Hello List, I hope someone will have a thought about a dilemma regarding my ancestor JAMES KNIGHT. On his Citizenship papers in 1878, he states ANTRIM as his place of birth - which would make him Irish. Yet I have also found on various documents, including the 1880 Census in Massachusetts where he states SCOTLAND as his place of birth, but he lists IRELAND as the birth place of both his parents... Has anyone run into this before? Why would he list Scotland as his place of birth? Would his parents have been visiting Scotland? But then his also lists Antrim? I have yet to find any trace of him or his parents [don't know if he had any siblings] in Ireland. James came to NY in 1851, settled in Massachusetts, fought in the Civil War -[those records show nothing except "Ireland"]. Thanks for any thoughts, Paula
Hello Paula, I've run into a similar situation with my grandfather, David McCourt. On the 1900 census for Nebraska he lists Scotland as his place of birth, but on later censuses, his marriage license, his passport, etc. - he says he is from Co. Down, Ireland. On a trip back to Ireland in 1913 he also stops in Scotland. So was he born in Scotland or Ireland -- I'm still trying to find out. I know there was a lot of movement back and forth between Scotland and Ireland - mainly for jobs. Sometimes you have to read the census or document carefully to see jsut what it is asking ---- place of birth or last residence, place of birth of parents, last residence of parents, parents residence at time of your birth, etc. And they may not have read it carefully when they filled it out either. I have one form that lists my grandfather as born in Iowa. I'm sure with his accent Ireland might have sounded like Iowa to the person typing the form. My grandfather was born just before records were kept in Ireland -- and I've searched the FHL microfilms to no avail. If anyone on the list has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear from them too. Good luck. Kathy ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 6:17 AM Subject: KNIGHT born in SCOTLAND/IRELAND? > Hello List, > I hope someone will have a thought about a dilemma regarding my ancestor > JAMES KNIGHT. On his Citizenship papers in 1878, he states ANTRIM as his > place of birth - which would make him Irish. Yet I have also found on > various documents, including the 1880 Census in Massachusetts where he states > SCOTLAND as his place of birth, but he lists IRELAND as the birth place of > both his parents... > > Has anyone run into this before? Why would he list Scotland as his place of > birth? Would his parents have been visiting Scotland? But then his also > lists Antrim? > > I have yet to find any trace of him or his parents [don't know if he had any > siblings] in Ireland. > > James came to NY in 1851, settled in Massachusetts, fought in the Civil War > -[those records show nothing except "Ireland"]. > Thanks for any thoughts, Paula > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >