Genealogy Chat

Hi, we are researching my husbands family from Beith Ayrshire, WILLIAM HARPER m. FLORA MITCHELLE 29/12/1830.In Parish of Kilmarnock. No idea of ages or dates of birth. They had a son ARCHIBALD HARPER. b.22/06/1845 Beith.No record of birth but it states on his death and marriage cert. that this was his date of birth. We can find no other reference to Archibald prior to his first marriage in 14/08/1885 to SARAH JANE MILKINS. Family story said that Archibald was taken in by William and Flora Harper after his parents were killed by Aborigines and he took the Harper name.He was supposed to be about 9 or 10 yrs old at that time. Can find no record of him travelling to Australia with or without William and Flora, or any story to confirm a child called Archibald losing his parents in such a way. Now completely stuck and would be grateful for any thoughts on where to look next. Have emailed Scottish People etc.. they can find no trace of Archibald either and suggest he may have been adopted.

I've spread your message out a bit to make it easier to read. GR always squashes up the first message in a thread. Hi, we are researching my husbands family from Beith Ayrshire, WILLIAM HARPER m. FLORA MITCHELLE 29/12/1830.In Parish of Kilmarnock. No idea of ages or dates of birth. They had a son ARCHIBALD HARPER. b.22/06/1845 Beith.No record of birth but it states on his death and marriage cert. that this was his date of birth. We can find no other reference to Archibald prior to his first marriage in 14/08/1885 to SARAH JANE MILKINS. Family story said that Archibald was taken in by William and Flora Harper after his parents were killed by Aborigines and he took the Harper name.He was supposed to be about 9 or 10 yrs old at that time. Can find no record of him travelling to Australia with or without William and Flora, or any story to confirm a child called Archibald losing his parents in such a way. Now completely stuck and would be grateful for any thoughts on where to look next. Have emailed Scottish People etc.. they can find no trace of Archibald either and suggest he may have been adopted.

Have you managed to trace him on the 1851 or 1861 census with relations. Isobel

Here we go. I've found the marriage of William Harper and Flora Mitchell (no 'e' on the end) in Kilmarnock on 29 Dec 1830. GRO reference is: Frame 2574, 597/00 0011. A printed copy of the register page will cost you ten pounds. There is no male Harper birth recorded in Beith between 1835 and 1854. There are 4 Archibald Harper marriages between 1860 and 1870 but none at all between 1871 and 1890. None of these 4 marriages matches either Sarah or Milkins. It looks like Archibald's birth name may not have been Harper. Have another think and see where you want to look next. I've still got a couple of credits left for ScotlandsPeople. John

Census initial search (no location specified): Flora Harper: one in 1851, none in 1861 William Harper: 152 in 1851, 153 in 1861 Archibald Harper: 11 in 1851 and 1861 You'll need to access Flora in 1851 (one credit) and the Archibalds in 1851 (one credit). If Flora seems to be living in a likely place, you can try to match one of the Archibalds to the same place and GRO reference as Flora. If you are reasonably confident of a match you can then get the census image (5 credits). If William is at the same address as well, bingo. If not, back to the drawing board. Of course, they need not all have been at home when the enumerator called. John

Thank you for your replies. I'm fairly new to all this researching, started on my family in Devon and got caught up in this when my husbands asked me to look at his family.! We've searched 1841 census Scotland & England no William & Flora Harper. They married in 1830 Kilmarnock ( we have a copy of Certificate thank you John for the info.) and had no children that we can find before 1845 when Archibald was supposed to have been born, He names them on his marriage Certs. as William Harper - Printer. & Flora Mitchell. It seems strange to go for 15yrs without her getting pregnant, maybe they couldn't have children and adopted .or he gave the wrong year for his birth for some reason. Archibald married Mary McLeod in Gherang Australia 1874. So prior to that between 1845 & 1874 is a blank in his life for us. He lived for 70yrs in Victoria ( according to his Death Cert.) so that would tie in with his d.o.b. 1945 as he is supposed to have come over age about 9 / 10yrs. I tend to get muddled with what I've looked at and need to organise records better for my own sanity if for no other reason! Will keep on searching as you suggest, also I will re read all the stuff we have been sent by various relatives all with their own opinion as to what actually happened to Archibald. thank you again, I read all the tips everyone posts on this board, they are so helpfull it's amazing.