Agnes McKenzie (Ballantyne)

[Trishtrash]

Looking for Agnes McKenzie b Scotland 1856. I have her on the 1881 Census then she disappears. At about this time she leaves her children with her sister in Liverpool and reportedly went to America as a 'lady's companion'. I can't find her on Ellis Island or any of the other sites I've tried. Can anyone help please?

[Leander]

Hello.

I found an Agnes McKenzie who arrived with her parents in New York in November of 1856. The passenger list has her age of about 1.5 months old, and she is the daughter of James M. McKenzie, age 29, and Agnes McKenzie, age 22.

All are listed as being from Scotland. James' occupation is listed as "clerk". They arrived on the ship "Tempest".

Apparently, the name "Agnes McKenzie" was fairly popular and there are several people by that name on passenger lists of various years. This was the only Agnes McKenzie with an 1856 birthdate.

Hope this helps.

-- Deb

[Leander]

Oops! Please excuse the previous post; it was the result of a hasty read. Terribly sorry.

I have looked at various censuses and passenger lists. I couldn't find any Agnes McKenzies (or even MacKenzies) that were appropriate in both time and place. The surname "McKenzie" was well-represented, and apparently "Agnes" was a very popular name for girls of that era. There were quite a few Agnes McKenzies. but they were either too old, too young, arrived too soon, or arrived too late.

It's possible she could have traveled under her maiden name or another assumed name. It's also possible that she disembarked in Canada (I don't have access to the Canadian passenger lists).

Could she have eventually remarried? Was there a divorce?

Unfortunately, the census that would have been most helpful, 1890, was destroyed in a fire in 1921 and only a few fragments survived. A pity, because that might have been our best chance of finding your Agnes before a possible remarriage (or even a death, I suppose), if she indeed was living in the U.S. at that time.

[Trishtrash]

Thanks for trying Leander. I have tried to find this lady, who is my g grandmother, for years! My mum insists that she was widowed and left her young children with a relative in Liverpool (all of which checks out except we can't find a record of her husband, dead or otherwise!). She is then supposed to have emigrated to the States as a ladies companion and settled there. Mum thinks she may have remarried but has no details, she also has vague memories of letters arriving from America when she was a child but doesn't know where from except that it may have been Boston!! The last real trace we have of her is on the 1881 Census in Glasgow. Her maiden name was Ballantyne. If you have any other ideas I'd love to hear them.

[Leander]

I may have found her on the Boston Passenger Lists for June of 1895. There was an Agnes McKenzie on the ship "Gallia" (second cabin).

Her age is listed as 38 years in June of 1895, which would put her birth year as 1856, assuming her birthdate occurred later than her date of departure.

Agnes McKenzie was born in Scotland, her last residence was Liverpool, and her destination was Boston. Her occupation is recorded as "matron". The ship's port of departure was Queenstown, Ireland. I don't know if the ship made stops at any other ports to pick up additional passengers.

The 1900 census lists her as a servant in a household in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It's not very far from Boston. Her marital status was listed as "widowed", and it says that she has 2 children, both living. She was born in June of 1856.

She, along with 2 other people, is a servant for the Beach family. The head of the family is a soap manufacturer. Not surprising, as Lawrence was a large manufacturing center back then.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I could not find your Agnes McKenzie in subsequent censuses, so she may have remarried or died.

Did Agnes have a middle name? I found some records in Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1910. The images for those records are not yet available, so details are missing (such as birthdate, residence, age, family members, etc.), but they are as follows:

1. A 1903 death record for an Agnes Jean McKenzie.

2. A 1907 marriage record for an Agnes May McKenzie.

[Trishtrash]

Leander I think you may be a genius! My Agnes was born 9.6.1856 so that fits. She left two children back in Liverpool, my Grandfather and his sister and maybe mum was right about Boston! I had got the impression that she had left much earlier - my grandad was hardly a child in 1895, he would have been 20 and his sister 16! Agnes didn't have a middle name as far as I know and mum thinks she died in her 80's

[Trishtrash]

Is it possible that Agnes could have worked for/had connection with her employer before she went to US? I am thinking if she had a job with this family, or similar, she may not have been able to keep her children with her. Then later, when they were settled with their aunt she may have decided to take the opportunity to go with the family to America. Do you have a name for her employer or could I dig somewhere else to find it?

[Trishtrash]

Hi again Leander, I have passed your info to my brother who has been following a few different leads and he has a few questions for you if you don't mind.
If you can get access to the records again can you have a look for two other people who may be connected: a female Beach/Beech and a man called Wood, occupation Groom, of Eng/Canadian origons. My brother thinks she may have married this man. Thank you.

[Leander]

Hi there, TrishTrash. I don't mind extra questions. Still trying to find Agnes in 1910 and 1920. But I went to bed early last night; it seemed like a very long work week. :-)

Yes, in 1900 the 2 other servants were Canadian-born Hubert Wood, coachman, and Irish-born Kate Foley, servant.

In 1900, the head of our Beach family was a gent by the name of Laurander or Lurander (it's hard to read and the ink was runny) and his wife, Persis. Both were born in the USA, and I can't tell if they had a prior relationship with Agnes.

Since Laurander/Lurander and Persis were both 68 years old in 1900, it's quite possible that they didn't live to 1910 census. With such unique names it should be easy to find them if living, but they could not be found.

Following Mr. Wood and Miss Foley also proved unproductive, as far as I can tell. However, I *may* have found your Agnes in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1910 -- a servant to a woman by the name of Emma Campbell, who was also born in Scotland. Although, listed as being born in Ireland, instead of Scotland, all the other info is right. It's the closest hit I could find for 1910.

Some of the census takers were either not terribly bright or given erroneous information by a second party. Some forms are barely legible due to either bad penmanship, blurry ink, or worn paper, causing the names to be mis-indexed. But I will keep looking.

[ET in the USA]

I wasn't sure if Deb (Leander) was looking on Ancestry or something else, so I looked at HeritageQuest. Same problem with 1900, terrible smudges right where the head and his wife are. The rest of the household in on the next page and look OK.

I did, however find the Beach family in 1870 and the head's name & entry info was :
1870 > MASSACHUSETTS > ESSEX > 2-WD LAWRENCE

Series: M593 Roll: 609 Page: 101

Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year

BEACH LAWRANDUS JR 37 M W NH MA ESSEX 2-WD LAWRENCE 1870

In 1870 he was a Soap & Candle Manufacturer
Value of Real Estate $14,000
Value of Personal Estate $6,000
He was born in New Hampshire and there is a tic mark under "Father of Foreign birth"
The dwelling number was 268 (whether this was an actual house number or just a sequential number in order of visitation (which is what the census form says) I do not know.

In dwelling number 270, there is a white male age 66 with the same name (minus the Jr) who is also a Soap & Candle manufacturer
He lives with a servant and his wife Harriett age 67. His
Value of Real Estate $35,000
Value of Personal Estate $17,000
Both were born in Connecticut, so if this is the father of Jr., I don't know what the tic under "father born ... " is about.

In 1860, 'dad' is there at age 58, but the son is not at home. He should be age 27. The transcriber has spelled the name Luranders.

Not sure how this will help with Agnes, but perhaps you can find something using the various spellings, age confirmation, birth place and the fact that the family appears to have $$$.