In a muddle with my Indian Murrays
 

I am having trouble confirming that the Indian part of my tree fits together now we have the images of the records on FMP. Maybe if I type it out it will become clearer to me!

My 2xg-grandparents were John Galway and Frances Letitia Seaman who married 2 Mar 1859 at St Thomas Mount, Madras. Frances is age 16, spinster, residence Fort St George, father William Seaman, witnesses W Seaman, W Gray, Mary Ann Gray, H Brown and M Brown.

Frances Letitia Seaman was baptised 23 Aug 1843, dob 8 Apr 1843, daughter of William and Mary Anne, father's occupation Rough Rider H Ar, abode Bangalore. Looking at the occupation on the baptisms of her sister Abigail and brothers George Gilbert and William Alfred, William was Rough Rider for B Troop, Horse Artillery. The mother's name is Marianne on William Alfred's baptism, Mary Ann on the others.

William Seaman, B Troop Horse Artillery, and Mary Anne Murray, native of Madras, spinster, married 22 Jan 1838 at Nellore. Witnesses George W Stratton, Louisa Stratton, and Thomas Ward.

Mary Ann Seaman was buried at Secunderabad 5 Mar 1847, date of death 4 Mar 1847, age 28 years 3 months, wife of William Seaman, corpl B Troop Horse Arty.

So, I thought that I had found Mary Ann's baptism on FamilySearch, 11 May 1817 at Black Town, Madras, dob 1 Dec 1816, parents John Murray and Mary. But I can't find this on FMP to check. FamilySearch also has Margaret Murray, born 30 Oct 1815 and baptised 27 Dec 1815 at Madras, parents John and Mary, and there is a burial on FMP for Margaret, daughter of Serjeant John Murray and Mary his wife, age 3 years, 15 Oct 1818 at Madras. I can't find her baptism on FMP either.

There is a James Henry, son of Mr Jno Murray and Mary his wife baptised 27 Apr 1818 at Vepery Church, dob 15 Nov 1817. There are three baptism records coming up for him on FMP and none of them gives an occupation for the father so it looks as though he was a "gent", which doesn't seem to fit with the Serjeant in Margaret's burial. So it would be helpful to find Mary Ann's baptism image and see which family she belongs to!

Also, do you think "native of Madras" just means she was born there, or does it mean one or both of her parents was ethnically Indian?

I had her parents down as Serjeant John Murray (attached to the Town Major's Office) and Mary the daughter of Serjt Major L Healy who married at St Mary's Church Fort 9th Jan 1813, witnesses T Moody and Gilbert Laird(?)

But now I have looked at the will of Mary Murray, widow of the late Conductor John Murray of the Commissariat Dept, written 9 Aug 1866, and she leaves everything to "my niece Ruth Minter Wright, daughter of Captain W M Wright, HM Indian Army". No mention of any children or grandchildren of her own. Mary Ann Seaman had died in 1847, but three of the Seaman children were still alive when Mary Murray died, and it doesn't look as though William Seaman was particularly rich, plus he had married for a second time and had loads of children by his second wife. So I would have expected Mary Murray to leave her money to her Seaman grandchildren.

Ruth Winter Wright was born 30 May 1834, baptised 13 Aug 1834, parents William Mew Wright and Rebecca. Rebecca Healy married William Wright 30 Jul 1828 at St Thomas Mount, Madras. I can't find her baptism but she must be the daughter of Luke and Lucy / Lucia Heal(e)y aka Haley, the same as Mary Healy, because Luke Healy's will leaves everything to his wife Lucy and then the inventory mentions Lieut W M Wright, Mrs Wright, and Mrs Murray.

Another daughter of Luke and Lucy Healy was Frances Letitia Healey, baptised 23 Nov 1811 at St George, Madras. Frances Letitia isn't a particularly common set of forenames so I thought my Frances Letitia Seaman was probably named after her and it all hung together nicely. (Frances Healey is just Frances on her baptism but Frances Letitia on her marriage.) But the fact that Mary Murray's will doesn't mention grandchildren is making me worry that I have got it all wrong!

Sorry, one of those that takes forever to type out, maybe we can figure it out in the morning.

Any idea how much money Mary had to leave, the interval between will and death, and where Ruth was living?

Ruth is in India, over 30 and unmarried. She may have been looking after her aunt, or looked after by her aunt. She may have been considered vulnerable in a way that the rest of the family wasn't.

There only seems to be one page of the will and no more information. But Rebecca Wright's will written in 1869 (and proved in 1871) leaves three houses to be sold and the proceeds divided between all her children (3 sons and 4 daughters), with some extra bequests to her three unmarried daughters, Ruth Minter, Frances Margaret and Louisa England.

Take a loom at this. It says that the Murrays were a Madras Anglo-Indian family.

http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2020%20...of-madras.html

If I remember the Alistair McGowan WDYTYA correctly, the term applied to the offspring of a union between a man of European heritage and a woman of native heritage. All subsequent generations would be referred to as Anglo-Indian.

That's interesting, Shona, thanks. But Murray is a pretty common name so it may not be the same family.

One article (can't find it now!) about identifying whether there are Anglo-Indian roots in a family tree says that if you have female lines in Indian gong back before 1833, this may well lead to an Anglo-Indian ancestor. Other clues include how people were described in records - look our for terms such as native or country born. The article also said certain occupations were the preserve of Anglo-Indians, such as conductor and sub-conductor. If in the military, they are more likely to be associated with native not European regiments.

I've been trying to find out if there is a way to contact FMP to ask about missing entries, Marg, but not found out yet!

I've managed to post a question on their blog asking if there are more records to be added.

So, going back to what I know about my Mary Ann(e) Murray, the witnesses at her wedding in 1838 were George Stratton, Louisa Stratton, and Thomas Ward. I'm not sure who Thomas Ward was, but Sergeant George Stratton married Louisa Rainbow, Indo Briton, Widow, 16 Oct 1833 at Jaulnah, witnesses J Charlesworth, Elizabeth Charlesworth and D Carleton. And William Rainbow, bombardier, married Louiza Clarke, Indoo Britain, spinster, 7 Oct 1829 at St Thomas Mount, Madras, witnesses F J Dawes and G Brownmels.
There is a George Matthias Stratton will from 1849 in which he leaves everything to his wife Louisa. Then Louisa Stratton, widow, marries a John Matthews, widower, apothecary, 15 Nov 1852, her father is William Clarke, and the witnesses are J W Clarke, Isabella Handin, J Handin and A M Clarke. There is a likely baptism for Louisa Clarke, daughter of William and Elizabeth, 1 Feb 1812 Madras. (Louisa Matthews, wife of John, died 1874 age 63 so this fits.) William Clarke married Elizabeth Duffy, widow, 20 Jul 1810 at St Thomas Mount. William Duffey married Elizabeth Mason a native of Vellore, spinster, 28 Jul 1809. None of which really helps but I'd better post this up to save anyone else (or me at a later date!) looking all this up again.