George ADAMSON & Margaret CROCKET
Father: George ADAMSON, d. 11 Dec 1858, royal infirmary
This would be Daniel McDonald's step father . It is not known exactly when George Adamson is born.There are various discrepancies in his age on 1851 census and his death certificate. On 1851 census in Dundee he lists his age as 45 years old making him born in 1806. However, on his death certificate Dec 12 1858 it appears his age is 61, although it could be read as 51. Unfortunately parents are listed as unknown on death certificiate. He dies at the Royal Infirmary , occupation listed as Carter , which is one who handles horses and carts. Ironically, he dies of a rupture of the dura, and peronitis due to the kick of a a horse as certified by his wife Margaret Crockett. Margaret Crocket's son Daniel dies of the same thing in 1901 in a horse cart accident. George is buried in Logie Burial in Dundee. Not much else is known of this individual.
Mother: Margaret CROCKET, (daughter of David CROCKET), b. 22 Dec 1806, Auchterhouse Angus Scotland, d. 16 Apr 1880, St Peters district Dundee
This is Daniel's McDonald's biological mother born in Auchterhouse parish in 1806. Her parents are proven on her death certificate.,. Margaret Stewart is his stepmother and raised him from the time he was about 18 months old, or a little later. He is under her care and in her house with her new husband Peter McDonald in 1841 Newtyle census. So Margaret Crocket must have given up custody fairly early in Daniel's life. . . The circumstances of why Peter McDonald did not marry Margaret Crocket are fuzzy. It was not due to youth as Peter was 28 and Margaret was 32… It could possibly be due to a suspicion that Peter was already married to a woman named Margaret Boyd Spence . On June 5,1837 a Peter McDonald marries a Margaret Spence in Dundee Angus Scotland. The actual record states Peter McDonald and Margaret Spence in this parish Dundee. Dundee is not where either were born but only where the marriage was contracted. ,It is his occupation listed on the marriage that suggests that the Peter McDonald with Margaret Spence in 1837 and Margaret Stewart in `1839, may be one in the same. He is listed as a stone cutter on the Spence union. . The Peter who marries Margaret Stewart is a quarrier, which is in fact the same thing according to Ross Cameron of Tay Valley Historical society. Could these be two separate Peter's who marry Margaret Spence and Margaret Stewart?. Perhaps but is seems doubtful, they have the same occupation in the span of a year. Also Ross Cameron , an expert in such matters and Pete Piersee familiar with this occupation describe it as extremely specialized and not common like that of a farmer, or labourer. Not only is Peter named as a quarrier/cutter on both marriages, that of Spence and Stewart but on the 1861 census he calls himself a stone quarrier and.on his son Stewart's death certificate he is listed as a quarrier. According to the IGI files at FamilySearch there are no children born to Margaret Spence and Peter McDonald and efforts to find this couple together In Angus County are futile in 1841 Census. This could imply that they broke up soon when it was discovered he had gotten Margaret Crocket pregnant. It would not surprise me if this might have been the reason Peter McDonald was not free to marry Margaret Crockett at the time of Daniel's birth. Most times men either denied Paternity or married the woman. Peter did not deny paternity as his name is on the birth certificate and could not have been so in Scotland at the time without going to the register's office. with Margaret Crocket Whatever the case, two years after Daniel's illegitimate birth, Margaret Crocket does marry a George Adamson on Nov 7, 1840 in Inverarity and Methy. parish. She goes onto to have two girls Julia and Mary. For a time they lived in Perth in Perthshire County next to Forfarshire County , as on the 1851 Census in Liff parish Angus her children are listed as being born in Perth and she is born in Aucterhouse. This explains why I could not locate her with her husband in Angus County census.in 1841. Maybe they left the area for a time to get away from gossip surrounding their situation. By 1861 George Adamson has died , and she is living with her two teenage girls Julia and Mary. Interestingly enough her mother is named Julia Piggott,(Gilly) the old English for Pyatt.So Daniel probably chose to name his child Julia Evaline at least partly after his real grandmother, Julia Piggott Crocket. Daniel's admission of his real mother Margaret Crocket Adamson on his second marriage certificate suggests not only that he knew the truth but probably interacted with his real mother. His father and step mother had left the area to go to Whifflet, Old Monkland in Lanarkshire with his brothers William, Andrew and Stewart. Perhaps, it is at this time that he seeks out his real mother. With the birth of his child, Julia in 1875 he must have known by that time. Julia is not a particulary common name in Scotland , like Margaret,, Jean or Isabel. Had he not met his mother, it is doubtful that he would have named a child after a grandmother like that. It does seem like more than coincidence. . Perhaps naming his last child with the middle surname of Stewart/Stuart was his compromise to honor both women. ,step mother and real birth mother's family. . Margaret Crocket dies in 1880 of lung inflammation . She was a jute worker, which is a occupation dealing with lots of cotton fibers in the air and many workers then died from that complication of the lung. Her daughter, Julia Adamson was in attendance at her death. . Daniel's half sister, Julia, marries after this point in 1881 to Donald MacKay. No effort to trace his other half sister Mary has been made.There are many Mary Adamsons on census in Angus County. . The ongoing mystery in this situation is when Daniel knew and who he told. Did he in fact know by the time he married Margaret Ritchie in 1864? If so he fudged a bit naming Margaret Stewart as his mother on their marriage certificate. . He certainly knew later. Did his daughters or son Alex know? The girls would have been rather young to tell this to. If they found out ,did they in fact perpetuate the myth of having a Stewart genealogy to be related to the Stuart of them all, Mary Queen of Scots.? Or was it more a matter of shame on Daniel's part or the girls part. It is possible that even his grandchildren knew, having been told by their mothers Ann Whalen and Julia Cowell. However, seeing as how so many people seem to have bought into the myth, it is doubtful that many in the generation of Daniel's grandchildren thought that they were Crockets,It would have slipped out. The Stewart myth and the real secret of Daniel's paternity, then lasted for over 168 years. It should be mentioned because a few interested parties have ask, that this line is not in any way related to the famous frontiersman Davy Crocket. His line was actually originally the French name of Crocketagne and the name was anglicized in order to escape persecution in France due to a political situation they were involved in.So he has no Scottish connections on a Crocket line. 1871 Scottish Census the widow Adamson with her daughter Julia Adamson , Daniel's beloved sister who he named his daughter Julia Adamson “Evaline” McDonald Cowell after. Name: Margaret Adamson Age: 58 Estimated birth year: abt 1813 Relationship: Head Gender: Female Where born: Auchterhouse, Forfarshire Registration Number: 282/2 Registration district: St Mary Civil parish: Liff and Benvie Town: Dundee County: Angus Address: 11 Lower Pleasance Occupation: House Keeper ED: 26 Page: </cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&ti=0&r=an&db=1871Scotland&F0=CSSCT1871_50-0940&F7=5> (click to see others on page) Household schedule number: 22 Line: 4 Roll: CSSCT1871_50 Household Members: Name Age Julia Adamson http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1871Scotland&indiv=try&h=1203444 24 Margaret Adamson http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1871Scotland&indiv=try&h=1203443 58
Married 7 Nov 1840, Inverarity and Methy Angus
Children:
- Donald "Daniel " MCDONALD, b. 9 May 1838, Forfarshire now Angus County Scotland, d. 3 Feb 1901, Stotts City Lawrence County Missouri, bur. Round Grove Cemetery
- Julia ADAMSON, b. ABT 1847, Perth Perthshire, d. 1924, St Clements district Dundee
- Mary ADAMSON, b. ABT 1849, Perth Perthshire