Jeannie Marion Reid, a journey

When I was young my mother told me about Jeannie Marion Reid. She was a young girl of about 8, who left her home near Glasgow and walked to her uncle’s house, John Campbell Reid (my 2x great grandfather) who was a doctor in Newbiggin, Northumberland, because she did not like her stepfather. She was the daughter of Lorne Campbell Reid and Janet Reid. Having worked back I found out she was born in 1850 and her father died soon after.

I therefore looked for Jeannie Marion Reid, born about 1850 in Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the censuses. Unless you subscribe to ScotlandsPeople you will not be able to see the actual page, only the transcript.

In the 1851 Scottish census Janet Reid is a widow and Jeanie M is aged 1.

I used Findmypast (Fmp) and Ancestry to trace Jeannie.

I searched for Jeanie M Reid in the 1871 census as born in Scotland. In Ancestry you can select the Scotland census. I did not find her in Ancestry but I did in Fmp.

The result from both Fmp and Ancestry is in two blocks, the individual data, and the other members of the household. 

There were 3 people given as offspring of the occupant but there is no occupant. Jeanie M Reid 21, stepdaughter, John A Dunn and Robert S Dunn, as sons. How is she related to the boys? Did her mother marry a Mr. Dunn? More about that later.

1871 Scotland 

• Registration district Tradeston 
• Enumeration district 39 
• Household schedule number 78
• Nelson Street, Govan, Glasgow

I went back to Ancestry to confirm these details and possibly add more.

I tried just Reid in Ancestry’s Scotland census with no suitable result and so I then searched for Jeanie M with no surname and again found nothing useful.

Fmp shows she was born in Helensburgh, so, in Ancestry I entered ‘Jeanie M’, ‘born 1850’ in ‘Helensburgh’ and scrolling down the results I found Jeane M Paid!!

In Ancestry, if you select 1871 then Scotland you get another set of input options below the usual. These then became useful. I am not going to show the results, so please try it yourself.

You will notice that in Ancestry there are more people and Jeane/Jeannie is given as daughter of John Whittaker – how odd!

With Ancestry you also get more detail which is useful, such as registration number (an addition to the information that Fmp provides), registration district, enumeration district, household schedule number and line number.

As you can see in the Ancestry results above, Jeane/Jeannie was in house no 114/112 Nelson St. with household schedule number 77 and her line is number 17, but in Fmp she is in house number 114.

Obviously the two results are for the same person apart from the incorrect name in Ancestry.

In Ancestry I searched for John Whittaker and also put in the registration number 644/9 (which is the registration number given on Jeane/Jeannie’s transcript) and enumeration district 39 and the result you will note above, is that he lives at house number 116 and is line number 12. The household schedule number 77 is the same as Jeane/Jeannie but the house number is not the same. The line number is relevant and there were 5 others in the Whittaker household before Jeane/Jeannie so she would be line 17 as indicated.

I then put in the same registration number and enumeration district number but line number 11. 

Hovering over the results of the family named Buchanan, I went down the list and eventually came to Anne at house number 118 with household schedule number 76 and line number 11, one less than John Whittaker. I repeated this with numbers after the Jeanie M data I had already discovered, all of these results are in the table above.

I had found that Fmp had correct data but Ancestry showed me who was really where. 

After much research I found that Jeannie’s mother, Janet Reid, married John Dunn in 1852 and they had six children born between 1852 and 1864, including John Alexander b 1856 and Robert Stewart b 1860. In 1871 Janet and John Dunn lived near to Jeane.

In the 1861 census Janet Dunn, aged 39, can be found with John Dunn, aged 39, Robert, aged 1 and Jane Reid Dunn, aged 11, all the the Tradeston registration district as in the 1871 census.

Jeanie M is not in the 1881 Scotland census. I found her marrying a Mr Robson in Woodhorn, Northumberland in 1874 and living nearby at the time of her marriage, in Newbiggin – most likely at her uncle John Campbell Reid’s house. This ties in with family lore that she could not stand her stepfather and went to her uncle. The story I was told basically had the ring of truth.

1861 census

• Registration district Tradeston
• Enumeration district 39
• 19 Centre Street, Govan, Glasgow

Births of Dunn children with father John and mother Janet Reid from Familysearch, were found on these census returns