Searching for my Great Grandmother..

[Soozi-B]

Hello everyone,
I joined the forum about 2 years ago as I had been trying to find details of my grandfather.I was helped greatly by a researcher called Jomot1,& thanks to his brilliant detective work I was able to finally discover some of my Grandad's rather complicated history, including the name of my great-grandmother.However, after researching over the last 2 years I only know her name,possible year of birth & her date of death.I am hoping that someone will be able to shed a little more light on great-grandma.
NAME:- Emily Robertson;on 1881 Census she gives her age as 26,she was born in Scotland;she is unmarried & has my grandad Percy Holroyd Robertson with her. He was born 18 Feb 1881.They are at 9 Brindley Rd,Paddington with John McDuff & his family. On Percy's birth certificate Emily gives her name as Emily Maud Mary Robertson. No father's name is given.
Emily dies on 20 Jan 1886 in Paddington Infirmary. John McDuff registers her death,& was present when she died.Percy is then brought up by the McDuff family & takes their name until he marries in 1900 & reverts to his birth name. I have been unable to find any verifiable information about Emily's birth,parentage,where in Scotland she was born,or even where she was buried. I would appreciate any help at all.
Thank you
Soozi-B

[christanel]

Hello again
I wonder if, because he is so much older than Jane, that John Mcduff was previously married and whether his first wife was a relative of Emily's. I see John McDuff and Jane Moore were married Dec 1/4 1881 registration district St.Geo. H. Sq
Like you I haven't been able to find a record of birth and or baptism for Emily on ScotlandsPeople but I will see if I can find anything for John that may help.
Christina

[christanel]

A tree on ancestry has her death certificate showing her age as 27 (in 1886) So 26 on the 1881 census and 27, born circa 1855, 5 years later born c1859. May have to widen the search.
Christina

[christanel]

Hello again
I wonder if, because he is so much older than Jane, that John Mcduff was previously married and whether his first wife was a relative of Emily's. I see John McDuff and Jane Moore were married Dec 1/4 1881 registration district St.Geo. H. Sq
Like you I haven't been able to find a record of birth and or baptism for Emily on ScotlandsPeople but I will see if I can find anything for John that may help.
Christina

After having looked at the original image (duh) I am not too sure of John McDuffs age. There are so many downward strokes through it. Maybe 36 not 66? Will look for him in later censuses.
Added: Found them in the 1901 census and John 52, is only 2 years older than Jane 50.
Christina

[christanel]

The link to your previous thread on this family which I should have read before trying to help!!
https://www.british-genealogy.com/fo...ht=#post686738

[Pam Downes]

The link to your previous thread on this family which I should have read before trying to help!!
https://www.british-genealogy.com/fo...ht=#post686738

And although I don't think it has any relevance to the query in this thread, that link has a link to a thread about Emily's son, Percy Holroyd Robertson.

[Soozi-B]

Hello, Many thanks for your replies,Christanel & Pam. Regarding Christanel's observation about family connections, I did a full family tree research on John McDuff going back to 1700s, where I found a lady with the surname Robertson, which wasn't any help at all.There is only 2 years age difference between John & wife Jane,& they were married in Q4 1871. All Jane's family seem to be south of England,so didn't see any point in checking out her tree.
Regarding Emily's age & I checked dates between 1850-1860,& decided that she would probably know her age so went with the 26 years on 1881 census,so year of birth abt 1855,& age at death 31.
Would you think that Emily would have been buried,as opposed to cremation,at that time? I have checked with Paddington Cemetery,Kensal Green,Lambeth & St Mary's RC Church next to Kensal Green.No trace at any of them. Any ideas where she could have been buried?
Kind regards
Soozi-B

[Jomot1]

Regarding Christanel's observation about family connections, I did a full family tree research on John McDuff going back to 1700s, where I found a lady with the surname Robertson, which wasn't any help at all.

In your previous posts you said that John Duff/McDuff's parents were Peter Duff & Janet McLean, and that Janet McLean's mother was Isabel ROBERTSON, was that wrong?

[Soozi-B]

Hello Jomot1,
Although I deleted the McDuff tree that I built up I did keep a lot of notes. Just been checking through them & there is a reference there regarding Janet Mclean's mother,Isabel Robertson.I think that I discounted this because the dates didn't seem to tie in. I did the research on Family Search & there were so many john Duff's & not very many John McDuff's in the 1840s period that I couldn't verify anything to my satisfaction.I found the Duff/McDuff/MacDuff very confusing, & was unsure about whether the surnames overlapped or changed. just looking at my notes again hasn't improved anything. I suppose there is a lot I am missing somewhere.

[Jomot1]

I also found it odd that Percy was registered at Moberley School in 1884 as Percy McDuff, mother Jane. This was long before Emily's death.

Emily may be one of those unsolvable mysteries.

I also wondered if Percy's father was Percy Holroyd born c1864 Huddersfield, but living in Islington in 1871 and in Hampstead in 1881. He apparently sailed for the US in 1883.