I have been given a comprehensive Naysmith family tree from Colin, a newly discovered Naysmith contact in Australia, who is on another twig of the same tree as Kenneth, another Naysmith contact from America. It was with massive disappointment that I couldn't find any link to our Henry Naysmith. Colin's tree starts with James Naysmith (wife unknown) in 1660 and has hundreds of descendants - but none that fit our known information. Maybe we are descended from 1660's James' brother, or another branch of his family . . . DNA will answer that question, hopefully.
There's also another contact in NZ who does not appear to fit in with our records either. It's frustrating, but maybe DNA tests will eventually work out where we all fit in. In the meantime, it is interesting communicating with these not-our-Naysmith contacts even though we only seem to have our surname in common at the moment. If nothing else, it helps clarify and eliminate many of the Naysmiths that don't fit in our immediate family trees. It would have been helpful if our ancestors moved outside the limited range of Christian names!
There's also another contact in NZ who does not appear to fit in with our records either. It's frustrating, but maybe DNA tests will eventually work out where we all fit in. In the meantime, it is interesting communicating with these not-our-Naysmith contacts even though we only seem to have our surname in common at the moment. If nothing else, it helps clarify and eliminate many of the Naysmiths that don't fit in our immediate family trees. It would have been helpful if our ancestors moved outside the limited range of Christian names!
And the search continues.
What I know about "our" Naysmiths so far - and have the evidence to prove it:
We know that our Henry married Mary MacLean on 12 April 1840 in Barony, Lanark Scotland. (Note the Naismith spelling - and we thought we were indelibly Nay smiths!)
Leaping forward to 1880, Henry's death certificate gives his occupation as a saw trimmer. That would have been, no doubt, his last occupation. His father is identified as James Naysmith, a weaver, and his mother as Isabella Steel. (Grateful thanks to my late cousin Joan for passing on to me her hard-copy records and pre-internet research.)
The information in this death certificate is the only reference I can find to James and Isabella being Henry's parents. Parish records of James and Isabella's marriage (and the births of their other children) can be located in online records, further confirming their likelihood of being Henry's parents. Henry's wife, Mary McLean, was alive at the time of his death and most probably would have provided these details - as she would have the most accurate of information. The spelling of both surnames and Isobella's first name, of course, varies widely, although Naysmith seems to have settled into a consistent N-A-Y after the family settled in New Zealand. But, I can find no details of Henry's birth on Ancestry.com or My Heritage records, although there are references to the births of Henry's siblings James (b1810), David (b1812) and Isobella (b 1814).
Interestingly, I found on another potential family member's tree on Ancestry.com which attributed three more children to James and Isabella: Janet (b 1823), Agnes (1828 - 1910), and Elizabeth (1831); however, I have yet to find any other references to these three in any online records - and I'm starting to think they have made a mistake and hitched their ancestor's details incorrectly to James and Isabella. More work to clarify that!
It can be seen, also, from Henry's death certificate, that his date of birth was not known (not really unusual in those times and social contexts) and that his age at death is given as 62 - giving an approximate year of birth as 1818 (+/- one year). This ties in neatly with his age at marriage - given as 21 on his death certificate - which gives us 1839 (+/- one year) as a date of marriage. This can be confirmed by online records, giving Henry and Mary's wedding date as 12 April 1840.
But - on a passenger list of the Duchess of Argyle, (1842) Henry's age is given as 34 - taking his birth back to 1808, the year of the James and Isabella's wedding (1808). Mary's is given as 25, giving her year of birth as 1817 (+/- 1 year). Son Alexander, born in Scotland, is recorded as being 1 year old, and daughter Mary Argyle was born on board the ship.
Henry's incorrect (or correct?) date could be a red herring, and would need to be checked against the original to see if it wasn't a misread when it was being transcribed to another format. Although the maths of his ages and stages adds up on his death certificate, 62 seems a bit young to die of general debility - although it might not have been in those days, especially after years of hard physical work and maybe other health-impairing activities . . . Mary's age in the Duchess of Argyle passenger list doesn't quite add up with her age given at death, but that's for another post.
Henry's parents - James Naysmith and Isabella Steel - married February 4th, 1808. There are many variants of the spelling of Naysmith and Steel, and this could suggest that they might not have been literate - or their parents may not have been.
So, questions for further research:
- Does anyone have any other references or evidence of this Henry Naysmith in Scotland?
- Is there any other evidence of his age at any other stage of his life?
- Where do these other mystery subsequent siblings come into it?
- What happened to Henry's parents, James and Isabella?
- What was Henry doing before he left Scotland?
We know that our Henry married Mary MacLean on 12 April 1840 in Barony, Lanark Scotland. (Note the Naismith spelling - and we thought we were indelibly Nay smiths!)
Leaping forward to 1880, Henry's death certificate gives his occupation as a saw trimmer. That would have been, no doubt, his last occupation. His father is identified as James Naysmith, a weaver, and his mother as Isabella Steel. (Grateful thanks to my late cousin Joan for passing on to me her hard-copy records and pre-internet research.)
The information in this death certificate is the only reference I can find to James and Isabella being Henry's parents. Parish records of James and Isabella's marriage (and the births of their other children) can be located in online records, further confirming their likelihood of being Henry's parents. Henry's wife, Mary McLean, was alive at the time of his death and most probably would have provided these details - as she would have the most accurate of information. The spelling of both surnames and Isobella's first name, of course, varies widely, although Naysmith seems to have settled into a consistent N-A-Y after the family settled in New Zealand. But, I can find no details of Henry's birth on Ancestry.com or My Heritage records, although there are references to the births of Henry's siblings James (b1810), David (b1812) and Isobella (b 1814).
Interestingly, I found on another potential family member's tree on Ancestry.com which attributed three more children to James and Isabella: Janet (b 1823), Agnes (1828 - 1910), and Elizabeth (1831); however, I have yet to find any other references to these three in any online records - and I'm starting to think they have made a mistake and hitched their ancestor's details incorrectly to James and Isabella. More work to clarify that!
It can be seen, also, from Henry's death certificate, that his date of birth was not known (not really unusual in those times and social contexts) and that his age at death is given as 62 - giving an approximate year of birth as 1818 (+/- one year). This ties in neatly with his age at marriage - given as 21 on his death certificate - which gives us 1839 (+/- one year) as a date of marriage. This can be confirmed by online records, giving Henry and Mary's wedding date as 12 April 1840.
But - on a passenger list of the Duchess of Argyle, (1842) Henry's age is given as 34 - taking his birth back to 1808, the year of the James and Isabella's wedding (1808). Mary's is given as 25, giving her year of birth as 1817 (+/- 1 year). Son Alexander, born in Scotland, is recorded as being 1 year old, and daughter Mary Argyle was born on board the ship.
Henry's incorrect (or correct?) date could be a red herring, and would need to be checked against the original to see if it wasn't a misread when it was being transcribed to another format. Although the maths of his ages and stages adds up on his death certificate, 62 seems a bit young to die of general debility - although it might not have been in those days, especially after years of hard physical work and maybe other health-impairing activities . . . Mary's age in the Duchess of Argyle passenger list doesn't quite add up with her age given at death, but that's for another post.
Henry's parents - James Naysmith and Isabella Steel - married February 4th, 1808. There are many variants of the spelling of Naysmith and Steel, and this could suggest that they might not have been literate - or their parents may not have been.
- Does anyone have any other references or evidence of this Henry Naysmith in Scotland?
- Is there any other evidence of his age at any other stage of his life?
- Where do these other mystery subsequent siblings come into it?
- What happened to Henry's parents, James and Isabella?
- What was Henry doing before he left Scotland?
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