I have one “known” Scottish branch
in my family tree. Unfortunately, with
the common surname of Nelson/Neilson and the common forename of John – it is a
branch that has challenged me. The
husband/father was never with the family on census night. I guess when you are a journeyman lace maker
it’s not unsurprising and definitely darn inconvenient!
Being
busy with client research, speaking engagements, this blog, editing a journal,
and my living family, it’s rare that I ever get a chance to research my own
family.
Well,
when I learned that the 1855 Valuation Rolls for Scotland
You
can learn about the rolls via the National
Records of Scotland page. You can access
the press release about their availability here.
IMPORTANT
NOTE: Though you can access the index for FREE, there is a charge to access any
found records.
From
my research I knew that his wife Mary and several children were living in Gorbals
and then Newton-Stewart, Penninghame Parish (Wigtown County
You
will see in the image above that entry #14 is for a John Neilson,
Owner/Occupier, House in Newton Stewart, Pennighame (parish), Wigtown (county)
which seemed like a good fit.
Unfortunately, I’ve been down this path before and given he is one of my
longest standing brick walls, spending 2 credits to access this record was
definitely a worthwhile investment.
When
you purchase an item, it is then downloaded to your computer so that you may
save and view.
As
my lack of luck would have it, the entry literally said nothing more than what
the index had (as you can see)
Oh
well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!
That
said, I know that Mary was still alive until 1870. So, I decided to take a look at the 1865 (and
yes, spend 1 credit to look at the index entries since only 1855 is part of the
FREE access). Well, no John Nelson nor Neilson
in Penninghame was listed. Yet, Mary died in 1870 in Newton Stewart (Parish of
Penningham) as reported by her son George?!?!
So, I spent 1 more credit to look at a list for Neilson in all of Wigtown
county in case she moved between the census years and there is just no entry
that seems to work.
Oh
well, I should have known that “my” John would not reveal himself. After all he’s done a good job of playing
hide and seek in the records so far!
Maybe
you will have more success with your ancestors!
Editor’s Note: Related
posts ...
Editor’s Note: A
couple of links to research done by the author on the Nelson/Neilson family ...
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