Margaret Dickson (1780-Unknown)

Birth

So far, no confirmed birth records have been found for Margaret. Based on the 1841 and 1851 Scotland Censuses (see below), Margaret was born between 1786 and 1791 in Wigtownshire, Scotland. This would have made her between twelve and sixteen years of age when she married James Vernon in 1802. Although twelve years of age was legal for girls to be married in Scotland at the time[1], it was very unlikely. Marriage at sixteen years of age was also unlikely at the time, but possible.

Searches of church records in Scotland have not found any matches for a Margaret Dickson (or variants of the surname) between 1786 and 1791 in Wigtownshire. Expanding the search has located some possibilities[Figure 1], however there has been no evidence found that can provide a strong link to any of these as being the same person.

Name	Date	Parents	Location	Research Summary
Margaret Dickson	21 April 1776	William Dickson & Sarah Gall	Crossmichael, Kirkcudbrightshire	Appears to have married William Hannah in Crossmichael, Kirkcudbrightshire on 5 February 1798[2]
Margaret Dickson	2 September 1773	Patrick Dickson & Jean McCandlish	Kirkcudbright, Kirkcudbrightshire	Three siblings identified through Kirkcudbright parish baptism records. No information other than baptism currently found for Margaret Dickson[3]

Marriage and Children

On 4 July 1802, a marriage between James Vernon & Margaret Digson was recorded in the Penninghame Parish Church register[Figure 2]. Penninghame St John’s Church was located in Newton Stewart, which matches Margaret’s birth place on later census records.

Nine children of James & Margaret Vernon have been identified, seven of whom had baptisms recorded in the Penninghame parish register. Original registers have not yet been sighted for all of the children, so more specific birth locations—and possibly even occupations for James—may be available in the registers. Two of the children were identified through statutory death registrations, so birth and baptism details are not known.

Name	Birth/Baptism Date	Baptism Date	Baptism Location
Margaret	–	21 July 1806	Penninghame Parish
Andrew	12 November 1808	13 November 1808	Penninghame Parish
James	Abt. 1809	–	–
Elizabeth	Abt. 1810	–	–
Mary	28 February 1814	28 February 1814	Penninghame Parish
Peter	12 September 1816	14 September 1816	Penninghame Parish
Isabella	29 July 1818	28 August 1818	Penninghame Parish
Samuel	9 August 1820	25 September 1820	Penninghame Parish
John	4 July 1826	20 July 1826	Penninghame Parish

In the 1841 Scotland Census, a Margaret Vernon is recorded living in Newton Stewart, with her assumed husband James Vernon[Figure 4]. A third household member is present—a five year-old child named Margaret Gordon. Margaret Vernon’s age of 51 in this record would give her a birth year of 1789-90, which would have made her around 12 years old when she married James (still legal, but very unlikely). However, her age could have been provided to the enumerator incorrectly (either accidentally or intentionally). Combined with a number of other conflicts—outlined on her husband James’s profile—this record has been accepted as a low-confidence match.

In 1851, Margaret is enumerated living in a farm in the remote south-west of Scotland, called High Auchneel[Figure 5]. Margaret was working as a House Keeper, possibly in the farmhouse itself. Living with Margaret was her son Samuel, who was working as a Tile Maker, with the help of a Irish boy named Owney Miles.

Death

Some researchers have assigned Margaret a death date of 2 July 1851 in Kirkcolm, Wigtownshire. This is based on the original parish burial record for this death, which reads:
“July 2 [1851] _____ Vernon from Cairnbrock”[Figure 6]

This is possibly the record of Margaret’s burial, however there is little information by which to prove this link. There is no name, gender or age. However, we can assume this person was an adult, as other burials are noted as “a child”. We could also assume that this is a female, as no occupation is listed, unlike for most other burials with male names on the page.

The parish of Kirkcolm is approximately 10 miles east of High Auchneel, which was Margaret’s last known location in the 1851 Scotland Census, just over a month earlier. The residence “Cairnbrock” referred to by the record could be Mains of Cairnbrock farm, which was just up the road from High Auchneel[Figure 7].

Considering that no further record of Margaret has been found, despite thorough searches of the 1861 Scotland Census, church burial records, and statutory death records, this could be accepted as Margaret’s death. However, further research to exclude this being the burial of another Vernon living around Kirkcolm at the time would first be required.

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Additional Records

• Baptism, Margaret Vernon, 21 July 1806 - James Vernon and Margaret Dickson had a Lawful Daughter Baptized 21st July 1806 named Margaret

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Research Statement

The following table provides confidence levels for individual aspects of the research undertaken. Note that these confidence levels do not take into account contextual information and only apply to the evidence gathered for the individual fact. A wholistic confidence level for the ancestor can be found in the Key Facts table at the top of the page.

Fact	Confidence	Supporting Evidence
Maiden Surname	0	0 sources found.
Birth Date	1	2 secondary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Abt. 1790 Household of Samuel Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Abt. 1786
Birth Place	1	2 secondary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Wigtownshire, Scotland Household of Samuel Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Marriage Date	4	1 primary source Marriage, James Vernon, 4 July 1802 4 July 1802 1 secondary source Household of Samuel Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Before 30 March 1851
Marriage Place	3	1 primary source Marriage, James Vernon, 4 July 1802 Penninghame St John's Church, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Residence	1	2 primary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland Household of Samuel Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census High Auchneel, Leswalt, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Death Date	0	0 sources found.
Death Place	0	0 sources found.