William Lithgow

Dates of birth and death

William's birth year, his wife Rebecca's, Mary's, William Jr.'s, and Harry's, all are mentioned in an 1870 census record, here. The census lists their address as 46 District 15 Ward, house number 461. This gives William's year of birth as 1830, and Rebecca's as 1835.

Rebecca's death certificate, however, differs and reports date of birth as 1830, not 1835. It is therefore quite possible that neither knew their precise year of birth, and would give different answers. (There is another 1870 record which is has a couple with the same names, but they are the wrong ones, found here.)

Because of the imprecision with which William gave his birthdate, it is very hard to definitively find records for him. This might be his immigration record, or it might not.

I have not found a marriage record in Philadelphia for the couple. But I did find a burial record for a William Lithgow born in 1832, attached as a source. The address there is 15 Ward, 506 No. 23rd Street. Not sure this is in fact the same as for the 1870 census but it seems like the streets were not even given in 1870, and the house numbering may have changed too.

Records from www.rootsireland.ie apparently have the following possible match:

• William Lithgow
• Born 22 December 1818
• Baptised 27th December 1818
• Father William Lithgow
• Mother Bridget (Biddy) Cannon
• Address at the time of his birth: Ardlough townland, Glendermott, County Derry, Ireland

This is apparently the same William Lithgow as this census record.

Anne-Marie (the curator who found the record) states:

"Another reason why I believe the record above is a possibility is because the Irish at the time used a very strong naming pattern, son born named after the paternal grandfather in your case William had a son William."

The marked difference between 1818 and 1832 as a year of birth gives me pause. It is quite likely that William's birth was not as stated and that his birth record in Ireland was in fact lost. However, the record does correspond to another William Lithgow, who married Rebecca McAdoo, and was born around 1818.

The immigration record I have may also have been from the other William Lithgow; difficult to be sure, because the birth year for that seems to be 1821.

Current placement

I've looked for other Lithgow families who have decent pedigrees who lived in the same area, and found one whose history seems to be known due to the fact that it was preserved by two of them who immigrated to the Melbourne, Victoria area. The dates work so I attached William to this family as their last-born child. Relationships with other Lithgows, e.g. those who lived in Coleraine, is unknown, but presumably these families had a common origin in Northern Ireland, so I've joined them with a common ancestor.

Naming conventions at this time had the first son named after the son's paternal grandfather, which in this case would have been "John". It is therefore quite possible that a John Lithgow was born around 1862 but died young. But the second son would have been named "Robert" if the conventions were followed, after Rebecca's father, so clearly they were not.