Alexander McEwan Meiklejohn was born on
3rd August 1866 at Devon, Parish of Clackmannan, and died on the 24th June 1908
at 50 Cecil Street, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England.
He married his half cousin's widow,
Margaret Mankin on the 5th November 1891 in the Parish Church, Stockton-on-Tees.
She was the daughter of George Mankin and Margaret Busby. She was christened on
the 7th October 1863 in Yarm, Yorkshire and died on the 7th April 1908 at 50
Cecil Street, Stockton-on-Tees.
On the 1871 census, Alexander is at
Devon Iron Works and by 1881 until about 1884, he was living with his
mother at 10 Union Street, Tillicoultry. By 1891 he was at 51 Bickerstith
Street, Stockton, England and he was an iron moulder. In 1900 he lived at 11
Percy Street, Stockton-on-Tees and finally moved to 3 Park View, Stockton. He
died from Phthisis Pulmonalis (TB), the same illness as his wife and only a few
weeks after her. He was buried on 28th June 1908 at Oxbridge Lane
Cemetery, Stockton. See Census
Margaret Mankin was listed as a widow
on the 1891 census, her married name being Dalrymple. Alexander was actually
listed as her nephew which is how I eventually worked out how the Dalrymple's
came into the tree. She died from the same disease that her father, mother,
brother and husband had died from only a few weeks between each of them. She was
buried on the 11 April 1908 at
Oxbridge Lane Cemetery, Stockton.
Alexander was the only surviving
male and who was unattached. He obviously went to Stockton because Margaret
was left with no family other than a very small child. Eventually he married
her. So the part of the puzzle of why he ended up in Stockton was now
solved.
When Alexander and Margaret died,
they left very young children with no family in the area. Alexander had an
unmarried sister, Elizabeth, she signed her brother's death certificate in
Stockton so it was her who brought the children back to Scotland. Another
part of the mystery solved. The eldest child, David Dalrymple, whom Margaret
with her first husband, remained in Stockton and married shortly afterwards.
He obviously kept in touch with his siblings aunt and grandmother who were
also his aunt and cousin. At some point they lost touch with each other but
now the families have been re-united. My grand mother never forgot about her
half brother as she always wondered about 'oor Dave'.
