My Family

I created this blog to keep track of my family history research. I do most of my research online.

The Francis name is my husband's which was originally Francisco from Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal. He also has ancestors from Sweden and England. So far, I have found that my family has come from Italy, England, French Canada, Scotland, and Ulster Ireland (Scotch Irish).

I have also taken a DNA test, which shows mostly Italian, but also England and France.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

james fitchie ferguson and grace stewart cox

My great great grandparents, James Fitchie Ferguson and Grace Stewart Cox, were married on May 2, 1895 in Dundee, Scotland. The Statutory Registers of Marriages on scotlandspeople has an address of their marriage at Park Place, Clepington Road, Dundee by Robert Sharp Warren, minister of Saint David's. I searched for a St. David's in Dundee, and found the following possible church that their minister was from; although it is not located on Clepington Road.  The current name of the church is St. David's High Kirk, located in the center of Dundee, at the hill of Dundee Law.  It is part of the Church of Scotland, which complies with their marriage register.  I also searched on google for a minister of Robert Warren, but did not find additional information on him. I am not sure if this is the Church they attended, but it does seem this would be the church referred to in the register, even if they were not actually married in the building.

At the time of their marriage, Grace and James were both living at different addresses on Perth Road in Dundee. Grace grew up at the house she was living in, while James came to Dundee from Kettins sometime between 1881 and 1895 (in the county of Forfar at the time, now in county of Angus). Grace and James were married only a month before they had their first child, my great grandmother, Ann Hutchison Ferguson. Perhaps they were not married in the church because of this early pregnancy.



Before Marriage : Grace's residence at 40 Perth Road (A) and James' at 199 Perth Road (B)


View Larger Map


Very soon after they married, Grace and James moved to Glasgow, Scotland, about 75 miles from Dundee. They had all three of their children in Glasgow, between the years of 1895 - 1901. All three children were born in the same house at 6 Walker Street in Glasgow. I would assume this is the house Grace and James lived in at the time. I was able to find online an 1894 map of Glasgow, from the National Library of Scotland's map collection.  I aslo looked at the street view from Google maps and see that the street has changed a bit, with the addition of another street, Walker Ct.  I am guessing the house (or flat/apartment) they lived in probably does not exist anymore. 


1894 Map of Walker Street, Glasgow, Scotland : residence of James and Grace Ferguson 1895-1901
From Screen Captures



Current Google Map of Walker Street, Glasgow, Scotland


View James Ferguson Timeline 1867-1930 in a larger map


At some point in 1901, after the birth of their third child (James), Grace moved to Kettins with her three children while James stayed in Glasgow. Kettins was closer to the Dundee area where Grace had spent her childhood, a good 70 or so miles away from Glasgow, where James stayed. The 1901 census has them enumerated in these separate cities/towns. Maybe Grace needed more space or more help, as she moved in with her mother in law and brother in law at Lintrose House in Kettins. It seems James' brother Peter was a gardner for this estate. I found some information about the Lintrose House and cottages at ScotlandsPlaces. There are also photographs of the house and the family that lived there at the Search Room of The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Histoical Monuments of Scotland. You can actually order these online from their website, or visit them in person to view the photos.  (note 1)

I am not sure how long Grace and James lived apart, but by 1911 they are together again in Glenfinart in Kilman, Scotland, county of Argyll.  This was a big move for James from the city of Glasgow to what looks to be a more rural part of Scotland, in Kilman. Glenfinart was a name of a house, but I am not sure if it was also considered an area of Kilman.  There is also some photographs and information about the Glenfinart house at ScotlandsPlaces.  James' occupation is listed as coachman and chauffer in many sources, perhaps he was a chauffer to the family at Glenfinart.  (note 2)

map of Glasgow (East) and Glenfinart, Kilman (West)

View James Ferguson Timeline 1867-1930 in a larger map


Not much time after James and Grace moved to Kilman, World War I began. The UK would pass the Military Service Act in 1916 requiring "single men 18 to 41 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed with children or ministers of a religion", according to the article on wikipedia. In 1916, James was above the age limit for the draft at 49 years old. His son James was only 15 in 1916; by the end of the war in 1919 James would have been 18. He may have registered for the draft by the end, but I did not find him in the British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920, on ancestry.com. 

After the Great War, all three of James and Grace's children emigrated to America. First was their eldest daughter and my great grandmother, Ann, in 1920.  The story is that she was a nurse in WWI and that is how she met her husband, Alfred Labrecque. (I wrote a little about Alfred and his service here, but I still have not looked at all his service records I had ordered some time ago.)  I have searched various WWI databases from the UK, and I am unable to find records of Ann's service.  Her future husband, Alfred, enlisted from Canada, even though he was living in Massachusetts. After the war, Ann left Scotland for America, and stated Alfred as the friend she knew in the United States.  So she did at least meet Alfred during the war, while he was serving; but I still have no proof she was serving as a nurse.  I wonder if it is possible she was a nurse in a hospital that saw War patients, but was not actually enlisted.  I do believe the records for Alfred show he was injured at some point.  I will have to check into the records more closely.

A year after Ann came to America, James and Grace's second daughter, Margaret, also emigrated (both Ann and Margaret came in through Ellis Island).  Her passenger record also states she was a nurse, like her sister Ann.  I did not find much information on Margaret after 1932 when she is listed in the Weymouth, MA directory, so I am unsure if she married or where she died (my Dad believes she did not marry, and moved to NY).  Finally, James and Grace's youngest, James, emigrated to America in 1923. He also settled in Massachusetts like his oldest sister Ann. Grace and James probably felt the pressure to also emigrate when all of their children left Scotland. It was also probably a little easier to leave Scotland as both sets of parents had passed away by 1922. They followed their children to America, in 1923, the same year their son James emigrated. They settled in Weymouth, MA; the town I grew up in. James' occupation in the census is listed as chauffer, which is consistent with the occupations he had in Scotland as vanman and coachman. 

Since James and Grace and all their children emigrated, I was curious to see if any of their siblings also emigrated, or if they left some living cousins that have stayed in Scotland. I was not able to track all of James' siblings' down, but the ones I have found look to have stayed in Scotland and not emigrated. One of James' brother, Daniel, has a descendant in England that has contacted me for her mother-in-law, who is Daniel's daughter. She does remember visiting cousins in Scotland, so I am sure that this family has left some cousins still living in Scotland. Daniel had the most children of the siblings. Some of James' siblings, such as Jessie, Isabella, and perhaps Annie, look to never have married. Other siblings had either one or no children. I definitely could be missing some information as it is hard to track this time period online, as the last available census is 1911. Also the birth records are expensive to browse through on Scotlandspeople, having to pay credits for each one. (note 3)

Grace's family has been a little more difficult to trace with 11 siblings.  A couple of the younger sisters, Jessie and Susan, seem to have emigrated to the US.  I found some passenger records which seem to match these sisters.  An older sister may also have emigrated, Margaret Francis Cox Hanily.  I found a marriage record for her in Manhatten, NY in 1898 on familysearch.  She would have probably been the first to leave Scotland in Grace's family.  It would be great to find other cousins living in US, but I am not sure if any of these sisters had children. Grace's older sister, Betsy, seems to have had the most children that I have found; but she stayed in Scotland.  I was unable to find most of the death records for Grace's siblings, which would help me locate where they had spent at least the last part of their lives. 

I do not have an exact death date for Grace, although this should be easy enough to find.  I will have to visit the Registry of Vital Records in Dorchester, MA wich has an index to deaths in the state.  Thanks to the reference department at the Quincy Public Library again, I do have the death date for James.  According to his obituary from the Patriot Ledger, James died December 13, 1940.   



Both James and Grace are buried at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy.  I am not sure why I did not clear the grass to read Grace's death date, but I do know that she was still living in 1941 when she is listed in the Weymouth, MA directory as a widow.



links :
There is an interesting Scottish Emigration website from the National Library of Scotland which has some stories related to emigration during this time period.

to do
1. browse through the census to see if other families were listed at Lintrose
2. order photos of Lintrose House and Glenfinart house online from their website, or visit them in person to view the photos
3. look through Alfred's Canadian service records - hospital mentioned where he could have met Ann?
4. find out more information on siblings of grace and james - contact cousin again to see if any photos, etc.
5. search Genes Reunited - they have the British Newspaper Archive - for search terms, Glenfinart and Lintrose to see what comes up. Maybe more information about families that lived there. Grace and James spent spent most of their life in count of Argyll - which do not have a newspaper represented, but may be able to find something. I did a brief search and found some info on cox family possibly as they lived in angus- saved images as screenshots to picasa. might have some info on james brother peter ferguson as he lived in angus county.
6. look into magazine - discover scotland - any info on dundee? or kettins?
7. find death date for Grace - have to visit statistics office in dorchester to find death date.

notes :

1. James may have also been in Lintrose house as a child, as his father Peter was also a gardner. The prior census for James' father do not list Lintrose, but Campmuir. Maybe the census was not as specific in the earlier years, I will have to browse through the census to see if other families were listed at Lintrose (which would imply James and father were not at Lintrose).  I did also find a connection between James' brother Peter and Lintrose - Peter married a Murray - and a Murray family owned this estate.  So perhaps this is why Peter was living here - not because his father had been there before. 

2. photo lists a murray under glenfinart - and a murray family is from lintrose - some documents on murray family of lintrose on national archives. or national register of archives but did not find a connection of any murrays at glenfinart.

3. James Siblings:
  • Margaret, oldest sister, is difficult to track down after the 1871 census. I have found bits and pieces of her life, such as having a daughter in 1896 in Kettins. Her daughter's birth record states she was married in London in 1893, but I have not been able to find her marriage record. I was also unable to find her and her husband in the 1901 and 1911 Census. I did find that Margaret died in 1913 in Dundee, Scotland; which had listed her occupation also as a nurse, a maternity nurse. I found her daughter Janet last at Kettins in the 1911 census, perhaps Janet has left us some living cousins in Scotland. 
  • Peter, oldest brother, looks to have stayed in Scotland, living at Lintrose as the gardner. He married a Margaret Murray. As I mentioned above, Murray is a name that I have found linked to Lintrose house. I will have to do some more research on Margaret and her family to see if there is a connection. Peter and Margaret were not married until 1920, Peter was 37. The latest Census I am able to search is 1911, so I did not look much further yet to see if they had any children and left some descendants in Scotland.
  • Alexander, brother, marries in 1898, but does not have children by 1911 census - did not find death record in Scotland or any immigration records to US.
  • Jessie, sister, did not marry or have children and stayed in Scotland.
  • Daniel, brother, has left the most ancestors in the family. died in 1960 at blairgowrie, county of perth. had 5 children according to kstyrell's tree on ancestry.com. I have spoken a little with Daniel's youngest daughter, Elizabeth's, daughter in law; who states that the family moved to England, but remembers visiting family in Scotland.
  • Elizabeth, sister, had one son by the 1911 census. It also looks like they stayed in Scotland, with Elizabeth's death in Kilmacolm in the county of Renfrew. Husband James Cunningham may have left a will as found in the index on ancestry.com.
  • Annie, sister, did not find much information. Not sure if she married or when she died.
  • Isabella, sister, looks to be single still by 1944 when she is a witness for her sister's death. Did not find more information on her either.