Person:George Runciman (30)

How many blacksmiths named George RUNCIMAN, living around Kilsyth and Glasgow, were there? This journey started with the family of Andrew Davidson Learmount RUNCIMAN, whose daughter-in-law's 1976 letter is transcribed on the <a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/runciman/2001-03/0985122376">RUNCIMAN Mailing list</a>. The main evidence for the identification of George made on these pages is the mention of an Uncle Malcolm who named his daughter Poona after where she was born (in India). With a name Poona, Malcolm was easily identified as the son of George and Mary McKELLAR - or McINTYRE, depending on whose death certificate you believe. McKELLAR by Malcolm's, McINTYRE from his brother George's. The McKELLAR seems more likely correct given there is an appropriate marriage for a George and Mary McKELLAR in Glasgow.

But where did Andrew fit? Andrew's marriage and death certificates both name his parents as George RUNCIMAN, blacksmith, and Mary maiden surname DAVIDSON. The only immediately matching census information initially found however, was 1901, so where was he earlier?

Switching attention to tracking Mary however provided the necessary leads, once Sandra had found her marriage to a James CUNNINGHAM in 1876 - as a widow shown as DAVIDSON or RUNCIMAN, power loom weaver, X her mark. There was Andrew, with mother Mary, and his new step father James in 1881 shown as born around 1865.

Armed with Mary's age and mother's name, she was now easily found in Kilsyth with her mother in 1841. With a few additional surprises. The records show a family of RUNCIMAN children living with their grandmother Mary DAVIDSON (nee McDONALD) in the Parish of Kilsyth (Stirlingshire) in 1851 (Banton: John aged 2), and 1861 (High Banton:John aged 12, Mary 6, Ann 2). Mary Snr's daughter Mary is with her in 1841 and 1851, which latter shows her as an unmarried power loom weaver born Inveresk (Musselburgh).

By 1871 son John is likely to be the engineer in West Derby, Lancashire. Daughter Mary RUNCIMAN has married an Adam MORRISON in Calton Glasgow and has a brother with her, Andrew RUNCIMAN, aged 7, born Glasgow (misindexed on both FindmyPast and ancestry as RUNCLEMORE and KNUDMORE respectively, so we can be forgiven for missing him in 1871 intiially). Ann and mother Mary yet to be found in the 1871 census.

Casting doubt on the identification of this George RUNCIMAN as the father of John, Mary, Ann and Andrew RUNCIMAN, with mother Mary DAVIDSON, is that George married Margaret WALLACE in 1860, but Andrew was born to Mary DAVIDSON in 1863. Andrew's 1863 birth was registered in Bridgeton, Glasgow, and George & Margaret's short-lived son William's 1863 birth was registered in Sprinburn, so by 1863 both "families" were definitely in Glasgow rather than Kilsyth, and back in 1860, George was in Kilsyth, where Ann had been born the year before.

The only other serious candidate among RUNCIMANs of the area and timeframes known to date, is this George's father, also a blacksmith, and apparently widowed between 1845 when Malcolm was born, and 1851. George Snr died in 1878, which isn't reflected in the 1849 John's 1879 marriage certificate, which does not show his father George as deceased, and adds to the fiction of Mary describing herself as "widow" when she married James CUNNINGHAM in 1876. Andrew's 1892 marriage certificate did describe his father George as deceased. Poor George Jnr! He didn't die until 1907.

Some peripheral doubts on the id are also cast by Ann's 1892 marriage cert. which gives her father as John RUNCIMAN, blacksmith (her 1940 death index shows her father as James!). Hopefully someone with access to the Kirk Session Records for Kilsyth (John, Mary & Ann), and the appropriate part of Glasgow (Andrew) may be able to shed some light on this, given Mary's children are all recorded on FamilySearch extracted as DAVIDSON, with no father listed. Which does appear to be a bit misleading in that John and Mary's births as recorded in the Kilsyth Parish Registers on a page of mixed dates, grouped by families, with John given a surname CAMPBELL, and Mary shown as DAVIDSON. Andrew's 1863 birth cert. simply describes him as the illegitimate son of Mary DAVIDSON, power loom weaver, X her mark, and has a blank space for Father. John's identity is further obfuscated in that although he married and died as RUNCIMAN, census data for 1881, 1891, and 1901 all record him as John R GRAY/GREY. This family is determined to make life "interesting" for researchers.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 1851 Census for Scotland, Record Type: Census transcripts, Location: Scotland, Record Info: via Ancestry.com. (1851)
   Kirkintilloch, DNB Par 498 ED 4 Pg 12 Sched 36, hsehold of George RUNCIMAN, extracted Mar 2010.
2. ↑ Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
   Marr. 31 Dec 1891 (reg. 1892) Andrew Davidson s/o George RUNCIMAN & Mary DAVIDSON; Margaret C H d/o George HUNTER & Jeanie Gray? HALLIDAY nee HUNTER; reg. Bothwell, Lanarkshire 625/1 #13, copy d/loaded Dec 2010.
3. ↑ Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
   Dth 27 Jan 1907 George RUNCIMAN, Dist of Dennistoun, Burgh of Glasgow, LKS 644/04 Pg 47 #140, copy d/loaded Apr 2010.
4. ↑ Lorna Henderson. RUNCIMAN Analysis, Author Address: Runciman.lornahen.com
   Sep 2012.
5.   Lorna Henderson. RUNCIMAN Analysis, Author Address: Runciman.lornahen.com
   Dec 2010, updated Sep 2012.
6.   Rootsweb Message Boards
   Letter Nov 1976 from Rachel C RUNCIMAN nee DOHERTY, (Weensmoor Road, Glasgow) to Ros RUNCIMAN, transcr. posted to RUNCIMAN board, Mar 2001, online at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/runciman/2001-03/0985122376, extracted Dec 2010.
7.   Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
   Marr. 23 Sep 1892 Annie d/o John RUNCIMAN & Mary DAVIDSON; Hector Mack s/o John BLAIR & Jane CAMERON, Haggs, STI 476/02 #9, extracted Sep 2012.
8.   Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
   Dth 26 Oct 1926 Malcolm s/o George RUNCIMAN & Mary McKELLAR, h/o Elizabeth REYNOLDS, reg. Govan, Glasgow, Lanarkshire 644/21 #1070, copy d/loaded Sep 2012.
9.   Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
   Marr. 13 Jul 1876 Mary DAVIDSON or RUNCIMAN, d/o John DAVIDSON & Mary McDONALD; James s/o Archibald CUNNINGHAM & Agnes CRAWFORD, Pollockshaws, Par. of Eastwood, Lanarkshire, 562 #64, copy d/loaded Sep 2012.
10.   Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
    Marr. 6 Jan 1879 John s/o George RUNCIMAN & Mary DAVIDSON; Annie Allen d/o Robert YOUNG & Elizabeth WATSON, St Rollox, Lanarkshire, 644/06 #35, copy d/loaded Sep 2012.
11.   Scottish Birth, Marriage, Burial entries (to 1854), Record Type: Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), File Number:
    Birth 4 Apr 1849 John CAMPBELL, s/o Mary DAVIDSON, Banton, Kilsyth, STI, 483/00 0070 0323, copy d/loaded Sep 2012.
12.   Scotland. Statutory Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. (ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
    Marr. 9 Mar 1860 George RUNCIMAN & Margaret WALLACE, Lochgoilhead Inn, ARL, 527/00 Pg 1 0001, copy d/loaded Mar 2010.
13. ↑ cert. shows George as 68 blacksmith journeyman marr. to Margaret WALLACE; s/o George RUNCIMAN, blacksmith & Mary m.s. McINTYRE (NB brother Malcolm's death shows his mother as McKELLAR, which marriage can be found), both dec'd; d 3:30pm of chronic bronchitis, retention of urine; usu. resid. 58 Tennant St; Inf. dtr Jane ALLAN, 8 Caledonian St, reg. 28th