From the information on the previous post about Isabella Wellwood’s siblings, certain information can be posited. Jane and Moses’ first child appears to be James who was born about 1807 or 1808 (according to his age at death), while their last child appears to have been Fanny, who was born about 1833 (according to her age at her marriage to Aaron Rowley). Assuming Jane was no more than 48 or so at Fanny’s birth – which is a reasonable assumption, given the state of medical care at the time – she would have been about 22 years old when her first child was born. That would place her marriage to Moses sometime around 1806, when she was 21. We can then assume Jane McDowall was likely born sometime around 1785, give or take a few years. It is much more difficult to assess Moses’ likely date of birth, as there is no indication whatever of his age. He might, in fact, have been much older than Jane – there is simply no way to know. It is not likely, however, that he was younger than 21 at his marriage to her, and so he must also have been living by 1785 or 1786 (if James wasn’t born until 1808).
First, I looked for James on the census records. In 1841 he is listed as age 33, married, and has three children living at home. In 1851 James is 42, married, and has 5 children at home. In the 1861 census James is 54, married, and living with 5 children still at home. In 1871 he is 64 and living with his wife and his youngest daughter. From the census data and his death record it appears James was born in either 1807 or 1808.
The next oldest child appears to be Samuel. While the banns for his marriage to Elizabeth Gibson posted on August 8, 1830 do not give their ages (the date of their actual marriage, like that of his brother James, was never recorded – only the date the banns were posted) Samuel’s two subsequent marriages do. Samuel’s marriage to Elizabeth Crum took place on Feb. 3, 1857 when he was 47 and at his marriage to Elizabeth Grant on Oct. 8, 1872 his age is 63. Along with his death at age 70 in 1879 Samuel appears to have been born in 1809. In census records his age is given as 32 (1841), 42 (1951), 51 (1861), and 62 (1871), which bears this out.
Joseph’s death certificate was signed by his brother Samuel, and so I go to Joseph next. As noted in an earlier post, he was 48 at his death on Christmas Day 1861. In the 1841 census his age is 25, in 1851 it is 36, and in the 1861 census his age is given as 46. It seems reasonable to conclude that he was actually 47 at his death which would put his birth in 1814.
Ellen’s second marriage shows her at age 39 in 1855. In the 1861 census her name is given as Elizabeth Dickson, age 44, in 1871 she is Elizabeth age 60, and in 1881 she is Elizabeth age 66! Her death in 1888 gives her age as 78, and her first husband’s name as Hugh Armstrong. Looking for Elizabeth Armstrong in the 1841 and 1851 census records, we find her married not to Hugh Armstrong, but to Andrew Armstrong and her age is listed as 18 in 1841 and 38 just ten years later in 1851! To verify that she is indeed the Elizabeth Armstrong married to Andrew, I looked for a birth record for a child that would list both parents’ names and found a birth record for Jane Armstrong in the Old Parish Records, born January 13, 1845 to Andrew Armstrong and Elizabeth Wellward (close enough) in Glasgow. None of her other children with Andrew appear to have had their births registered in Scotland. And so I conclude that this daughter of Moses and Jane is really named Elizabeth, not Ellen, and that she was most likely born between 1811 and 1816, or in other words, either right before Joseph or right after him.
Thomas Wellwood, who we know of because of Annie’s journal entry, married Marion McKay on March 13, 1835 in Glasgow, Scotland. The banns were posted on Feb. 22, 1835. No ages are given in the Old Parish Records (OPR), but we can assume he was no younger than 18. In the 1841 census he is listed as age 25. Other than his children’s births – which do not give his age – there is no further record of him in Scotland. He appears to have been born about 1816.
I include Matthew Wellwood in the list of siblings, because there is evidence of him interacting in the lives of some of the others, who are siblings. There is, however, no birth record giving his parents names that I have found, nor do either of his marriage records list his parents, nor have I found his death record, which I believe would be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. There are no other Wellwood cousins in the Glasgow area that interacted with the siblings – I have found other Wellwoods, but they never interacted with Moses and Jane’s family to the point of witnessing marriages, and so forth, as did Matthew. Proof may never be found – at this point, I believe the only possibility is the death record, if it can be located – but I for one am willing to keep an open mind. And so, I investigated the year of Matthew’s birth, also. Census records are little help, giving his age as 20 (1841), 33 (1851), 44 (1861), 50 (1870), and 63 (1880). His age upon his arrival to the U.S. in 1877 is given as 60 years – I have not found the passenger record of his original arrival prior to the 1870 census. Given the meagre records available, I must conclude Matthew was likely born about 1817.
John Wellwood is a bit easier to place. His census records give his age as 28 (1851), 38 (1861), 48 (1871), and 58 (1881). His age at death in 1885 is 62 years. It is clear John was born in 1823.
In a previous post, I’ve determined Isabella’s birth to be around March 1828 or 1829.
Margaret’s age is 30 in 1857 (marriage), 59 in 1889 (marriage), and 76 in 1907 (death). Census records state she is 31 (1861), 40 (1871), 51 (1881), 61 (1891), and 71 (1901). Margaret appears to have been born in 1830.
Fanny was 17 in the 1851 census, 27 at her marriage on July 13, 1860 (where her parents are given as Moses and Jane), 26 in the 1861 census (where her last name is given as Ronley instead of Rowley), and 45 in the 1881 census. Her death record is a bit of a puzzle. Her age was given as 62 years, 22 days when she died on July 27, 1905, one week after her husband William’s death on July 18, 1905. I have not been able to locate the marriage record, nor their presence in the 1900 census. William was 66 at his death, which might explain why she might have shaved off a few years, as all indications are that she was born about 1833, not 1843. Assuming the day is correct and only the year is off, Fanny was likely born on July 5, 1833. There is another problem with her death record, and I might as well address it here. On it, Fanny’s maiden name is given as Cameron and her father as Alexander, as well as her birth being in Scotland instead of Ireland. There is no name filled in for the informant, so I have no idea who included this erroneous information. Fanny Wellwood was absolutely the wife of William Goddard, as when he died her son Sam Rowley signed his death certificate as informant – as well as Annie Dougan’s journal entry pointing to Fanny’s marriage to a man named Goddard. The Cameron may have come from her son’s middle name, as his middle initial was C., but I have no idea where the Alexander might have been misappropriated from (see next post above for more on this).
In this list of possible birth dates for Moses and Jane’s children, then, we are only missing Betsy (who married a man named Thompson, according to the journal) and Moses (who had been a missionary in Africa), as well as whoever the Jean Wellwood in the 1851 census (age 26, born Ireland, living in Calton, Glasgow) may have been. What we have, then, is:
James, born about 1807 or 1808;
Samuel, born about 1809;
Joseph, born about 1814;
Ellen (Elizabeth), born about 1811-1816;
Thomas, born 1816;
Matthew (possibly), born about 1817;
John, born 1823;
Isabella, born March 1828 or 1829;
Margaret, born 1830; and
Fanny, most likely born July 5, 1833.
Unless Ellen (Elizabeth) was a twin to either Joseph or Thomas, and there is nothing to indicate that she was, it is most likely that she was born about 1811 or 1812. I also believe that the Betsy referred to in the journal is actually this Elizabeth, as Betsy is a nickname for Elizabeth and I doubt there would be two living in the same family at the same time. I believe the Thompson she is supposed to have been married to according to the journal, was actually a reference to Thomson Lane where Ellen (Elizabeth) was living at the time of her marriage to Francis Dickson, and it was simply confused in the retelling by Annie.
That leaves Moses-the-missionary and Jean-from-the-1851-census, who was 26 then and so born about 1825. The only significant gaps in Jane’s child-bearing appear just before and just after John’s birth. It is possible Moses was the firstborn, as he was named after his father, and so born around 1805, but he might also have been born around 1820 or 1825. I even kicked around the theory that Matthew may have been Moses, or that Samuel may have been Moses (as he had a son named Samuel Moses). I even considered the possibility that Jean-in-the-1851-census might have been Moses-the-missionary’s widow, as she didn’t seem to fit anywhere else in the family! But it’s equally possible that whatever children were born about 1820 and 1825 died in infancy. In the end, I’ve concluded that Moses was probably the firstborn and that he stayed in Ireland after marrying his childhood sweetheart, who after all could only have been from Ireland. If Jean-from-the-1851 census was a sibling, she would have filled in the 1825 birth spot, but at that age could not have been a childhood sweetheart of Moses with 20 years between them so would not have been his widow. The only other reason I tend to include this Jean with the family is the presence at her address in 1851 of a one-year-old child named Jean Dougan. Given the strained relations between Thomas Dougan and the Wellwoods because of his marriage to Isabella I found it odd that a Wellwood young woman and a Dougan child would be at the same residence in the same area so soon after the elopement of Thomas and Isabella. It makes me wonder.
© Deborah Ray and archivecookie.com, 2010.
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