The first definitive information I’ve been able to locate for Thomas Dougan is his presence in the 1841 Scotland census.  At that time he is living in the home of his future wife’s older brother Samuel Wellwood in Glasgow, Scotland.  His age is given as 13 years, which would put his birthday around 1828.  By 1851, he is married to Isabella Wellwood, living in Glasgow, and has two children.  His age in 1851 is given as 24 years.  In 1861 his age is 32, in 1871 it is 42, in 1880 he is age 53, in 1900 he’s 72, and in 1910 Thomas is aged 82 years.  The only years he appears to have been born in 1827 are shortly after his marriage and shortly after his immigration to the U.S., and I’ll speculate as to why a little later.  From 1855, BMD records in Scotland changed form, so that after this time a child’s birth record also often gave the marriage date of the parents.  From this information, I discovered from Agnes’ birth record that Thomas married Isabella on Dec. 31, 1848 in Pollockshaws, Renfrew, Scotland.  Elizabeth’s birth record states the marriage took place on Dec. 15, 1848 in Pollockshaws, however.  Janet’s birth record doesn’t give the marriage date, nor does the first Ann’s, which does, however, contain other information I’ll refer to later.  It’s possible the December 15 date is when the banns were posted and the December 31 date was the actual marriage.  On all four birth records (the children born in Scotland after 1855), Isabella makes her mark instead of signing her name, which shows she could not write her name as could her husband.

Now is the time to insert family lore about Thomas, and try to figure out what the truth is.  First, his birth.  Thomas was supposed to have been born in Glasgow, Scotland.  Family lore is that his surname may have been Gibson at birth instead of Dougan.  Thomas’ father’s name was Dougan, but his mother was supposed to have been a Gibson.  Thomas and Isabella’s daughter Ann’s (the first Ann who was born in Glasgow) birth certificate states that her father Thomas Dougan was illegitimate.  None of the other children’s birth records state this.  Their daughter Mary’s marriage gives her father’s name as Alexander, even though she and her sister Bella were married on the same day by the same minister, and Isabella’s marriage record (found immediately above Mary’s) lists their father’s name as Thomas.  Could Thomas Dougan’s middle name have been Alexander?  Family lore states that he and Isabella were born on the same day, but the 1880 census is the only one that shows them as the same age.  In all other census records he is one or two years her senior.  So possibly they shared a birthday but not a full birthdate.   Family lore also states that his parents both died in an epidemic in 1832 and he was raised by his mother’s family, which was the Gibson side.  Samuel Wellwood’s wife Elizabeth in the 1841 census, where Thomas was living at the time, had Gibson as her maiden name.

In researching who might have been Thomas’ parents, as I could find no birth record for him, I had only the family lore of their deaths to go by.  I was able to find the deaths of two people who may have been Thomas’ parents in an epidemic in Glasgow, but it occurred in 1837 instead of 1832.  Given the ease at which a written seven may be mistaken for a two, and the probability of the error being passed down through the generations, I feel fairly confident that the couple whose deaths I found were indeed Thomas’ parents.  Margaret Gibson, wife of Thomas Dougan, died in Glasgow of fever on March 8, 1837 during a typhus epidemic, and was buried two days later on March 10.  Margaret was 36 years old at the time of her death.  Her husband Thomas died three weeks after his wife on March 30, 1837 also of fever, and was buried two days later on April 1.  Thomas’ age at death was 41 years.  Thomas and his wife Margaret’s banns for their marriage were posted on February 3, 1822 in Glasgow, when she would have been 21 and he 26 years old.  The date of the actual marriage was not recorded.  So it’s entirely possible that they had at least one child before they succumbed to the epidemic, and given the information from family lore about the Thomas Dougan in my family tree, I believe these to have been his parents.  If they had never legalized their marriage, or simply failed to have the date recorded on the original Glasgow church banns, it would explain the confusion about my Thomas’ legitimacy.  In fact, there was a tale in Annie Dougan’s journal entry of her father living with his maternal grandparents when he was seven years old, which would have been in the mid-1830’s, before the couple I believe were his parents had even died in the typhus epidemic.  That couple did appear to have another child, however.  James Dougan, the son of Thomas, died on Feb. 15, 1836 in Glasgow at the age of 1 year and 3 months, making his birth about November 1834 when my Thomas Dougan would have been 6 years old.  James died of a general decline in health.  It’s possible the reason for Thomas being sent to live with his maternal grandparents was to prevent his becoming ill as well, and shortly after James died the typhus epidemic hit, killing his parents within 4 months of James’ death.  I still have no idea how Thomas came to live with Samuel Wellwood and his family in 1841 after living with his mother’s parents, unless Samuel’s wife was in fact a relative of his.

Next is Thomas’ marriage to Isabella Wellwood, Samuel Wellwood’s little sister.  Family lore states that for some reason, Thomas and Isabella were not supposed to marry.  They therefore ran off together and eloped with no family present.  Their first child, the Thomas who died between the 1851 and 1861 Scotland census records, would have been born in 1846 or early 1847 in order to have been 4 years old on the 1851 census, as stated.  Both references to Thomas and Isabella’s marriage on subsequent children’s birth records give December 1848 as the marriage date.  Little Thomas, then, must have been born when Isabella was about 19 years old.  It must have been something drastic for her family to still have objected to their marriage two full years after their son’s birth.  Especially as little Margaret’s age in 1851 is 2 years, making her born about 1848-early 1849!  As mentioned earlier, Thomas Dougan gave his age in the 1851 census as 24 years instead of 23, as would be expected.  In order for them to have married without parental consent, Thomas would have had to have been of full age at the date of the marriage, or in other words aged 21 in 1848.  If in order to marry he lied about his age by one year, it would explain the need to continue the lie about his age on the subsequent census record, explaining why his age would be listed as 24 three years after a controversial marriage to which his wife’s family objected.  But, the question remains, why would they object so strenuously?  Just because he was raised in her older brother’s home would not make him her nephew!  So, what was it??

The only other clue I have to Thomas’ birth is his Irish heritage.  In family lore as well as the 1841, 1851, and 1861 Scotland census his place of birth is given as Lanarkshire, more specifically Glasgow.  Family lore gives his family as being from Ireland, though I have no idea where.  In the Canadian census of 1871, his family heritage is also listed as of Irish origin.  In the U.S., the 1880 and 1910 census records state both his parents were born in Scotland, while in 1900 both parents are stated as being born in Ireland.  If Thomas and Margaret are indeed Thomas’ parents, as I believe they are, then one or perhaps both were born in Ireland, but without further records there is no way to know for certain.  The Elizabeth Gibson who was Samuel Wellwood’s wife in the 1841 census was born in Ireland, but there is no record of her exact place of birth or her parents’ names.  There is a record of the birth of a Margaret Gibson on July 5, 1801 to Peter and Isobel (Caskie or McCaskie) Gibson in Renfrew, Scotland who was one of 7 children.  This may have been the Margaret that married Thomas Dougan and was the mother (I believe) of my Thomas Dougan.   Peter and Isobel were married in Ayrshire, Scotland.  That would leave Margaret’s husband Thomas as the Irish connection.  But there is simply no way to know for sure.

Finally, I invite you, the reader, to compare the information I have located in official records to the information provided in the first two paragraphs of Annie Dougan’s journal “I Remember Father” from an earlier post here.  Obviously, Thomas was not born in 1825, nor were he and Isabella married in 1844, nor was Isabella 19 years old in 1844.  But one can understand why a child would have been given these dates and ages under the circumstances.  In your own research, keep in mind that personal journals should be used as definitive ONLY in the absence of official records but can be used as a guide to locate those records, when possible, and that individual official records may contain erroneous information.  You need to look at ALL available information as well as possible explanations for any large discrepancies.

© Deborah Ray and archivecookie.com, 2010.