SMITH (?), Agnes ²

  Research Notes:

AGNES SMITH

It is difficult to know how much weight to give to this name from Margaret Maxwell's death certificate, as the name of her mother.

Poorhouse notifications are to be questioned generally because of the lack of close relatives to provide accurate information, and because, as here, the pauper in question may be elderly or incapable in some way.

In this particular case, the death registered after Margaret Maxwell's was also notified to the registrar by the same inmate as notified Margaret's death. In addition, the elderly lady in that case had parents whose name was Smith.

Lastly Margaret Maxwell's mother in law was apparently Nancy Baxter, and Nancy is variation of Agnes. There could have been two called Agnes or the informant may simply not really have known and filled a gap. ³

Agnes married Thomas MAXWELL. (Thomas MAXWELL was born about 1770.)

Agnes next married Susanna BURNS, daughter of Walter BURNS and Unknown.¹ (Susanna BURNS was born about 1849 ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Peter Strachan married Jean Farquharson, daughter of John Farquharson of Inverey and Margaret Gordon.

He was a practising Writer of the Signet (W.S.) (see Note below) at Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland."

from thepeerage.com

Note:

It is not strictly true that he was a Writer to the Signet. He is referred to as a 'writer', that is a solicitor, and he was based in Edinburgh, but he is not named in A history of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet.

He appears to have been generally known as Patrick, the fornames Patrick and Peter being more or less interchangeable often in Scots and Irish culture. ^{1 5}