Begg lines revisited: The joys of intermarriage

Yesterday, I was inspired by a comment left on a blog post about Samuel Begg. The post was written by my mother-in-law about her grandfather, and posted on my husband’s blog to share with the world. (This, by the way, is one of the reasons I enjoy blogging about my genealogy finds–hearing from distant cousins.) So, I decided to revisit the Begg lines and see if there was any new information out there.

Since that part of the family is from Scotland, I went back to ScotlandsPeople, a site I haven’t visited in a while–been concentrating on South Africa a lot lately. I didn’t have a lot of luck on Beggs themselves, but I hit a vein on the related McCrone line.

Elizabeth McCrone was the great-great grandmother of Samuel Begg, making her my great-great-great-great grandmother-in-law. Her daughter, Anne Stevenson, married James Begg around 1836, probably in Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland (that’s a record I should look for). That’s just background…

I had already found Anne Stevenson Begg’s death record showing her parents as Thomas Stevenson and Elizabeth McCrone. Last night, I was able to find Elizabeth’s death record (27 Mar 1858 in Muirkirk), her marriage to Thomas Stevenson (27 Jun 1794 in Muirkirk), and her birth record (25 Mar 1778 in Muirkirk) which included the names of her parents, John McCrone and Mary Aird.

With those names, I did a search and was able to find the birth records of three more children of John and Mary Aird McCrone–a daughter, Christian (b. 11 Aug 1780 in Muirkirk), a son Hugh (b. 26 Jul 1794 in Muirkirk) and another son, John (b. 20 Apr 1797, d. 26 Nov 1797, both in Muirkirk). My instincts tell me that there must be more children between Christian and Hugh, as there is a 14 year difference in their ages. I’ll have to do more searching.

HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET INTERESTING…..and why I like doing research in Scotland….

Remember James Begg (Elizabeth McCrone’s son-in-law)? It turns out (and I already knew this) that he is the illegitimate son of one Adam Begg, Jr. and CHRISTIAN MCCRONE, born in Muirkirk on 4 June 1809. I don’t have any proof yet, but I highly suspect that his mother and his future mother-in-law were sisters…making his wife his cousin! This probably wasn’t totally unheard-of, though, so don’t freak out too much!

Better yet (and still no concrete connections) is what I found on Elizabeth brother’s birth register. Her brother, Hugh–his full name is Hugh BEGG McCrone. That would indicate that the McCrone family had a connection to the Begg family long before Elizabeth’s daughter married James Begg and her other daughter…well….”knew” Adam Begg (at least twice, incidentally…Adam and Christian had two illegitimate sons, James and Adam III (b. 20 Jun 1804 in Muirkirk) before Adam Jr. went off and married Sarah Broadfoot in 1818. (I have never found a marriage record for Adam Jr. and Christian McCrone, nor do I know what happened to Christian after her two sons were born.)

So, before this line gets any more entangled I think I need to unravel it before moving on to another line. Otherwise, I’ll never figure it out when I come back to it.

Margaret McDonald

I spent the day yesterday trying to track down my husband’s great-great grandmother. I know a lot about her, and have a solid family tree leading back to her. I also know a lot about the people that I think were her parents and siblings, and have started a family tree for them. My current concern is establishing a firm connection between the two trees.

Margaret McDonald was born in Inch, Wigtownshire, Scotland sometime between 1848 and 1854, specifically in the Village or Cairn, or Cairnryan. She married William Welsh on 1 Nov 1878 in Wallacetown in Ayr. Together they had eight children, one of which was my husband’s great grandmother, Margaret, better known in our family as Granny Mackie.

All this is well documented through census records, and birth, marriage and death registers. However, the mystery begins with the latter records. Margaret McDonald’s death register (dated 8 July 1931 in Lochrutton, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland) says that her parents were Charles McDonald (who was a fisherman) and Margaret McDonald (maiden name McDonald), and that she was married to William Welsh. Her marriage register to William Welsh, however, says that her parents were Thomas McDonald (who was a fisherman) and Margaret McDonald (maiden name Adair). I have been unable to find a birth record for her.

After searching census records for a couple with both names, I found that there was a Charles McDonald married to a Margaret Adair who just happened to live in the Village of Cairn in Inch, Wigtownshire between 1848 (when they were married) and 1874 (when Charles died). Charles’ occupation was also listed as “fisherman” for the last two censuses of his life. Finally, the 1851 Scotland Census shows that this couple had a daughter named Margaret who was two-years-old at the time.

Putting all this together, I determined that this two-year-old Margaret McDonald had to be the same person. Unfortunately, though, I have been unable to find ANYTHING else that would connect her to this family. She is not listed with the family in any other census and was presumably working as a domestic servant (as some of her presumed brothers and sisters were doing at that young age). I have traced this family from the 1851 to the 1901 censuses, and have found birth registrations for all the children listed in the censuses (and have even found one son that is not listed with the family in any census). Of course, the only child that I have been unable to find a birth registration for is Margaret. In fact, I have been unable to find a birth registration for ANY Margaret McDonald that could remotely be the same person.

So, yesterday was spent finding records for her presumed brothers and sisters to see if I could find any connections to Margaret. I did find one marriage record that listed Margaret McDonald as a witness. However, the bride’s mother (and Margaret’s, for that matter) was also named Margaret McDonald, so I can’t say for sure if the witness was her sister, Margaret, or her mother, Margaret.

So, right now the whole connection is pretty circumstantial, and based on very little evidence. But since there is a lack of other possibilities, I’m pretty confident that Margaret McDonald is the daughter of Charles McDonald and Margaret Adair. Still, it would be nice to find something solid to confirm that.