Ag. Lab in the middle of Edinburgh?

[Tinker]

Oops, I keep cross-posting wth you , Logie. That does indeed look like my man and would explain the scrawl about George being a gardener, post-1861, in my notes. "Gerdor" may be the name of the place at which George worked, so perhaps I'll go take a look online and see if I can find anything. I keep forgetting to mention that I did eventually find out where John Learmonth was living: he died at 6 Moray Place in 1858, according to a list of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and that's not far from Water of Leith and the bridge he had built. The son, Alexander, took over the Dean estate.

[Mary Young]

Re 21 Leopold Place - Google Earth shows it now consists of 5 flats. Some properties built for the "nobs" fell on hard times and were sub-divided into flats, some used as lodging houses, ordinary tenants took in boarders etc. it's amazing how many people could cram into a house built for one family and their servants!!

For "Hairdresser Master" read "master hairdresser", i.e. a master of men, an employer.

[Tinker]

I vaguely recall googling Leopold Place some years ago and being gobsmacked at the huge price one of the flats was going for back then, though I have to say the flat was huge and very impressive inside. I should think they're a lot cheaper now in current property terms. Talking of lodging house keepers, John's mum was one in the 1880s and 90s, but I'm not sure if she was still one by the time she was living at 21 Leopold Place in 1901. By that stage only the two daughters were at home.

Mary, your comment about the hairdresser being an employer got me thinking about when hair salons came into being. Barber shops date from way back, but hair salons are a fairly modern concept, are they not? And was the Perfumer mistress the equivalent of a modern day "beauty technician," I wonder?

[Logie]

Hi Tinker

Do you have deaths for George and Jane. Also, did they have a Grandson, George? I ask because I have found a Jane in the 1881 with a grandson George.

[Tinker]

Hi Logie
Sorry to take so long to get back to you...I wasn't able get onto the Brit-Gen site until now, for some strange reason. No, I don't have deaths for George and Jane, and yes, they did have a grandson George, born 1861, Edinburgh, to their son John and his first wife Euphemia Shiels. Does George's d.o.b tally with what you found? He was a coalminer in 1881, albeit unemployed.

[Logie]

Hi Tinker
Apologies for giving you false hope! Went back to find the Jane Miller and Grandson and found that the Grandson was called James NOT George! Sorry!

These were living at 12 Beaumont Place. She was described as Annuitant (living on own means) and he was born 1853 and was a Brass Founder.

I did find another Jane Miller. Born 1812, lving as a boarder at 6 Beaumont Place with a family of Nicholsons.
Wm 43, Isabella 51, Wm 13 and Isabella 9. Also a Robert Mclaren again described as a Boarder. There are in fact several Jane Millers of an appropriate age so it seems to be a reasonably common name - unfortunately!

[Tinker]

No problem, Logie. Millers/Millars are thick on the ground, and MacGregors too. Assuming Jane was still alive, and not with grandson George, she might have been living with one of her (married?) daughters. I think I need to make a lists of loose ends to follow up, and buy some credits on S.P.!

[Logie]

I did do an index search on SP for deaths for both George and Jane/Jean Miller/Millar but found nothing!

[Tinker]

They're proving to be a bit of a mystery, aren't they? My friend and I had a similar problem when we searched for the death of William MacGregor, grandfather of John, some years ago: no death and therefore no parents or definite place of birth. Never mind!

I went back yesterday to have a look at the print-off I have of George Miller's children's baptisms (they were all baptised together in 1850, while living in Montgomery Street Lane) and on that he was shown as a 'farm servant,' so it does look likely that he was working on farmland in the vicinity. Now I think about it, the children were baptised by the Minister of the United Associate Secession Congregation, so perhaps that's why the difficulty in finding deaths.