Dear blog reader

This is the first part in what may become a series in which I appeal for your help! I have various ancestors where I have managed to trace their life story so far then ‘lost’ them, often known as a ‘brick wall’ to other people researching their family history.

If anyone manages to find any of these lost ancestors of mine anywhere in the world please do get in touch with me.

Thank you

Jacqueline

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The Barr family

My great grandmother, Euphemia Barr, came from a slightly fragmented family. Her own mother died in childbirth when Euphemia was only 5, her father remarried when Euphemia was 8 and Euphemia herself died when she was only 35, days after giving birth to my great-aunt. I’ve blogged previously on both Euphemia and my great-aunt, Elizabeth.

I have lost track of 2 of Euphemia’s full-siblings, David Barr and Agnes Lees Barr, David and Agnes were both the children of George Barr and Margaret McIntosh.

This is George Barr and Margaret McIntosh:

David Barr was born on 14 February 1874 at 89 Main Street, Pollokshaws, Scotland where the Barr family had lived latterly (David’s father George was also born in Pollokshaws). In the 1881 census David was 7 and living at 388 Rutherglen Road, Glasgow with his mother and his brother John and sister Agnes. (It took me many years to find this census entry because they are recorded as Blair not Barr in that census return). In the 1891 census David was 17 and a general labourer living at 2 Steads Place, Leith, Edinburgh with his maternal aunt Christina, her husband John McGregor and her five children Allan, Mary, Peter, Donald and Samuel.

The next (and last time) I have found David is in the UK Royal Navy Register of Seaman’s Services on the Ancestry website:

This record appears to say that David served with the Navy from 1897 to 1899 then deserted after working on the Pactolus.

My question is, can anyone find David after 1899?

Agnes Lees Barr was born on 2 May 1879 in Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland. As per her brother David above, in the 1881 census Agnes was 2 and living at 388 Rutherglen Road, Glasgow with her mother and brothers John and David. In the 1891 census Agnes was 12 and a scholar living at 542 Rutherglen Road, Glasgow with her father, her step-mother Elizabeth Sloan, her sister Euphemia, her brother George and her paternal grandmother Agnes Barr.

In the 1901 census Agnes was 22 and a carpet factory worker living at 510 Govan Street, Glasgow with her father and step-mother, her full-siblings Euphemia and George and her half-siblings Jessie Sharp Barr and William Sloan Barr. On 17 February 1905 Agnes married Peter Campbell, a 24 year old calico printer. They married at 100 McLean Street, Govan (which was both of their addresses) after banns according to the forms of the Church of Scotland and their witnesses were Agnes’ sister Euphemia and Duncan Campbell.

I can find no record of Agnes after her marriage to Peter. Does anyone know where Agnes went to?

The McDonald family

My 4 x great grandparents from the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll, Scotland are Allan McDonald and Mary Ann Cameron. My previous blog posts on my asylum research included Allan as he died in a mariner’s asylum in Greenock.

This is Allan McDonald:

I have managed to trace the descendants of the daughters of Allan and Mary Ann quite successfully but I have found very little trace of their son John.

John was born on 12 July 1838 in the parish of Southend, Argyll and was baptised on the 14 July 1838. Records are somewhat sparse for John. I’ve been unable to find any of John’s immediate family in the 1841 census.

In the 1851 census John was a 12 year old clothier’s shop boy living at 52 West Stewart Street, Greenock with his parents and his sister (Mary) Ann, my 3 x great grandmother.

I can find no further records for John. Has anyone seen John?

Sources used: Personal family knowledge, Scotland’s People website for Scottish birth and marriage certificates and Church records and Ancestry website for all other records.