This morning, just as I was about to get started on my daunting tasks with the Mays line of my family tree, a tweet came through. It was like a beacon of light in a sea of darkness, it was a scrap of toast and I was hungry… Okay enough with the dramatization, what it really was, was an excuse to procrastinate. I love procrastinating. The Halifax Public Libraries out of Canada posted a link to Scotland post office directories. They posted a link to this exact address to be precise. That link will take you to the National Library of Scotland website, just so you know.
Once there I picked out a county, I started with Dumfries because that was the last known location in Scotland for the Menzies family. The only directory was for 1911-1912 and my Menzies were long gone by then. So I booted up my family file and peeked at the Love family. My first known Love, Andrew Love married his wife Agnes Hamilton in Ayrshire, Scotland. So I tried there next. Unfortunately, the first Kilmarnock, Ayrshire directory was for 1851, again long after my Loves were elsewhere. So I looked at Andrew’s children to see where they were baptised at. Which led me to Renfrewshire. I was especially excited to see that there are 58 directories for that county. That’s very good odds for me!
Then I got REALLY excited. That’s an awful lot of Paisley directories there, and that’s where my Love children were baptised!
I wasn’t sure what I’d hoped to find with this directory. I guess I was just hoping for something that stood out. Well that’s what I got! Listed as the second Love is Andrew Love, grocer! Half of Andrew’s children went into the grocer business together in Newark, New Jersey. The only contradictory fact is that after Andrew was in America he gave his occupation as Mason/Stone Cutter. That’s not out of the realm for him though because in the 1845 directory there is an Andrew Love listed as Cowfeeder and Mason. It could be that he went into the Grocer business, taught it to his sons and then went back to it after coming to America. To be honest though, it could be that’s how he always thought of himself. When he came to America he was in his 50’s. It’s entirely possible that for him, going back to being a Mason or Farmer was a retirement for him. I don’t know, but he is the only Andrew Love in Paisley and all the occupations fit for the family.
Anyway, that’s not why I’m writing. I’m writing because despite knowing now that Andrew Love was living at 50 George Street from 1843-1853, I still haven’t found his family in the 1851 Scotland census! Besides these directories and the baptismal records of two of Andrew’s children, I haven’t found anything on the Loves while they were in Scotland.
What I want to know:
- Where were the Loves in 1851? I can’t seem to find George street as a search parameter. I’m starting to wonder if viewing the census on Scotlands People instead of Ancestry would yield more results.
- Are the other Loves on the pages related? Most likely!
What I already know:
- Andrew Love immigrated to America in 1854 and listed his occupation as Mason.
- Andrew’s boys started Love Brothers Grocery in Newark, New Jersey.
- Andrew and Agnes were married 11 Mar 1828 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.
- They had 5 children that I know of, Andrew, Thomas, Jean, Agnes and William. Only Thomas and Jean had baptismal entries in the Scotland Baptismal index on familysearch.org. There could be more children.
EDIT: The power of posting does wonders. After a few hours and some search fun, I did end up finding them in 1851!
