Isabella Wellwood was one of several children born to Moses Wellwood and Jane McDowall in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the early 1800’s.  The best clue I have to her actual birth date is her record of death (as Isabella Dougan, Thomas’ wife) in Fall River, Mass. on December 28, 1892.  Her age on the death record is 64 years, 9 months.  This would make her birth date sometime in March 1828.  This is as good as any other, as her age in various census records is given as 23 (1851, Scotland), 30 (1861, Scotland), 41 (1871, Canada), and 53 (1880 USA), although most census records show her to be about a year younger than her husband Thomas, who seems to have been born in 1828.  That trend would tend to identify her birth year as 1829.  It’s most probable, then, that Isabella’s birth occurred in March of either 1828 or 1829.  From the report in her daughter’s journal that her parents were born on the same day, I conclude that Thomas’ birthday was also in March, though almost certainly in 1828.  Isabella was not yet in Scotland for the 1841 census – I assume she was still resident in Ireland then.  As she was not living with her parents during any census records, I know her parents’ names only from family lore and her daughter Annie Dougan’s journal entry titled “I Remember Father” – and her death record which gives her father as Moses Wellwood but lists her mother as Jane Madella, while also stating she was born in Scotland.  All census records indicate her birth was in Ireland.  One of her siblings also had the same problem in stating their mother’s maiden name – more on her as I go along.

One difficulty in identifying all of Isabella’s siblings is that they were all born in Ireland, and from all indications in Belfast.  None of the BMD records for Belfast and the surrounding areas during the time of their births are online.  Fortunately, most moved to the Glasgow, Scotland area, where records have been meticulously kept and have been put online through www.ScotlandsPeople.com.  You can find a link to their website at the top of this page.  Another problem was that none of the siblings can be found living with their parents on any census records.  So, to identify her siblings, I started with Annie Dougan’s journal entry, then looked up records through ScotlandsPeople that would give parents’ names, such as marriage and death records.

From the journal, I knew Isabella had the following 6 siblings: Betsy, Fanny, John, Moses, Samuel, and Thomas.  I knew that Fanny had a son named Sam Rowley and later married a man named Goddard, that John had a son, that Moses had been a missionary in Africa and later married, and that Betsy had married a man named Thompson.  If, that is, the accuracy of the journal could be counted upon.  I also knew that Thomas Dougan had lived with Samuel Wellwood’s family for a time.

Then I checked marriage and death records in Scotland, in the area around Glasgow, for Wellwoods who might also have been siblings of Isabella, using census records for Wellwood as a guide.  From this, I located the following:

1) A death record for James Wellwood, age 71 on June 17, 1878, in Camlachie, Glasgow whose parents were Moses Wellwood and Jane McDowall.

2) A death record for Samuel, age 70 on April 9, 1879, in Dunbarton, Lanarkshire listing his parents as Moses Wellwood and Jane McDowall, as well as his second and third marriages confirming his parents names. Samuel’s brother John was the informant.

3) A death record for Joseph, age 48 on Christmas Day, 1861, in High Church, Glasgow whose parents were Moses Wellwood and Jean McDowall.

4) A marriage record for the second marriage of Ellen Wellwood to Francis Dickson on July 11, 1855, listing her parents as Moses Wellwood and Jane McDowal.  Both Ellen and Francis were living on Thomson Lane and Matthew Wellwood was a witness, as was Jane Wellwood who I later discovered was Matthew’s wife.  Ellen’s age is 39 years, and her place of birth is Belfast, Ireland.

5) A death record for Isabella Dixon, wife of (first) Hugh Armstrong and (second) Francis Dixon, age 78 an Aug. 6, 1888, in Dennistoun, Lanarkshire whose parents are given as Moses Wellwood and Elizabeth McDowell.  Her husband Francis was the informant, but signed with his mark, revealing he was illiterate and could not have seen the errors someone else had written in the record.

6) A death record for John, who had been the informant for his brother Samuel’s death, and who was age 62 on Sept. 3, 1885, in Dennistoun, Lanarkshire whose parents are given as Moses Wellwood and Jane McDowall.

7) A marriage record for Margaret Wellwood to Robert Murray on April 27, 1857 in Calton, Glasgow listing her parents as Moses Wellwood and Margaret McDougall.   Margaret signed with her mark, and one of the witnesses was a Mary Armstrong.  Margaret was 30 years old at the time of her marriage to Robert.

8 ) A second marriage for Margaret to James Johnston on March 22, 1889 in Dennistoun, Lanarkshire, listing her parents as Moses Wellwood and Jean Madole. Margaret’s age is given as 59.

9) A death record for Margaret, wife of (first) Robert Murray and (second) James Johnston, age 76 on Feb 15, 1907, in Garngadhill, Lanarkshire whose parents are given as Moses Wellwood and Jane McDowall.

10) A marriage record for Fanny to Aaron Rowley on July 13, 1860 in Calton, Glasgow whose parents are given as Jane McDowall and Moses Wellwood.  Fanny’s age is given as 27.

From all this information, I now have the following siblings for Isabella: James, Samuel, Joseph, Ellen, John, Margaret, Fanny, Betsy, Thomas, Moses, and possibly Matthew (who witnessed Ellen’s second marriage).  In addition to these, I found a Jean Wellwood age 26 listed on the 1851 census lodging in Calton, Glasgow who was born in Ireland and may also have been related in some way.  It is worth noting that in all cases where their mother’s maiden name differed significantly from varied spellings of Jane McDowall illiteracy was a factor.

© Deborah Ray and archivecookie.com, 2010.