Can anyone help me find out the answer to a well kept family secret?

Question

I have been trying to build my family tree but get stuck on my mother's mother  My Nana to me was always known as Mary Muir née Dawson.  When my Papa died(Alexander Muir born in Stirlingshire 30/11/18 died 23/11/97 in Bonnybridge) we came across their marriage certificate and my Nana was named as Jeanie Clark McKinnie. An aunt investigated this but would not share her findings and has now also passed. I have seen records of birth and death with this name matching my Nana dob which is 13/08/1929. I cannot find anything else though or her own family.

Comments

Was her father named on the marriage certificate?

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I'm not sure, the marriage certificate vanished very quickly. If I don't get anywhere using the Internet I will purchase the certificate. I seen the record of it on the Scotland People website. They married in Falkirk in 1951

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Ordering a copy of the birth certificate of Jeanie McKinnie seems an obvious first step. ScotlandsPeople has a Jeanie McKinnie born 1929 in St Rollox (Glasgow).

MCKINNIE JEANIE 1929 644/8 2156 St Rollox

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Thanks

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I would order the marriage certificate as well. One certificate can  sometimes save hours and hours of research. It can also sometimes tell you things you wouldn't find otherwise.

Answer 1

I took a brief look and I'm afraid what I've uncovered may muddy the waters more than anything else. The death record for Mary/Jeanie shows the 3 names:

MUIR (McKinnie) JEANIE CLARK 86
MUIR (McKinnie) MARY 86
MCKINNIE JEANIE CLARK 86
Mother MS: CLARK
2016
ref 479/ 626
Falkirk

It seems likely then, Mary/Jeanie's parents were Thomas and Isabella McKinnie. No corresponding record of death is found for Thomas but Isabell's appears to be:

McKinnie (CLARK) ISABELLA 73
1973
479/ 92
Falkirk

Further, it seems likely that Mary/Jeanie had a sister Isabell whose death record is most interesting:

DAWSON ISABELLA 84
BATCHELOR ISABELLA 84
CLARK ISABELLA 84
ROSS ISABELLA 84
Mother MS: CLARK
2012
483/ 174
LARBERT

Comments

Interesting that the elder sister Isabella is called Clark but not McKinnie.  Do we have the date of the marriage?

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Sorry for my carelessness - she was also listed as McKinnie

The possible marriage is:

MCKINNIE THOMAS
CLARK ISABELLA
1918
626/A2 10
Cadder (Eastern)MCKINNIE THOMAS

Answer 2

You might like to add Adoption Angels tag to your question, they are very good sleuths when it comes to mysteries

Comments

Thank you

Answer 3

Maybe one is her Birth Name the other her adoptive name?

Comments

I thought of that as well, but if she was adopted she would have used her adoptive name on her marriage certificate. If Dawson was her stepfather's or guardian's name but there was no formal adoption, then she wouldn't have a completely different name, she would have been Jeanie Dawson, not Mary Dawson. There is something decidedly odd here.

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I suppose it depends on when she found out. For all her life she was known as Mary Dawson, she may have found out prior to marriage that her 'real' name was 'Jeannie Clark Mckinnie' and thinking she needed to use her real name to make the marriage legal

Maybe it differs in different countries but in the UK I know adoptees that have two Birth Certificates

Not saying the above is correct but it's a possibility

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In the USA, I have seen official records that vacillate between first and second given names. Was she raised Catholic? Perhaps Mary was a first given name but Jeannie was the name she actually went by because all the girls' first name was Mary? Perhaps, the shifting surname, as mentioned in previous posts, is due to an informal adoption/stepparent surname that was used for convenience sake? These are all just speculation based on records I have seen in the US for about the same period.

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you may want to check when legal adoption laws came into effect. For example I have a great grandfather who did not use the surname of his adoptive family I don't know and he was born in 1847. so you need to check the years to see it may be the birthname on the record.

Answer 4

My guess is that Jeanie/Mary's mother split from her husband and lived with a man called Dawson.  Not particularly uncommon.  So the girls were raised as Dawsons (whether they were his or not), but Mary reckoned McKinnie was the right name to put on the marriage cert.

That could be because McKinnie was her father, or because that was her mother's name when she wasn't calling herself Mrs Dawson.

Comments

The lack of a death record for Thomas suggests to me that he went out for a package of cigarettes. The change from Jeanie to Mary is a puzzler. Hard to think of reasons why a given name would change.

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Unless Mr Dawson already had a daughter called Jean.

Is there a 1939 Register for Scotland?

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You may have got it right, RJ. It looks like the Batchelor chap had a daughter named Jeanie so I expect it made sense to call the 'new' Jeanie something different.

Answer 5

OK, it seems Isabella Clark was a serial bride. After her marriage to McKinnie we find the following which explains Isabella Jr's list of names:

CLARK ISABELLA
BATCHELOR ROBERT BROWN
1927
273/ 1
Auchterhouse

This is likely not the right IsaClarl as 1927 precedes the births of Isa and Mary/Jeanie. However, this has better symmetry,

CLARK ISABELLA
BATCHELOR JAMES
1939
347/ 3
Dunbarney

which takes us quite nicely to:

BATCHELOR ISABELLA
DAWSON RAYMOND
1949
282/3 211
St Andrew (Dundee)

Comments

I cannot thank everyone enough for the input into this. I'm totally overwhelmed. Thank you all so much

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You're welcome, Michelle and thank you for posting this puzzle - it was great fun. Feel free to PM if you need a list of the ppl and sources.

Answer 6

Michelle,

The Raymond Dawson connection didn't 'feel' right so I did a little more poking around and think you should toss Raymond in the bin.

Your g-grandmother's death record came up with another name:

CLARK ISABELLA 73
DESSON ISABELLA 73
MCKINNIE ISABELLA 73
1973
479/ 92
Falkirk

That spelling also appears in relation to your grandmother's record:

MUIR (McKinnie) JEANIE CLARK 86
MUIR (McKinnie) MARY 86
MCKINNIE JEANIE CLARK 86
DESSON JEANIE CLARK 86
DESSON MARY 86
Mother MS: CLARK
2016
ref 479/ 626
Falkirk

I will take a more detailed look at this later.

Answer 7

I believe this might be my final answer.

Isabella Clark married Thomas McKinnie in 1918. They had 2 children together in Cadder - John b.1920 and Mary Ann b.1921. As previously mentioned, Thomas disappeared inasmuch as no death record was immediately visible. However, he shows up on the 1930 US census residing at his brother's (James) home in Detroit Michigan with 10 year old son John. The immigration date is given as 1923.

It would seem unlikely then that he is the father of either Isabella Jr or Jeanie/Mary. There is a 1924 record of marriage for a James Desson and Isabella Mathieson. The only record of death for a corresponding Isabella Desson is that of your g-grandmother in 1973. The marriage record lists the parents of the bride as Duncan Mathieson and Catherine McDonald but there is no record of them having existed.

It is possible that Isabella Clark married James Desson under an assumed name because she and Thomas were not divorced. Who knows? The bottom line is that your grandmother was likely correct in maintaining her last name (speeling notwithstanding) was Dawson.