Some time ago I posted some information about my great, great grandmother Mary Wilkinson . Mary was my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandmother. Click on her name and you can read it but the post is not totally accurate. Since posting I have been researching further and I have found out a lot more. Her story is complicated and sad and it will take time to put it together.

Much of the information has come from the Poorhouse registers that are held at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Mary was born in County Donegal in 1827 but came to Glasgow some time between 1847 and 1851.

Things did not go well for Mary and the record shows that she regularly had to look to the poorhouse for support. The poorhouse records provide a wealth of information for family historians. I had seen Mary’s last entry in the records which give details of her death in 1871. It turns out there were a few more admission records. It’s very sad.

One record was from 1857 and it shows that Mary had two little boys. I’d known that she had a son William because he was with her on the 1861 census but she had also provided details of a baby called John who was actually born in the poorhouse.

It’s hard to imagine a sadder start to a life. Mary was unmarried, pregnant and, despite being in a relationship, when it came to giving birth her only option was to enter the poorhouse. John was born in January 1857. The poorhouse register shows the father to be an iron worker called William Duncan but he is not recorded on John’s birth record.

Having found Mary’s whereabouts in 1861 and seeing no record of John there I could only imagine that he had stayed with his father or that he had died. The latter seemed more likely. And here he is on a death record from March 1858. Baby John had contracted measles and as a result was suffering from convulsions and diarrhoea which eventually led to his death. Mary’s only option when her child became ill was to return to the poorhouse where he might be offered medical help. But John could not be saved. You can see that it was a busy morning for Dr Kirkwood who had to certify three deaths in the institution.

My great granny Sarah Helferty was John’s half sister. She was born in 1867 so nine years after his death. Was he ever talked about? Did Sarah even know of his existence? Back in the 1850s there were 200 deaths out of every 1000 live births. In 2021 that number was 4.2. It was a common thing back then but it doesn’t make it any less of a loss. Poor wee John didn’t stand much of a chance of a good life. He didn’t get to make his mark but if you’re reading this then he’s not totally forgotten.