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I am hunting for Robert Whyte, b. 26 Sept 1846 possibly in Methven, Scotland. He wrote he was "from" Methven in his Ontario, Canada wedding license. But maybe he was born elsewhere, possibly Stirling. He emigrated to Canada and then to Chicago. There are many Scottish Robert Whytes, but none with that birth date or location.

Bonnie
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    Welcome to the site, Bonnie. We are all learning how to write great questions for this new Q&A format. (1) So that others can actually prepare good answers for you, please consider breaking this question into two questions--one about Robert Whyte and the other, about Donald Swanson. (2) "Hunting for..." isn't really the good basis for a question. In Whyte's case, consider focusing on locating records that might spell out where he was born. You might take the same approach for the "real" question about Donald Swanson. – GeneJ Oct 24 '12 at 20:43
  • Overall, this question is great. It just needs some minor tweaks. If you have any more information, don't hesitate to add it (and I agree you should probably split this into two questions.). – Luke_0 Oct 24 '12 at 21:39
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    Robert Whyte: what year did he get to Canada? Does his age in censuses there agree with the date of birth you have (was that DOB from the marriage record also)? Do you have the Canadian death record? What is the source of the "maybe Stirling"? These are things that might help check how accurate that date and place is. – Rob Hoare Oct 24 '12 at 23:37
  • Two good questions could probably be created by the information Bonnie knows about both individuals, but as this question is written, it is overly broad. We probably don't know enough about the research Bonnie has actually done or that in which she is currently engaged to offer much assistance. – GeneJ Oct 25 '12 at 12:07
  • @JustinY's edit (converting the focus to one individual) and what seem some great answers about Robert Whyte are serving to fix issues with this question. – GeneJ Oct 25 '12 at 16:23
  • My great-grandfather was Robert Whyte married to Janet Connel. He was born in Stirlingshire Scotland. My grandfather John Connel was born in 1861. The family emigrated to Canada in 1863. I wonder if these are the same man. It is a common name. –  Feb 04 '14 at 23:25

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Robert's death certificate (available on FHL Film #1892363, indexed in the Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947 collection at FamilySearch.org) gives his birth as Stirling and his father's name as Robert.

There are only two little boys named Robert White (a reasonable alternate spelling for Whyte) living in Stirling at the time of the 1851 census, and only one of those was born in Stirling. Find him in the index to the 1851 census at FamilySearch.org, and then order the film to see the actual census page. You can also use the Scotland's People website to search the 1851 census and view images from home. The only way I know of to view images of Scottish census records is through Scotland's People, or by ordering the microfilm through the FHL. (Even Ancestry.com only has an index.)

Using the Illinois death record as your guide, you should also check the Old Parish Registers (OPR) collection - and old DOS-based application available at LDS Family History Centers (or again, via Scotland's People, a "for pay" web site). The OPR index provides the FHL film number, as well. His mother's name (possibly maiden name) could be part of that parish register, and once you have the correct parish, you have the possibility of finding a great deal about the family by collecting details of all the White/Whyte individuals recorded in the parish registers.

bstpierre
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P L Embley
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I did a cursory search on ScotlandsPeople and got several hits on Robert Whyte in Scotland for 1845-1847 but none in Stirling or Methven. I don't know if the others were from nearby or far away and it would have cost money to look at the actual records so I left it there. You might want to investigate.

FreeCenScotland contains census records so you could search thru the years you think he was still in Scotland. I did a cursory search on Robert Whyte in the 1851 census and got 1659 records so I didn't take the time to dig further by parish.

You didn't mention what you knew of his immigration to Canada so I did some looking in case that would help.

I did a cursory search on Nova Scotia Immigration website (since he may have come in thru Nova Scotia as many scots did) but did not find anything. But you know what you are looking for so you might do a better search.

I did a cursory search on NEHGS americanancestors (has a lot of immigration records to New England since many Scots also came in thru Boston) for Robert Whyte's immigration record but did not find anything. Ditto you might do a better search.

Hopefully this gives you a few places to dig further.

Duncan
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