Genealogy Chat

Whilst researching my family tree I have discovered that I have a relative who was born in Scotland. The trouble is that the census simply says Scotland, and not a actual area/town/parish. His name was James McGeorge and he was born approx 1826 He married a Lady called Mary from Newcastle Upon Tyne who was born approx 1829. They had six kids that I know of, William McGeorge - 1845 - Longbenton Margaret McGeorge - 1845 - Longbenton Esther McGeorge - 1847 - Longbenton (sometimes called Easter on the census's) Mary McGeorge - 1851 - Benton Ann McGeorge - 1855 - Houghton James McGeorge - 1860 - Haswell , Durham I am unable to find birth references for any of the children, so that I can order the certificates. I can only find the census entries. I am also unable to find the marriage reference, death reference etc. Also does anyone know how to trace James McGeorge's birthplace? Paul

Just thought I would add that I can email the census images to anyone willing to have a look

Have you looked at the mormons site -www*family search*org Rosalyn

Yeah I have tried this site, alongside any others I could find from google. Not sure what I'm doing wrong to be honest

Paul ,there is one born in Edinburgh in 1828 -maybe it is 8 and not 6. Rosalyn

I also found one born in Lanarkshire, but its MacGeorge and not McGeorge. The strange thing is I can find Esthers christening entry but not her birth, marriage or death.

I certainly wouldn't worry about whether the spelling is Mac... or Mc... as they would have been more or less interchangeable. But this is the same problem that I have come across with quite a few hard-to-find Scots / English 'marriages'. You can't be sure which country the marriage took place in, you don't know whereabouts in Scotland the Scottish one was born because the census just says 'Scotland', and if you can't get the marriage certificate you can't get the details you need to go any further back. If you can't find the birth registrations for any of the children, then it could be that either you are looking for them in the wrong place or they were registered under a different surname, or not registered at all... Anyway, I'll have a look and see if I can come up with anything, but I haven't got any current Scotland's People credits. Kate.

To start with, I usually take the earliest census entry to be the most accurate; people often knocked a few years off their age each time the census came round. So as James' age is 28 on the 1851 census, I would say he may have been born around 1822-3. Longbenton was apparently in Tynemouth district, so the first few children should have been registered there. I like the look of some of these from Newcastle BMD, which includes Tynemouth district: Birth Index Search Results Year Surname Forename Initials 1850 MCGEORGE Mary Request Certificate 1849 MCGEORGE Mary Request Certificate 1848 MCGEORGE Esther Request Certificate 1847 MCGEORGE Esther Request Certificate 1846 MCGEORGE Robert Request Certificate 1845 MCGEORGE Elizabeth Ann Request Certificate 1845 MCGEORGE Margaret Request Certificate 1844 MCGEORGE William Request Certificate 1843 MCGEORGE James Request Certificate If you pick out the likely ones, i.e. William 1844, Margaret 1845, Esther 1847 or 1848 and Mary 1850, and look for them in the GRO indexes, perhaps on 1837 online, it should be possible to check whether the district is Tynemouth. Anyway, if you order one of the birth certificates, either from Newcastle BMD or the GRO, you can see if the parents are right, and perhaps the mother's maiden name will match Mary's below... I also like this marriage from Newcastle BMD: Year Surname Forename Initials Church 1844 SETERY Mary All Saints Request Certificate 1844 MCGEORGE James All Saints Request Certificate If you haven't already looked at Newcastle BMD, the website address is http://www.ndfhs.fsnet (.) c o (.) uk/RegIndex.html remove brackets and spaces Not looked for the last two children yet... back soon... Kate.

Now, looking on Durham BMD (address http://www.durham.gov.uk/gro/newgro.nsf/search?open&C0345952271127112005$ This could be Ann's birth? Surname Forename(s) Year District MCGEORGE Ann 1855 Durham Northern Still looking for James jr. (and sr!) Kate.

Only one James McGeorge on FamilySearch for 1817 to 1827 and it is that Lanarkshire MacGeorge one, but his parents are Andrew and Elizabeth so since your James doesn't seem to have named any of his children Andrew or Elizabeth (unless they were born and died in between censuses, of course) it might not be the right one. But if that Newcastle BMD marriage turns out to be the right one it should give you his father's name and occupation. That's all for now! Kate.