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Hello all.

I am having some trouble piecing together the Rennie family line and was hoping someone out there may be able to help.

PLEASE EXCUSE HOW THS INFO IS SET OUT.

What I do have is the following:
My great grandmother Helen (Ellen) Rennie was born in Penninghame 1888.
Parents of Helen were James Rennie (b 1860 Glasserton) and Catherine McLelland (b 1861Penningham). James and Catherine were married Oct 1877 in Parish of Penninghame.

I have traced James Rennie's parents - Andrew Rennie (born C1833 Whithorn?) and Margaret McGuiggan (born C1833 in Kirkinner - d1909 Sorbie).

I have also done a 1841 Census search for Andrew Rennie which shows parents were Alexander Rennie and Jane "unknown". Andrew was aged 7 at this time.
The 1841 Census also shows siblings as Isabella (aged 4) and Stewart (aged 1).

I've since done a broad search for marriages for Alexander Rennie and Jane "unknown" and there is only one (which helps narrow the field a little) with Jane Richardson. This was 08 Feb 1835 in Whithorn, Wigtownshire.
Andrews birth year (according to 1841 Census) is prior to this marriage date.

Following on from this I have also done a broad date birth search for Alexander Rennie & Jane Richardson which gave me the following.

Agnes b1844 Whithorn, Wigtownshire
Alexander b1842 Whithorn, Wigtownshire
Elizabeth b1849 Whithorn, Wigtownshire
Jane b1846 Whithorn, Wigtownshire
Margaret b1851 Whithorn, Wigtownshire
Stewart b1839 Whithorn, Wigtownshire

The birth of Stewart matches the 1841 Census, however there are no births registered for either Andrew Rennie or Isabella Rennie (as shown on the 1841 Census).

My question then is how can I find the birth details for both Andrew Rennie and Isabella Rennie? I am looking to verify whether they are from the same parents. Andrew in particular as this is the direct ancestoral line.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can follow this one through.

Any guidance is very much appreciated!!

regards,
Frederic (Eric)
Melbourne, Australia

Eric

You might wish to edit this part of your query, change yor dates to 1833 and so on to save confusion.

have traced James Rennie's parents - Andrew Rennie (born C1933 Whithorn?) and Margaret McGuiggan (born C1933 in Kirkinner - d1909 Sorbie).

I have also done a 1941 Census search for Andrew Rennie which shows parents were Alexander Rennie and Jane "unknown". Andrew was aged 7 at this time.
The 1941 Census also shows siblings as Isabella (aged 4) and Stewart (aged 1).

Cheers

Done.... no matter how many time I check - I still type "19".

Thanks Ingrid.

I think we all do on occasion.

I have had a look for your Rennies, I have found a few on Roots and IGI but none seem to match yours.

Cheers

They are a hard bunch to find.

I'll keep this thread going for a while to see what comes of it.

Thanks again for your advice.

Regards,
Eric

Hello Linda,
Thanks so much for narrowing the dates for me.

Now to find possible date of death.

I have access to the shipping lists in case he has left them all behind and immigrated.

This still leaves the mystery of where the family members - [parents and siblings] - went after the Census 1841. I have not been able to match any of the names in Census 1851.

Thanks again Linda - this will help considerably

Eric

Linda,
Yes I have the marriage cert - married Jan 1854, so no parent details there.

Margarets death cert signed by son John. Notes Margaret as "widow" of Andrew Rennie.

You have me on the right track, Linda.

Regards

Hi Linda .... no he was still with us at that time, so I think your deduction of him passing on between 1861 and 1871 may be right.

Will check this out.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Eric

Linda.... typo ... married 1887 .... I have copy of marriage cert for them and also census.

James and Catherine I am cool with.

Seems his siblings Robert b1858 and John b1855 together with their Father Andrew b C1833 have all gone missing.

I have tracked the following for James with no problems
1871 - living with mother & grandparents in Smallmuir Cottage, kirkinner

1881 - living with jane thorburn (catherine mcclellands auntie) as lodger in Newton Stewart -69 Arthur Street (possible how he met catherine)

1891 - married with 4 children - living in 65 arthur street. 1901 - 6 children - 29 Princes St, newton stewart

Hi Linda,
Samuel -son on 1891 Census threw me also at one stage. He is the son of Catherine McLelland born out of wedlock. Brought up under the Rennie name.

There is also Maggie - same thing - born prior to their marriage and still unsure of her birth parents, but will follow that up at a later time.

I'm really interested in finding Andrew and the other two sons.

Appreciate your follow ups on this!!!

Regards,
Eric

Linda,
I note that the birth names for those "daughter" Rennie's listed in the 1891 & 1901 Census are:
Helen Rennie (my gt grandmother)
Catherine Rennie
Margaret Rennie
I've got the birth cert's for all of these to confirm details.
Also have birth cert for twins James and Jeanie.

There was another James Rennie born 01.06.1898 who had died prior to 1901 census.

I noted that the illusive Andrew Rennie was still alive at James' marriage in 1887, so your conclusion of his death (perhaps) between 1861 and 1871 is looking less likely (unless an error on certificate of marriage for James Rennie and Catherine McLelland)

I also noted that son John signed his mother's - Margaret Rennie (McGuiggan)- death certificate.

Oh... Frederic and Eric are both me!!

I have 2 trees - one for my direct family and one for the adoptive family.

Hope this doesn't confuse you (anyone)

Eric

Linda.... some success.

I have found futher detail on the "lost" sons - John and Robert Rennie.

Census 1861 for Wigtownshire/Kirkinner shows both boys living with grandparents (John and Elisabeth McWiggan/McGuiggan) aged 5 and 3 respectively.

Have also found marriage for John Rennie and Mary Love- 1875 in Wigtownshire/Kirkinner. This has verified father as Andrew Rennie and Margaret McGuiggan. Andrew is shown as being alive at this time.

There is a John Rennie in Census 1901- Sorbie/ Wigtownshire aged 46. Have checked details and found he was a widower.
Have also now verified his wife Mary passed away from TB aged 39.
Now have details of his 4 children also.

All slowly falling into place.

Still yet to find any firm detail on Andrew Rennie from 1861 onwards (apart from him noted on marriage certificate as being alive for son John in 1875 and James in 1887)

Hi Linda,
Could well be .... should he not have been registered at least "somewhere"?

I'm wondering about son Robert also - he is missing from 1871 onwards. At that time he would have been about 13.

Perhaps travelling with his father?

Fortunately I've tracked the other brothers, so less missing pieces to follow up.

Thanks again for offering your advice - most welcomed!!

Eric

Hi LInda,
Could well be - I'm not sure how you access the English records though.

Perhaps there is also a death in the English record for Andrew (and perhaps Robert), as there appears to be no Scottish record.

I've been able to determine he was still alive 1887 when his son was married (he is NOT noted as deceased). He must have died prior to 1909, as his wife is noted as "widow" on her death certificate.

I'll do another Scottish search, just to be certain.

I'm continually amazed at the extent of detail some of you can find - I'm still very much a novice in comparison.

Can you let me know how I can go about searching the English records?

You've been a fantastic help!!

Regards,
Eric

Hi Eric
I was interested to see your posting. I'm sorry I can't help much with your Rennies past the children of Margaret, but I might be able to fill in some more information on the rest of Margaret McGuigan's family if you are interested. I'm a descendant of John McGuigan, who was Margaret's brother. He came to Melbourne in 1854.

Regards
Jo

There is also a statutory birth for another of Andrew's sibs:

1. MARY WALKER RENNIE - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 27 JUL 1856 Whithorn, Wigtown, Scotland
d/o Alexander Rennie + Jane Richardson

Unfortunately, parent's marr details were omitted 1856-1860.


There's a map of WIG showing parishes at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gazetteer/

My gggg gran was Elizabeth Rennie, but in the records she appears as Rainy, Rannie. Although this was ABD/BAN, I suspect WIG might show similar variant spellings in the earlier records.

As you no doubt realize by now, on a statutory marr rego Andrew would give his parents names with MS, and on his d.rego his parents (with MS) will also be named, assuming the informant knows this info.

Thanks mgnv! All helps.
I've picked up on a couple of alternative spellings- Renny being one of them.
I'll give that a go as well.

Much appreciated!