Today: an ancestor who migrated to the USA, another early death from TB, and a fun coincidence of names, with a Fraser on the Strachan side reminding me of a Strachan on the Fraser side.
30 April 1789
Birth of Elizbeth Oxley at Barnsley, daughter of William and Elizabeth Oxley and therefore my gggg aunt. I don’t anything else about her as nothing came up on a quick look, and I haven’t yet had the chance to do any closer research.
30 April 1839
Jean Haggerty born at Dundonald, Ayrshire, daughter of my ggg uncle Hugh Haggerty, a coal miner, and his wife Jean Muir. Her father died when she was about 10 and in the 1851 census she and her mother are muslin sewers and paupers, which means they received parish relief. In 1857 she married a miner called Stewart or Steward Sharky, although for whatever reason he’s named Thomas on the marriage certificate. Jean, or Jane as she was also called, was working as a domestic servant at the time. In 1861 they’re living at Benslie Square, Kilwinning, the home to many on my family tree, with their eldest two children. Then in late 1869 Jean sailed to the USA with her children and widowed mother, to join her husband who’d gone there earlier the same year. The family are in Van Buren, Clay, Indiana in 1880 with 8 children: Stewart Sharkie is a coal miner, as are the three eldest sons. Stewart did well for himself, and by 1900 is a coal operator and the family are living in Clinton, Vermillion, Indiana. Stewart died in 1901 and afterwards Jean lived in Terre Haute where her sons had become owner managers of several coal companies. Jean Sharkie nee Haggarty died in Terre Haute 1919 age 80. There’s some interesting info online including about the Shirkie family, as they were known in America, at http://visions.indstate.edu:8888/cdm/singleitem/collection/vchs/id/359/rec/69
30 April 1839
This is the first time I’ve had two people on my tree born on the same day! Barbara Morgan was born at Cruden, daughter of Arthur Morgan and Margaret Robb and therefore granddaughter of my ggggg aunt Isobel Sangster and her husband Peter Morgan. Barbara lost her mother when she was about 7 years old, and her father remarried in 1849. In 1851 Barbara, age 11, is at Tillymaud, Cruden, where her father is a farm servant, with her father, stepmother and 4 younger siblings. Sadly, her father died in an accident in 1860. In 1861 Barbara, a domestic servant, is still at Tillymaud along with her younger brothers, all farm servants for Alexander Gray. She married Peter Smith in January 1862 at the Parish School, Cruden, but sadly died later the same year of consumption (tuberculosis).
30 April 1848
Birth of Ann McGavin Strachan at Dreghorn, daughter of my ggg uncle Monro Strachan and his wife Janet Jamieson. Sadly, she had died by the time of the 1851 census.
30 April 1927
My aunt Jeannie Haddow Strachan – sister of my father and named after her grandmother – married William Harper at Dovercourt Road, Toronto. Jean, as she was known, had migrated to Canada in 1921. She had been working as a domestic servant and Bill, as he was known, worked in the rubber industry at the time of their marriage. They had a son Colin, my cousin, who is now a keen follower of this blog. Interestingly, William Harper’s mother was Helen Fraser, and my maternal grandfather had a sister called Helen Fraser who married Alexander Strachan and therefore became Helen Strachan.
Judy's Family History 