McSkelly

On the 1861 census John and Mary, James and Elizabeth and William and Elizabeth were all living next door to each other in Eden Place Carlisle. James and William have their surname recorded as McSkelly yet their father living next door is recorded properly as Miskelly. In 1871 John and James are recorded as Miskelly but William is recorded as McSkelly. William moved to Scotland sometime after 1865 and ever after is recorded as McSkelly although one of his children Arthur is recorded as a Miskelly.

Wrongly Recorded.

When you look at the original records for McSkelly you will see 2 entries for Elizabeth one born in 1845 and one in 1859. Elizabeth 1845 is actually John(1809) and Mary Miskellys daughter recorded wrongly. Elizabeth 1859 is William(1837) and Elizabeths daughter again wrongly recorded.

I can only presume that the recorder might not have understood Johns Irish Accent but William born in Carlisle may not have had an Irish accent I am afraid we will never know. What we do know of course is that from the 1861 census onwards Williams family are recorded as McSkelly for ever more.   Why William continued to register as McSkelly we will never know neither will we know why James Montgomery went from McSkelly in the 1861 census back again to Miskelly in the 1871 census.

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Elizabeth McSkelly (1836) The certificate shows this Elizabeth, not related to the Miskelly's already in Carlisle as far as I know, married a much older man in 1864. With the ages on the certificate as a guide I have found the family on the 1871 census. On the 1881 census the family has had an 'e' added to their name to become Chisholme. The only other Elizabeth McSkelly recorded is in fact Elizabeth Haughan married to James Montgomery Miskelly and she too was born around 1836 which caused some confusion. She is of course wrongly recorded as McSkelly by whoever transfered the information to the census books.