Hello list members, I'm new to the list, having just recently found my great granduncle, Thomas BOWMAN of Dysart, Fife, residing over time in Cockpen, Lasswade, and Dalkeith, where he died in 1923 at an advanced age. In 1866 Thomas BOWMAN first married Hannah Graham BURNETT, daughter of Robert BURNETT and Elisabeth TODD. Thomas and Hannah had 6 children; Robert, John, Elizabeth, Hannah, Thomas, and later Robina. Hannah died in 1879 with the birth of Robina. About a year after Hannah's death, Thomas apparently had an illegitimate female child by Mary NOBLE. It was the custom to name an illegitimate female child after the mother, so her child's name would most likely also have been Mary NOBLE. I will call her Mary NOBLE 1880. I need help with both these Mary NOBLE's. More to follow. Thomas BOWMAN and Mary NOBLE had 4 more illegitimate children before he finally married her in 1896. The children of this union are; Helen, Andrew, Archibald, and Ann. Thomas gave his surname to these 4 children, and was present at their births. I suspect he also did so for Mary NOBLE 1880, but I cannot prove it. Now, to the Mary NOBLE dilemma. First, the death record for Mary NOBLE who married Thomas BOWMAN says her parents are James NOBLE and Janet NOBLE, but I cannot find either a birth record for a Mary NOBLE child of James and Janet NOBLE, nor a marriage record for James NOBLE and Janet NOBLE or James NOBLE and any other Janet at ScotlandsPeople or in the IGI. Can anyone tell me more about this Mary NOBLE--her parents, her birth date and place? Second, her illegitimate daughter, Mary NOBLE 1880, went on to have an illegitimate female child of her own in 1900, and on the birth record she, the mother, is Mary Noble BOWMAN, and therefore named her illegitimate daughter Mary Noble BOWMAN. Mary Noble BOWMAN 1880, who had the illegitimate daughter in 1900, married Patrick FAUGHNAN the following year, 1901. On the marriage cert she is listed as Mary BOWMAN, daughter of Thomas BOWMAN and Mary BOWMAN, maiden surname NOBLE. I am quite convinced Mary NOBLE 1880 is the daughter of Thomas BOWMAN and Mary NOBLE. Can anyone confirm and prove this? Thanks for your patience. Lots of extra certs coming as soon as I get them organized. -- Alice, in Rockville, Maryland, USA