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  1. #1
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    Default Searching for my McLachlan ancestors!

    I would appreciate any advice or help you have to offer!

    My beloved grandfather, John McLachlan, passed away last year and has left me feeling quite untethered in this world. As a result I started digging into his past to try and find records of my ancestors in an effort to reconnect and to compile a family history/memoir of my pop for my children. I have managed to find information of two generations that came before my pop, but the third generation is alluding me!

    I have the extract (and copy of the original) birth records for my great great grandfather, John Alexander McLachlan, who was born in Scotland on 19/04/1861 which tells me that my great great great grandparents were John and Sarah (formerly Dougherty) McLachlan and that they were married in Glasgow in 1856 and were living at 127 Saltmarket Glasgow when their son was born. I also know that their son, John Alexander, emigrated to Australia on the Aberdeen on 01/11/1884.

    I thought I had found John and Sarah McLachlan when I came across some censuses from 1871/1881, however I later found a birth certificate for a second child (Maria) recorded on one of the censuses which revealed that the mother of that family had a different maiden name (Hughes).

    I desperately want to find anything relating to John and Sarah McLachlan, or more information about their son, John Alexander McLachlan, and would appreciate any help you can provide in my search.

    Thank you!

    Laura

  2. #2
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Default

    Hi
    I went to ScotlandsPeople and did a basic search of the Statutary Registers which started in 1855 but could only find 1 result of a John McLachlan marrying a Sarah 1855-1856 - with any surname and it was surname Hart in 1855 in Holytown.
    I then did a search 1850-1856 in the Church registers but no result there.
    Christina.
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  3. #3
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    Thanks Christina. Their marriage occurred according to their son's birth certificate, so I just don't understand why I can't find anything more about it!

  4. #4
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    Hi Laura,

    Previous experience has proved that having duplicate threads only causes confusion so I have deleted your post in the 'Brickwalls' forum so that all the replies will directed to this thread.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  5. #5
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    Thanks Pam, I've never done anything like this before and really hope to find someone who manages to find a breakthrough!

  6. #6

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    Marriage certificates only started in Scotland in 1855 and there was a lot of confusion in the early years. Sometime the certificates just weren't issued. Alternatively, people were not as careful about dates and surname spelling. The only way to sort things out is to double check on other certificates.
    What is the marriage date on the second birth certificate?
    Have you looked for a possible death for wife 1? You may be dealing with 2 Sarahs. It does happen.
    Are you searching both Mc and Mac? Some search engines treat them as different names...

  7. #7
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    Hi Lesley, you make some really interesting points....

    The census I found from 1881 has Maria McLachlan listed, along with a brother John McLachlan. His date of birth on the census is listed as 13 which doesn't align with the register of birth that I have which puts him at 20 in 1881. Although, there is nothing to confirm that the birth register I have is for the correct John McLachlan either.... Maria's birth certificate states that John McLachlan and Sarah (nee HUGHES) McLachlan were married 1865.

    I haven't been able to find any death certificates to suggest that Sarah 'Dougherty' died, but do find it curious that the marriage years were 1856 vs 1865 for people with the same names in the same area.

    I have searched for all variations of McLachlan, to my knowledge, and in some search engines I have used 'fuzzy matching' or 'sounds similar'.

  8. #8

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    While the census is notoriously inaccurate, an age difference between 13 and 20 is a bit hard to believe. These things normally arise because the census forms were filled in on the basis of "when was our Jimmy born?" and often inaccurate to within a couple of years, but this is the difference between a boy and a man... It gets much worse when it's based on "when was your mother born?"

    Go back and start from what you definitely know from papers in your hands. It sounds as though that's the extract and birth cert copy giving the 19th April 1861 birth? Scotlands People gives 3 Johns born Glasgow, 1861 in Govan, Calton and Glasgow Central. There's no middle name, and I can't get at more info without using my own credits.

  9. #9
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    Hello Laura

    I have been looking at the passenger list for the Aberdeen in 1884 which shows a John McLachlan age 22, a painter from Ayrshire, not from Glasgow. Is this the correct person?

    And to add to Lesley's comment - check carefully with any Australian records you have for your gt grandfather and gt gt grandfather esp where they make mention of their parents names.

  10. #10
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    I have that passenger list, but never picked up that it was Ayrshire... Scotland places are obviously foreign to me! But that is definitely something to look into. The difficulty is that there appears to be four generations of John McLachlan's, and they were sometimes referred to by their middle names. I am confident about my grandfather, and his father but the rest of the information was found by other family members who have passed so cannot be confirmed with them.

    Lesley, it is the extract and copy reflecting 19 April 1861. I appreciate you locating the other three Johns - I will look into them tomorrow and see if I get lucky!

    Thank you both very much for the suggestions! I will be looking into those ideas tomorrow and will let you know if I strike gold, or get more confused!

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