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| Niel Gow by Sir Henry Raeburn |
As a genealogist, I enjoy moving beyond immediate family to potentially interesting in-laws, step-cousins and first, second or third spouses. I'm driven by the piecing together of clues and the building of family stories. So, I'll start with the spoiler that Niel Gow (1727-1807), the famous Scottish folk composer and musician, is not directly related to me. This post may, however, be of personal interest to some of my distant step-cousins descended from James Denoon Young (1811-1868), civil engineer and ironmonger (my 3x great grandfather) and his first wife Jemima Jessie Foggo, who died sometime before 1851. We first met this family in November 2012. James Denoon Young remarried Charlotte Taylor (1826-1890), from which marriage I am descended. Here I will lay out the documentation for the fortunes of his first marriage, followed by information on the Gow-Foggo connection.
Scotland, Select Marriages has James D Young and Jemima J Foggo married on 10 July 1837 at Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. James had lived in Perth since at least the year before when J D Young ironmonger was assessed at 2s 6d in the Valuation Rolls. The following four children of this marriage are to be found in Scotland, Births and Baptisms also in Perth:
Jemima Young born 17 Feb 1840
Catherine Denoon Young born 31 Oct 1841
Ann Walker Young born 20 May 1843, baptized 6 Jul 1843
James Denoon Young born 12 Mar 1845
In the 1841 Scotland Census at 7 High Street, Perth, Scotland, we find:
James Denoon Young Head 30 Ironmonger
Jemima Jessie Young Wife 20
Jemima Young Daur 1
Helen Dewar (60) Charlotte Murie (15) are F.S. [i.e family servants]
Jemima Jessie Foggo’s death is fixed between March 1845 (the birth of the youngest recorded child) and March 1851 (James Denoon Young, Sr. is listed as a widower in the 1851 England Census), although I have found no burial record for her. However, I can follow each of the children through to their deaths.
Ann Walker Young appears in no subsequent census, and, indeed, Perth, Scotland, Burial Records have Ann Young, age 3 who died 25 Mar 1846, and was buried in Greyfriars Cemetery, father James D Young, Ironmonger. Cause of death is listed as burned, presumably a tragic domestic accident, and she was buried in a small covered coffin. Walker appears to be a family name for which I had no explanation at this point in my research, but read on.
In the 1851 Scotland Census at 6 Drummond Place Edinburgh, Jemima and Catherine are with their Aunt Catherine (Mrs. Ponsonby), while James Denoon, Jr. is at 6 Grove Street, Edinburgh with his Aunt Maria and Uncle Robert Peddie. Their father, James Denoon Young is enumerated in the 1851 England Census in lodgings at 31 Michaels Place, Brompton, Kensington – where his future wife and mother-in-law are also living.
In the 1861 England Census at 56 Stockwell Park Road, Brixton Jemima and James are with their step-mom Charlotte nee Taylor, and step siblings. Their sister Catherine is an assistant mistress at a school at 42 Kensington Park Gardens. Their father is enumerated in the 1861 Scotland Census lodging at 15 Gardners Crescent, Edinburgh. The death registration for Catherine Denoon Young is indexed at FreeBMD:
Catherine D Young Jun(Q2)1868 Wandsworth 1d 312 age: 24
And she was buried on 7 April at St. Mary, Battersea.
Of the surviving children from the marriage of James Denoon Young and Jemima Jessie Foggo, James Denoon Young, Jr. and Jessie Stewart Robson were married on 30 Oct 1869 at All Saints, Battlebridge, London. His occupation is given as clerk. They moved to Edinburgh where I have found them enumerated in 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. They had two daughters: Gertrude Jessie (born 1871) and Annie Denoon (born 1875). Statutory Registers record James’s death:
1914 Young James Denoon M 69 Morningside Edinburgh City/Midlothian 685/06 1088
Both the daughters were unmarried at home in 1901. They may have later married, and there may be descendants from this line, although I have not followed them any further than this. If you are such a descendant I would love to hear from you.
At this point distant cousins in Belgium sent me a scan of a Young Pedigree, apparently made around 1890 – for which many thank yous! This turned out to be quite useful here. Among much else, the Pedigree had the following information:
James Denoon [Young] = Jemima Foggo
Note: Great Grandaughter of )
Neil Gow the Great Scottish Musician )
[their children]
James James Denoon = Jessie S Robson Jemima = John Linton
[and their children]
Gertrude Jessie Annie Denoon Catherine Denoon Annie
ob. abt 24 ob. abt 10
And this serves as a useful tool in determining the accuracy of the document. So first, a glaring inaccuracy: Catherine Denoon and Annie are not children of Jemima [Young] and John Linton, but in fact, Jemima’s sisters. They did, however, both die young, Catherine at 24, but Annie at three years old (not ten). James Denoon [Young] and Jessie S Robson did indeed have the children assigned to them. I have no record of the first mentioned James, son of James Denoon [Young] and Jemima Foggo, but this is plausible given that three years elapsed between their marriage and the first recorded child, Jemima.
It seemed worth pursuing the marriage to John Linton, and just such a record exists. Jemima Young and John Linton (Banker) were married on 15 Oct 1861 at St George’s, Bloomsbury. The witnesses are James D Young (probably father, but possibly brother) and Zoe Taylor (step-aunt). They had many children:
Ethel Jemima 1863-1912 died in New Zealand
married Wilhelm Urban Rudolph Kummer in 1895 NZ
Mary Gertrude born 1864
Hubert Denoon born 1865
married Mabel Ellen Bradley in 1906 NZ
John Douglas 1866-1869
Evelyn StClair 1868-1954 died in NZ
Muriel 1870-1960 died in NZ
Kenneth McDonald 1874-1949 died in NZ
Maud Elizabeth 1879-1955 died in NZ) twins
Jessie Irene 1879-1954 died in NZ)
New Zealand Death Index has Jemima Linton died in 1925 also in New Zealand, presumably the mother, but I have no idea at this point where the father, John ended up. Their last England census is 1881, and during the following decade they likely emigrated to New Zealand. As you see, I have marriage records for two of the children, so there may be descendants of these families reading this in New Zealand – in which case greetings to you as well!
The Linton connection in the Young Pedigree turned out to be correct. The Young Pedigree also noted that Jemima Jessie Foggo was a great granddaughter of Niel Gow. What of the Niel Gow connection; can we connect Jemima Jessie Foggo and Niel Gow? Working up the tree, I quickly discovered a Foggo/McDonald marriage in 1810, and, working down, a McDonald marriage in 1787. The will of Niel (or Neil) Gow notes his daughter Margaret Gow or McDonald and her daughter “Jimima” as beneficiaries. Here are the details.
The children of Niel Gow are well documented, so I'll only note that Scotland, Births and Bapatism have Margaret Gow, the daughter of Niel Gow and Margaret Wiseman, baptized at Little Dunkeld, Perthshire on 18 Nov 1759. Scotland, Select Marriages records her marriage to James McDonald on 30 May 1787 in Edinburgh, Midlothian. The only birth record for children of this couple is Flora born 8 Apr 1790. In addition, Niel Gow’s will mentions “Jimima”.
Jemima Jessie McDonald (daughter of James) and David Foggo were married 14 Aug 1810. A search in Scotland, Births and Baptisms yields the following children:
Niel Gow Foggo born 1 Jul 1811
Ann Foggo born 31 Oct 1812
Margaret Gow Foggo born 7 Oct 1814
Flora McDonald Foggo bapt. 23 Oct 1826
The Scottish Law Reporter Vol 19, p.829 details an 1882 case involving property inherited by Niel Gow Foggo from his sister, Ann Walker Foggo, who died in 1845. Niel Gow Foggo had been missing since the early 1830s, and a nephew of his, David Foggo, resident in Calcutta, wished to succeed to the inheritance. Ann Walker must be the Ann listed above, and, if I’m right, was the aunt of poor Ann Walker Young (1843-1846) who died of burns in Perth.
India, Death and Burials, India, Marriages, and India, Birth and Baptisms were useful here in tracing possible Foggo relatives. I can find a David Foggo of Calcutta, the son of John Thomas Foggo. The latter is enumerated, along with a brother (also David), sister, and mother, in the 1851 Scotland Census at 43 Dalhousie Street, Barony, Lanarkshire. The household consists of:
Jemima Foggo 54 Head Annuitant
Margaret Gow Foggo 36 Daughter Teacher of Music
David Foggo 17 Son Family Blacksmith
John Thomas Foggo 12 Son Scholar at Home
Also in India, I have also found James Walker Foggo who married Amelia Fenwick Campbell on 8 May 1839 in Calcutta. They had several children including Ann Walker Foggo and James David MacDonald Foggo, names suggestive for this family. An unreferenced obituary for John Thomas Edward Fenwick Foggo (1853-1863), son of James Walker Foggo, and grandson of the late David Foggo, "Principal of Edinburgh Academy", while the gravestone of James Walker Foggo gives his date of death 23 October 1873 aged 51 years 11 months and 13 days, and describes him as son of the late David Foggo of Edinburgh.
Thus I have four more children to add to the four children in Scotland, Births and Baptisms from the marriage of David Foggo and Jemima Jessie McDonald:
Jemima Jessie Foggo born 1816-1821 (based on 1841 census age)
James Walker Foggo born 10 Nov 1821 (calculated from age at death)
David Foggo born abt 1833
John Thomas Foggo born about 1838
David and John Thomas are the strongest candidates, being present as brothers of Margaret Gow Foggo on the 1851 Scotland Census. James Walker has a good claim as being a son of one David Foggo, plus his middle name Walker and his use of Walker and MacDonald as middle names for his children. And finally Jemima Jessie because her given names are those of her mother, and the discovery of Ann Walker as a family name in this Foggo lineage both confirm the claim of the Young Pedigree.
The claim on inheritance was upheld for David, son of John Thomas Foggo. Niel Gow Foggo was judged to be likely alive when his sister Ann Walker Foggo died in 1845, and subsequently missing and presumed dead by 1882. Incidentally, the court was correct in its judgment. Niel Gow Foggo died in Tasmania in 1870. His original disappearance in 1833 was due to a 7 year sentence of transportation. He resurfaced in Kent, 1844, receiving a further 15 year sentence of transportation for larceny. He died in 1870 at Port Arthur, Tasmania, where he taught the prison orchestra.
The evidence so affirms the family claim of Jemima Jessie Foggo being a great granddaughter of Niel Gow. My relationship with him is somewhat indirect; my 3xgreat grandfather was Gow's great grandson-in-law! Here is his Lament for the death of his second wife, written 1805. Gow himseld died in 1807 aged 80.
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