Search from Home

It's surprising the information you can locate online from home! However, I'm careful not to assume the information provided by others is correct unless it has supporting documentation. I use unsubstantiated data as a guide to locate my own sources.

I located an 1857 marriage certificate for my great-great-grandparents Robert Stevenson and Mary Murray on ScotlandsPeople website, which provided both of their parents' names. Prior to this, Thomas Murray and wife Mary Calderwood, and Alexander Stevenson and wife Sarah Stevenson, were unknown to me.

Based on family lore, the Murrays were from Ireland, near Belfast, though I didn't know where specifically. A Google search led to a William Murray who had the same parents' names as my Mary. That information also provided me with a specific village in Ireland. Through further searches on ScotlandsPeople, Ancestry, and Family Search, I determined that William and Mary were brother and sister. Subsequent research suggested additional sisters Jane and Ann. All four siblings had relocated from Ireland to Scotland, the sisters all to Ayrshire and William to Dunbartonshire. Jane's entry on the 1861 Scotland census indicated that an Eliza Murray (Visitor) was present as well. Eliza is close in age to Jane so I suspect her to be another sibling, and the informant for Thomas and Mary's deaths was an Eliza McCaw who may be the same person, though I have not confirmed any of that to date. Based on my research, the only people named Thomas Murray and Mary Murray (ms Calderwood) who fit the information I have died in Donaghadee in 1875 and 1876. I ordered both death certificates from the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, and am confident they are my 3x great-grandparents.

The Stevenson line is, so far at least, even more unknown than the Murrays. A great-aunt provided my father with some information about my great-great-grandfather Robert's death, which I was able to confirm with his death certificate and a newspaper article. I was even able to confirm her physical description of him because a distant relative had posted his photo to Ancestry, and there is a definite resemblance to my father! From census records I know that Robert's father Alexander was widowed, and living with Robert in 1871. Unfortunately, I discovered Alexander in the 1881 census living in the Cunninghame Combination Poorhouse, where he died in 1882. These records give Alexander's place of birth as Ireland, though I have not been able to narrow down a region so far. Various records for Robert and Alexander list Alexander's wife as either unknown or Sarah Stevenson. I am unsure if Stevenson was her maiden name as well as her married name. I am also unsure if she died in Ireland or Scotland, which complicates the search. As a result of this uncertainty regarding Sarah, I have been unable, so far, to locate any possible siblings for Robert.

There have been other discoveries, and of course there are more brick walls. I plan to write about some of those in the near future. Until then, thanks for reading!