Stephen, maiden surname SHAW. Married probably about 1847-66.

Alex Daniel Stephen was born in 1867-69. I found a likely birth on IGI: 26 April 1869 Saint Nicholas, Aberdeen.

Found likely marriage for James Grant and Helen Grant (maiden surname Farrell) again on IGI - 24 Feb 1868 Old Macha (?) Aberdeen.

Thank you. I have read through the information on SP site but am still none the wiser of what I should usefully search for first given the information I have.

Alex Daniel Stephen was my great grandfather and I have his son's details (my grandfather) and more recent things are clear.

Thanks for your time and help it is much appreciated.

Post by **emanday** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:34 am

On the LDS site click on search, than select the IGI - International Genealogical Index from the menu on the right.

Enter Alexander Stephen, the Jessie Shaw in for spouse.

Select Marriage for event, Bristish Isles for Region then Scotland for Country.

From young Alexander's age at marriage I calculated he was born in 1870 so, to have a decent chance of finding his parents marriage I entered 1865 in the year box and selected +/- 5 years.

...and there they were.

ALEXANDER STEPHEN

Marriages:
Spouse: JESSIE SHAW
Marriage: 24 APR 1868 Saint Nicholas, Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland

What I would do then for my own research is use SP to get the fuller details, most especially their parent's names. With the names, place and date it should be relatively ('scuse the pun) easy to find them.

Have fun.

P.S. Added later. If you enter those details there is only one result comes up in the search. I couldn't view it for you, as I've got no credits left.

Isadora · Post by **Isadora** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:07 am

Mary, many thanks. When I have more time this evening will go off to check on SP. I will let you know what happens!