Abigail Stewart
 

My father's mother's mother's father's mother.

Name:
Abigail Stewart

Date and place of birth:
About 1810 Ayrshire, Scotland!

Names of parents:
Not known

Date and place of baptism:
Not known

Details of each of his or her marriages:
Not married but had two children with Alexander Wilson - James Wilson born 1830 and Janet Wilson born 1831 both born at Burnbrae, Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Occupation:
Not known

Addresses where they lived (including county if in UK):
Burnbrae, Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland

Date, place and cause of death:
Cause unknown but died March 1839 aged 29 at Burnbrae, Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland

Date and place of burial:
Buried 14th March 1839 in Tarbolton.

Details of will / administration of their estate:
Not known

Memorial inscription:
Not known

How do you know she was born in Ayrshire, Maggie?

I don't really but it seems she may not have travelled far by that age but can't find her baptism so possible she was out of county.

She's a bit of an enigma really because she had such a short life and I don't think I'll find much more about her.

She didn't marry Alexander but had 2 children with him and she lived with an uncle of Alexanders in one place where she died after she died her daughter aged 8 stayed with unmarried uncle and son went to live with Alexander both children always used Alexander's surname.

I was wondering if she was married to someone else at one time and that she didn't start with the name Stewart.

Maggie, are you sure she wasn't married to Alexander? I have several Scottish ancestors who always appear in records under their maiden name despite marrying.

Yes because on both James and Janet's baptism it says natural rather than lawful children to Alexander Wilson and Abigail Stewart plus Alexander always said he was single on the census and his son James put single for status on his death certificate.

Actually I have found a baptism just across the border in Avondale, Lanarkshire that could be her.

You're more clued up than I was - it threw me completely for a while :-)

It did me too I was used to seeing illegitimate on birth regs in Scotland but once you get into the OPRs you start seeing natural and lawful. It was more common than I think most people realise.

I am curious though because I have a suspicion that Abigail and Alexander never lived together she lived at Burnbrae with Robert Drinnan Alexander's mother's brother with the two children and where they were born and Alexander lived with his parents and other siblings at Tarholm but we only have a snapshot and she died in 1839 so who knows. I am curious though why she had two children and they never married, one is a mistake two is careless as they say but I don't think it was like that. Alexander and his family recognised both children as his and James and Janet knew they weren't married it seems. I think it's weird but maybe not in the farming world of Ayrshire, Scotland in the 1830's!

I have the same thing in my Scottish side - my great great grandmother had four illegitimate children by three different fathers and it seems that the younger two were aware of who their father was (from their marriage certs) - both gg grandparents went on to marry other people eventually.

It's hard to know how things were - this is in rural Fife in the 1880s but my gg grandmother and her sister and six illegitimate children between them are living with their father and I just *feel* it wasn't as scandalising as we were led to believe.