I AM a descendant of an early Helensburgh resident and I am trying to find out more about him and his parents.
My ancestor was Hugh McGregor, who was born in Helensburgh on October 7 1827 — only 25 years after the town became a burgh of barony — and I would like to find details of his parents.
I cannot find his birth record or his death record, even in the Old Parish Records recently added. I searched with exact spelling turned off, but I did not search for Ewan or Evan in addition to Hugh.
I did find some McGregor couples in Bonhill who were having children around 1827, but not him. I assume he died before 1855 since I cannot find the record — possibly he died between 1853 and 1857 in Old Monkland, Lanarkshire?
He probably spoke Gaelic and probably had red hair. I have his marriage record with Agnes Cross on August 8 1847 in Lanark. He was a cabinet-maker then and the second of her three husbands.
I did find Hugh in the Lanark 1851 Census with a wife and two children — my ancestor Jane who spoke only Gaelic and had red hair and Elizabeth — plus three McAllister stepchildren, David, Edward and Margaret.
He stated at that time he was born in Helensburgh, and he had two more children, John on 1852 and Christina two years later. His widow, Agnes, remarried in Bridgeton in 1857 to Gavin Pollock and was widowed a third time.
Then she had three more children — Gavin, William and Agnes. Agnes' first husband was David McAllister whom she married in Barony, Lanark, 1837.
I have her death record from Stirling 1905. Her daughter Christine Nelson or McGregor (can't read the writing) was the informant. She stated Hugh McGregor had been an Agricultural Labourer.
An assortment of Agnes' children from her three marriages and their families emigrated to the Pennsylvania USA coal mine towns in about 1882.
I would so love to know who Hugh's parents were. Please help me find and document them.
Thank you.
Anne Stratton Hilts
Arizona
USA
■ Also working on the problem is her cousin Alice McGrorey, from Long Beach, California, who plans to visit Helensburgh in the autumn and hopes to find out more then.