Finding a difficult ancestor

I have been slowly tracking down a particularly difficult ancestor called Margaret MORRISON.  Firstly her name is unbelievably common in Scotland at the time she lived. Secondly, she never married and so I had no documents that listed her parents.

She was the mother of my grandfather Edward WILCOX ¹ who was illegitimate. I was able to find his father Charles Edward WILCOX in Glasgow in the 1891 Scottish Census ² where Margaret is listed as the Housekeeper.

At first, my fascination was with Charles’ wife Mary SNEDDEN whom he married in Edinburgh ³ – what happened to her, was she still alive? I tracked her down fairly quickly, discovering that she lived her life out in Galashiels ⁴. That was some time ago, and now my focus was on my ancestor Margaret MORRISON.

I needed more information,  so although I knew who the children were from the 1881, 1891, and 1901, Scotland Census,  I decided to lash out and get their birth registers.

We Scots are proud of who we are and we lead the English-speaking world in access to family history archives. For less than £1 I can instantly download an image of the page in the registration book. To access that information here in Australia it costs up to $45 and can only be accessed by snail mail.

I digressed. Charles Edward WILCOX had ten children by these two women and Margaret already had two other children whose fathers were not named. I could not find anything to define when one relationship ended and the other began, I suspected that they overlapped – not an unreasonable guess for the Victorian era. There were too many Margaret Morrisons to prove or disprove her status in either 1881 or 1911. Now I was frustrated, returning to the lesson on brick walls in my family history course I thought about the collateral lines (using siblings) and I decided to get the birth registers of the second Morrison child Alfred Edward,  his middle name implied that Charles could be his father but he had not been given the WILCOX name so I knew his father was unnamed and had ignored him so far.

This was when I struck gold. For reasons unknowable, on Alfred’s birth register ⁵, she called herself Margaret Ann Hatt MORRISON. Now, assuming she predeceased Charles because neither she or his wife were named on his death register, I moved to a death search between 1901 and 1920 where I found a possible Margaret whose mother’s maiden name was given as HATT ⁶, the informant, her daughter Alice CAMPBELL, could possibly have been Alice MORRISON now married.

Finally,  could I prove or disprove this death register with a birth? It was known that she was born circa 1865 in Aberdeen,  Aberdeenshire.  Two possible births were found one Margaret and one Margaret Ann. Margaret Ann’s mother had a maiden name HATT and so closed the circle of proof ⁷.

Margaret MORRISON was born Margaret Ann MORRISON on 5 November 1864 in Morningside, Aberdeen. Her father was Robert MORRISON a clockmaker and her mother was Annie HATT. She was never married and had seven children, Alice L ⁸ and Alfred E MORRISON ⁵, then Charles ⁹, Thomas ¹⁰, Edward ¹¹, John ¹² and George WILCOX ¹³. Alfred ¹⁴ and George ¹⁵ both died in infancy. Margaret died in Glasgow on 23 October 1919 ⁶ nine months prior to the suicide of Charles Edward WILCOX ¹⁶, the father of at least five of her children. No mention of Charles is made on her death certificate, her daughter now Alice CAMPBELL informed the registrar.

I cannot tell you how addictive the hunt and the find is, it has to be experienced.  I am so glad I decided to join the Diploma of Family History at the University of Tasmania,  I have decided to continue to study even though the next unit is Convict Ancestors and I have none.

Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure:

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1. Scottish Birth Register, 1894 GROS Data 644-10 Edward Wilcox (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 30 March 2005) [↩]
2. Scottish Census 1891 644/09 075/09 012 Charles Wilcox (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 25 December 2009) [↩]
3. Scottish Marriage Register 1877 GROS Data 685/05 0426 Charles Wilcox and Mary Sneddon (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 25 December 2009) [↩]
4. Scottish Census 1891 776/0B 006/00 0031 Mary Wilcox (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 21 May 2011) [↩]
5. Scottish Birth Register, 1889 GROS Data 646/03 0819 Alfred Edward MORRISON (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 17 April 2016) [↩][↩]
6. Scottish Death Register, 1919, GROS Data 644/08 0574, Morrison, Margaret Ann (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 16 April 2016) [↩][↩]
7. Scottish Birth Register, 1864 GROS Data 168/02 0974 Margaret Ann MORRISON (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 17 April 2016) [↩]
8. Scottish Birth Register, 1884 GROS Data 685/04 0313 Alice Lycke MORRISON (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 17 April 2016) [↩]
9. Scottish Birth Register, 1890 GROS Data 633/09 1477 Charles Wilcox (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 25 December 2009) [↩]
10. Scottish Birth Register, 1892 GROS Data 644/06 1623 Thomas WILCOX (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 17 April 2016) [↩]
11. Scottish Birth Register, 1894 GROS Data 644-10 Edward Wilcox (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 30 March 2005) [↩]
12. Scottish Birth Register, 1896 GROS Data 644/09 0829 John WILCOX (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 17 April 2016) [↩]
13. Scottish Birth Register, 1906 GROS Data 644/05 0492 George Wilcox (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 24 May 2016) [↩]
14. Scottish Death Register, 1891. GROS Data 644/09 0527 Alfred Edward Wilcox (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 7 May 2016) [↩]
15. Scottish Death Register 1906 GROS Data 644/05 0191 George Wilcox (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 25 May 2016) [↩]
16. Scottish Death Register, 1920, WILCOX, GROS Data 644/08 0409, Charles Edward (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 31 October 2008) [↩]