TrunkCalls: Margaret Keay leaves Perth

MARGARET KEAY (born ~1878)

Margaret was a daughter of John & Mary Keay, of Perth. (More about her parents here, and more about her sisters here.)

The middle sister, Margaret Keay was born in Kirkcaldy. She was certainly living with her parents in Perth in 1891.

We knew that she went to America and we knew that she married -
but little else was known about her - we didn't even know if she married a Yank or a Scot!
Susan (a relative of the girls' Uncle William Keay) has passed on a copy of the marriage certificate she had found of the 1904 wedding between our Margaret Keay & James Dick.

Details are reproduced here (note the spelling of her name):
Marriage certificate of Marget Keay (aged 26; domestic servant; child of John Keay {dyer} and Mary Innes) to a James Dick (aged 37; an Iron Moulder; son of a Cloth Merchant {deceased}).
March 17th, 1904, Laidlaw's Hotel, Leonard St, Perth.

Her address in 1904 is given as 35 James St., Perth - that could be where she was living in service, prior to her marriage.
I was rather chuffed recently to try entering Margaret's name in a different way - and she appeared in the results! She was listed in the 1901 Census as Maggie Keay, and she was working as a Housemaid at the Leonard St. Station Hotel, Perth (click here to view photos from the Canmore archive. It is now named the Quality Station Hotel. The Main Railway Station for Perth was then and is now at Leonard Street.) She was just one of over 50 souls listed at that address.
So perhaps she returned to her place of work for her wedding and in fact Laidlaw's Hotel and this Leonard St Station Hotel are the same place. What name does the Laidlaw's hotel (s) have now: the modern-day Best Western Queen's Hotel, or the Quality Station Hotel?
I have also seen references to another couple's wedding (in 1920) at the Laidlaw's Temperence Hotel, Leonard St., Perth.

All this shows us that Margaret married before emigrating. We still don't know for sure whether James is a Scot or an American, though. See this post {yet to come} for some details on how I searched Census records to try and find out more about James Dick. I'm 90% sure I have pinned him down, and it seems he was born in Auchtermuchty. A DOB of 1867 worked out from his marriage certificate also seems to fit with Census records etc.

Margaret & James Dick go to the US of A.
That started off a search in the immigration records again for Margaret. Previously, I'd been searching for a Margaret KEAY - when in fact I should have looked for Margaret Dick!

So I went on to search passenger lists for Margaret & James Dick, travelling to the USA after 1904.

Found a James Dick (born 1883) who travelled in 1909 from Glasgow to New York. (X - too young for our Margaret's hubby?)
Several other James Dicks - but not travelling with Margaret. Actually that's OK, he probably went out first to settle.

Found several Margaret Dicks - her birthyear should be ~1880.
Maggie Dicks (b. 1879) went from Liverpool to Philadelphia in 1905.
Maggie Dicks (b. 1879) went from Glasgow to New York in 1909
Margaret Dick (b.1881) travelling to Quebec - but she's single in 1911. X

Help from online elves gave me interesting details on Margaret & James Dick. We started off with a very close-looking match {in which I'll point out details I know about in the brackets.}

James' arrival in the US:

The closest match to our guy seems to be this entry:
James Dick arrived (from Glasgow) at New York in May 1909 on the S.S. Furnessia (a rather elderly Liner - see info here).

(Here's an image from the Arrivals Hall in Ellis Island, 1904. It was used as an immigration processing station from 1892 until 1924 and was closed in 1954. You can see photos of the outside of the buildings by clicking here.)

James Dick is listed as aged 33 (birth year ~1876), Scottish (born Anchermuetity). He gives his final destination as Philadelphia. You can view the entry in the Ellis Island Records here, where he records that he is married. The original ship manifest can be viewed there too - he is on line 29 and described as of good health, 5' 8" tall with dark colouring. He states he hasn't previously entered America, and that he is heading for a friend's house in Richmond Hill, NY??? (It's not easy to read!)

{The place of birth details match well, although James' age should really be a bit older.... if we believe his marriage cert! It could be a mis-transcription of the records. I liked to see the way Auchtermuchty got mangled up!}

Margaret's arrival {So Margaret set off for USA over a year after hubby James}:

Margaret Dick, arrived (from Glasgow) at New York in September 1910 on the S.S. Caledonia {Anchor Line}.

She was listed as married, and aged 32, (born about 1878 in Scotland). She gives her final destination as Hudson Falls, NY.
No trade is noted. She gives her Father-in-Law (John Dick, of Low Rd., Auchtermuchty) as next-of-kin.

The Ellis Island Records for this journey {see the details here} give her previous residence as Auchtermuchty {perhaps with her in-laws} - though it's a little strange that she would travel from Londonderry? In that Ellis Island site you can also click on to see the passenger manifest - look at line 11 to see Margaret Dick's answers to the Immigration Q's. She tells us that she was born in Kirkcaldy {I have Margaret's place of birth as Abbotshall - that's part of Kirkcaldy. Date fits too.} and her husband's name is James Dick. He lived then at 21 School St., Hudson Falls, NY. The form also records she was in good health, 5' 5" tall, of dark complexion, with brown hair & blue eyes.

The destinations seem to match up, too. James was heading for Philadelphia (PA), and Margaret was heading for Hudson Falls which is 5 miles South of Kingsbury in Washington (where James was boarding in 1910...see below). Hudson Falls is at the edge of the Adirondack Park Preserve.

April 1910 American Census at Kingsbury, Washington County, New York:

The Household of Lumber-Mill worker Hiram A. Hall (66) and his family, with 4 boarders including James Dick. All of the boarders work in a Machine Shop - 3 are Moulders, including James Dick.

He is listed as: James Dick; Moulder in a Machine Shop, aged 37, married, born in Scotland, both parents also born in Scotland, an alien whose year of Immigration was confirmed as 1909. It is recorded that he had no periods of unemployment though all of 1909.
{Again, James should be a little older in these entries - if we believe his marriage certificate!! His trade is the same as he gives on his Marriage Certificate, though.}

This James Dick does not appear in the 1920 Federal Census of USA, New York. Nor does Margaret Dick.
There is a WW I draft registration card for a James Dick in the year 1918 (a Machinist, born Scotland Dec 1874, wife named Nellie Dick). He gives an address in New Jersey.
No suitable records enable me to find out when Mr or Mrs Dick died in the US.

*******
Another online elf sent me details of a different Dick family....
Margaret Dick aged 27, born Perth ~1880. Her last permanent address was in Dundee {no known link there}.
Listed as a passenger on the S.S. Caledonia, leaving from Glasgow 30th Sept 1907, final destination given as Brooklyn.
She travelled with two youngsters; Thomas Dick (4) and Margaret Dick (2).
{There were 5 different S.S. Caledonia; in 1907, it must have been the Anchor Lines ship (1904-1916).}

In 1925 there is an entry for a Thomas Dick leaving U.S.A. to go & live in Windsor, Canada. It states that he was born in Scotland but was living in U.S.A. - maybe this is the right guy?

*******
There is also a record of Mrs. Marguert Dick crossing from New York State into Canada at Bridgeburg, Ontario on 27 Oct 1912. She was born 1878, Scotland. {Bridgeburg is around Buffalo, Niagara Falls.}
And another Margaret Dick, married to a William, crossing around this point. X

*******
Finally, an online elf sent me more on a Margaret Dick from 1926; from the passenger list for the S.S. Cameronia from Glasgow 31 Jul. 1926 to New York 8 Aug. 1926.
Dick, Margaret, age 48, widowed, housekeeper, last permanent residence - Comrie, Scotland, nearest relative - sister Miss Isobel Keay, The Hydro, Peebles {which could be true, I feel sure Isobel left Canada in 1921 and returned in 1927}. It makes sense that she would live in Comrie, as her mother died there (1923) and her (only?) Keay nephews were living there with their mother.

Final destination - Binghampton, New York, passage paid by self, previously in Binghampton from 1910-1917, going to join friend Mrs. Margaret Gardner, 17 Gaylord St., Binghampton, New York, going to stay in US permanently, 5'5" tall, fair complexion, grey hair & eyes, born Kirkcaldy, Scotland. {Binghampton is in New York State, near the border with Pennsylvannia State.}

{See this note about the Cameronia, which tells us that there was a near-miss in August 1926. I wonder if that was Margaret's journey?}

August 1931 Journey from Glasgow to NY, made by Margaret Dick (born Kirkcaldy, aged 45), on the S.S. Caledonia. Gives a Reentry Permit number, issued in February 1931 in Washington. Trade was Domestic. Listed as Single, and her birth year was about 1886, so perhaps this isn't the right Lady???

A few clues about the couple when they lived in the US were available from family search (IGI); 2 possible hits for records of Margaret Dick living (well, actually dying!) in the USA.
A lady named Margaret Dick died in January 1971 in Jasper, Iowa. She had been born in July 1876 {I had her as 1878, that's pretty close}.
Meanwhile, another lady named Margaret Dick {born 1879} died in Oregon in 1963.

A man named James Dick died in 1966 (date of birth was April 1879 - too young) and he lived in Portland, Oregon.

Again, no clear-cut answer.

SSDI searches for Margaret & James Dick.

Census in America: looking for James & Margaret.
The 1930 US Federal Census showed me that there were a few Dick Households in Blair County, Pennsylvannia then - but all had been born in the state, even the oldest who was aged 79. (All except one couple where a Scottish Margaret is the right age, but her husband is not the right man.)

Similar stories in other Counties such as Ohio (a farming couple James and Margaret Dick (born Penn.) )...
...such a big country!

******

Margaret Keay - we know that she was born in Abbotshall, Kirkcaldy in ~1878. In the 1891 census we see her living with her parents (John Keay (dyer, 1848-1905) and Mary Innes Keay (died October 1923) of Perth).
She married James Dick in Perth in 1904 and (after a period of time staying in Auchtermuchty with in-laws) she said Farewell to James. He went out to New York in 1909, where he knew a friend in Philadelphia. By April 1910, he was in a lodging house in Kingsbury, working as a Moulder in a machine shop.
Margaret followed him to 21 School Street, Hudson Falls in September 1910 (travelling from Glasgow to New York on the S.S. Caledonia).

She remained until 1917, when she returned to Scotland for a while. Margaret spent some time living in Comrie, Perthshire where she was a Housekeeper. She was with her mother (Mary Keay, nee Innes) in Dalginross, Comrie when she died in the October 1923.

When she returned to the Binghampton area (New York) on the S.S. Cameronia in 1926, intending to live in the US permanently, she is listed as a Widow.

So quite a few details there - but I've been unsuccessful so far in a search for: