Genealogy Chat

I'm hoping that someone might have some clues about how I can find a name for my son's direct ancestor. Unfortunately Indian research is totally outside my experience. More below...

My son's ancestral line on his father's side has been traced back to Captain Patrick Mc or MacDougall who served with the East India Company in Bengal the late 18th century. I recently downloaded a copy of his Will (good old National Archives!) hoping it would shed light on the identity of the mother of Patrick's children. It contained the tantalising line 'I have three natural born children by a native woman of Hindostan who are recognized and known by the several names of James, John and William MacDougall'. William Adair MacDougall is my son's ancestor. I gather that, at that time, such relationships were not uncommon and were possibly even encouraged. It wasn't until a few decades later that this practice was frowned upon. Previous historians have uncovered a fair bit about the menfolk of the family and have found that the three boys were baptised on 5th June 1782 at Fort William garrison. Unfortunately, in spite of all the documentation, it appears nobody has ever recorded the actual name of the mother or, indeed, found any evidence about what became of her. Following their father's death in 1798, the 3 boys were cared for in England by their grandmother. Whether their mother was still alive at the time is a mystery. It bothers me that, as far as English records are concerned, she was a total non-entity. Would anyone know if the Indians would have kept their own records of children resulting from relationships between Indian women and men serving with the East India company? Can anyone recommend useful websites or books? Thanks in advance, Tracey

Family History in India: http://members.ozemail(.)com.au/~clday/

Only today I read somewhere that Indian family history is very difficult to do as births are not recorded, and women's names never recorded at all! However, on one of the WDYTYA programmes they showed ancestral rolls which are kept by holy clerics in various locations and sons are added to these rolls which go back many generations. Which doesnt help you at all, sorry. OC

That's the only problem I have with that programme, OC, they make it look so darned easy when in reality it's a blooming hard slog at times. Tracey Do you think maybe the British Library India Office may have their b/certs? Sylvia

Thanks for your replies everyone. Paul, that site is going to come in very handy for some of my later Indian research. OC's mention of the rolls kept by clerics as shown on the WDYTYA program - so THAT'S where I saw that! Shame my son isn't a celebrity and can't fall back on a nice TV company to do the expensive glamorous research! That said, the grandson of the 'unnamed woman of Hindostan', Bishop Francis MacDougall, was of historic importance and therefore very well documented indeed. His wife, Harriette, wrote books and letters describing their lives in Sarawak which are still in print and also accessible on the internet for free. With such grander subjects to research, the historians have tended to brush the unnamed woman under the carpet. We've even found one scholarly book which says she was Armenian! I have a feeling that I may have to cast my net wider on this one. I'm hoping that the woman is named in contemporary personal correspondence - yet to come to light of course! Another query - Does anyone know whether it is more likely that the woman's own family would have disposed of her body or whether she would have been considered to have gone over to the English and therefore have been subject to English burial rites?

Quick update for anyone in the same boat. I have just found an online article about William Dalrymple's book 'The White Mughals'. Put White Mischief Guardian in Google search to get to the article. It is fascinating as Dalrymple has researched precisely the time period I am interested in. It was clearlyTHE time when social attitudes to the East India men, their bibis and their mixed-raced children were changing for the worse. Laws were being passed making their lives increasingly difficult. I have realised that Patrick MacDougall would have written his Will to protect the status of his children in those uncertain times. Hope this helps others flesh out the background to that frustrating part of their trees.

Tracy What a fascinating story! I think the woman would have returned to her family after his death. Women were of no account in EITHER culture - British or Indian. However, as he made provision for his sons, then I expect he made some kind of provision for her too, probably bought her a house during her lifetime, or settled some money on her. I doubt if she would have been buried with Christian rites, but it is worth checking I suppose. However you will be hampered by not knowing her name! OC

OC, your suggestion about the possibility of Patrick having made provisions for the mother of his boys is something I'm definitely going to attempt to follow up. Ironically property is more likely to be recorded, in contrast to the invisible womenfolk. Thanks to you, I have just come across this via Google: 'RES-000-22-0790 - Colonial Possessions: Personal Property and Social Identity in British India This ESRC-funded research project investigated a rich collection of archival materials, housed in a variety of UK archives, to explore the consumer behaviour and material lives of British men and women in India between 1780 and 1860.' The webpage's full description of the research is exactly what I need and has given me some ideas about who to contact in search of answers!

nudged for Barbara

Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the river Hooghly, the major distributary of river Ganges during the British Raj. The original fort was built by the British East India Company. The construction of the Old Fort was completed in 1706. Situated near the bank of the river Hooghly, the original building had two stories and projecting wings. In 1756, the then Nawab of Bengal, Nawab Siraj Ud Daulah, attacked the fort and conquered the city and changed the name of the city to Alinagar. A guard room in the fort became the Black Hole of Calcutta, where troops of the Nawab of Bengal held British prisoners of war. The prisoners were held overnight in conditions so cramped that a large proportion of those held died from suffocation, heat exhaustion and crushing. A diary by a survivor claims that 123 prisoners died out of 146 prisoners held. A new fort was started by Robert Clive in 1758, after the Battle of Plassey (1757) and completed in 1781. The old fort was repaired and used as a customs house from 1766 onwards.