Searching for my McLachlan ancestors!

[Lesley Robertson]

I can't even find Sarah McLachlan in the 1861 census, which was taken 2 weeks before she gave birth, so you'd think she'd be around...


There is a John & Sarah couple in Greenock, Renfrew, in the 1861, but they have a 1 month old daughter... Also, not born in Glasgow.
And another pair in Renfrew, no mention of Glasgow and he's a miner.
The only possibility (other than a typo hiding them) is a Helen S McLachlan, spouse John, living in Glasgow. However they already have John aged 4...

You might be a victim of the confusion around the introduction of certificates in Scotland in the middle 1850s. In Scotland before that, there were the so-called irregular marriages where all that was necessary was to tell everyone that you were married, or maybe attend a "marriage mill". However, they should be in the census!

Gone to lunch.

Note added - Helen S McL is married to a sail maker, it's not here.

[helachau]

It says that he was a labourer. As a side note, it lists his address 127 Saltmarket Glasgow, however I'm not sure if this is the address when he was married or when his child was born. Regardless, I have trolled through the post office directories for the marriage year, and birth year and have found no connection between John Mclachlan and that address. I will try different years to see if it was recorded wrong.

I've had checked the PO Directories. 127 Saltmarket identified as business premises (confectioner's, ice house etc - Duncan M'Arthur). But there's a December 1859 newspaper reference to its being Peter M'Grady's lodging house - Duncan M'Arthur appeared from 1860.

[helachau]

Glasgow Saturday Post & Paisley Renfrewshire Reformer, 9 Nov 1861
"THEFT - John M'Lachlan, 77 Saltmarket, was sent 60 days to prison ..."

[LAC006]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and ideas thus far!

That newspaper clipping is a really interesting find! I went into the newspaper archives and have downloaded it, and another from the previous year that refers to a John M'Lauchlan from Saltmarket. If only I could find a census record or directory record of him at that address then! I am assuming that lodging houses didn't really list all of the lodgers? I remember seeing some listed in some census I looked into but I am imagining that they housed many people.

[grisel]

Although Saltmarket had once been smart, by 1861 it had become a densely populated slum area. Later in the century it was demolished and rebuilt. The Saltmarket of 1861 had houses facing on to the main street but with many alleys known as wynds or closes leading off them. If you do some googling you will find many descriptions of the area and its poverty, and photographs.
Many of the people living there had moved to the city from the highlands of Scotland and from Ireland. The Mclachlan name suggests highland roots; the Dougherty name suggests Irish ones.

It is interesting that noone so far has been able to find the family in censuses. There could be many reasons. It may be that Sarah took up with a new partner or husband and they are under a different name. On emigrating, John may have taken his birth certificate with him with his original birth details. But that is just speculation.

However it is still important to check on John and Adas wedding cert to see if parents' names are given.
Also - does the Queensland genealogist record that you have give a source for the Dougherty name?

[Lesley Robertson]

Once I started looking, I was surprised at how many "John McLachlan"s of roughly the right age there were in Glasgow!

To check on possible typos, I have now checked the 1861 on Anc, FMP and SP - no joy. They were using the Saltmarket address before 1861 and on John's birth cert, 2 weeks after the census was taken. I've tried Mc and Mac. I've tried Lanarkshire rather than just Glasgow. I'm beginning to hear ghostly sniggering!
The only thing that I can think of is that the handwriting on the census is so deceptive that even the experts at SP are getting it wrong.

If we could identify someone else resident at number 127 (or a close neighbour) it would be possible to download the whole page from SP to go through all the residents by hand.
According to the birth cert, Sarah had her baby in hospital - unusual for a poor woman back then. I wonder how long she'd been in. It also gives the Saltmarket as her normal address, so she hadn't gone there from a poorhouse. AND she'd have shown up on my Lanark search.

The absence from the later censuses could be due to them all emigrating (which explain why I can't find a death cert for Sarah), but not the 1861. I do know of other cases where a pregnant wife has been left behind when the family left to have the child and follow on later....

[Dundee10]

The indexes on Ancestry show a lot of residents at 125 Saltmarket and 128 Saltmarket but nothing for 126 or 127. There are a lot of McLAUCHLANs and DOCHERTYs. Unfortunately Saltmarket appears to cover several enumeration districts and there are a huge number of households under each street number. There is a Sarah DOCHERTY aged 17 living at number 43 Saltmarket with her mother Mary and siblings.

[Lesley Robertson]

It’s much easier when the names are rare!

[helachau]

No. 127 had been acquired by a Duncan M'Arthur who had converted it to an ice house about a 12 month before the Census. His home address was 8 Steel Street.
You might check for a Patrick Dobbin at No. 123?

[Lesley Robertson]

Interesting. Would it be likely that people were still living on the upper floors, I wonder? When she registered (on 3 May 1861) John's birth Matron Mary Finlayson gave the usual address as 127 Saltmarket... If there was no one living there, she was either misinformed or got it wrong. If the address is wrong, it seems possible that the marriage date &/or place could also be dodgy.

The nearest Valuation Roll page online is 1865, which gives McArthur as propietor/occupier, but he would have had ample time to clear everyone out by then. Pity the 1861 is only available as hardcopy!

BTW I've finally worked out a couple of extra words - it was the Lying In Hospital, not just the Hospital.

PS The lodging house that Dobbin's living in is huge - it occupies several census pages!