David Dalrymple

(1859-1891)

David Dalrymple was born 9th March 1859 in East Vennel, Alloa, Clackmannan and died March 1891 in Stockton-on-Tees. He married Margaret Mankin 13th September 1883 in Holy Trinity Church, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham; daughter of George Mankin and Margaret Busby. She was christened  7th October 1863 in Yarm, Yorkshire and died 7th April 1908 in 50 Cecil Street, Stockton-on-Tees.

On the 1881 census David Dalrymple, an iron moulder, was residing at 21 Britannia Street, Thornaby, York, England. The family he with, was a Charles Lambert and his wife Jane, who was from Scotland. There was also James Gray, a stock taker in an iron foundry, staying with them as well. James Gray and David Dalrymple were related. Both had lost their parents when young and both had been brought up by their grand mothers who happened to live a few doors away from each other. See the Gray website.

Clackmannanshire

On the 1861 census, David was at Meiklejohn Vennel in Alloa. I have since found him on the 1871 census. See News page. Then he was down in Stockton in 1881 and died before the census in 1891. He lived at 6 Duke Street, South Stockton on the 13 September 1883.

David met and married Margaret Mankin. They had one son also called David. A very sad but common story back then, happened next. Within a few short weeks, Margaret's father, mother, brother, and husband all died. This must have been due to TB but I do not have the death certificates to prove this.

Alexander Meiklejohn was the only living, single, male relative left who could help out Margaret and her son. Alexander (Sandy) was David Dalrymple's half cousin. Their mothers were half sisters. Sandy worked as an iron moulder in Stockton and was staying with Margaret in 1891. He then married her and had a family with her. Another sad time for this family occurred when Margaret died from phthisis pulmonaris (TB) exhaustion. A neighbour signed the death certificate which led me to suspect that Sandy was too ill to do it himself. As I thought, he too died with a few weeks of Margaret. Alex's unmarried sister went to Stockton from Tillicoultry and signed the death certificate. She brought the young children back to Tillicoultry where she and her mother brought them up.

David Dalrymple remained in Stockton as he was a young man with a job and married the next year. He had kept in touch with the family in Scotland as has been proved by a photograph/postcard he sent to Mrs Meiklejohn. When the grandmother died and then the aunt, the children were orphaned again. They moved in with the eldest married sister and I suspect that this was when contact with David was lost. He was not forgotten, but there was no telephone or internet in those days to find him again.

Margaret was buried on 11 April 1908, Oxbridge Lane Cemetery, Stockton. An oversight on my part was to find out if David was buried in the same area. Margaret is buried with Alexander and there grave is unmarked. There was no-one left to pay for a stone but they are buried between Margaret's parents and her brother so David is also, most likely to be in the same spot.

Child of David Dalrymple and Margaret Mankin is:

David Dalrymple, born 1887 at Stockton-on-Tees and died at the end of 1953 at Middlesbrough.