Looking for Gran's brother and his wife

[Margaret]

Hi all.

I am trying to find information on my Gran's brother and his wife.

His name is James McMulkin and he was born in 1905 in Paisley, Scotland. I was told that he was married to Zara Rudikoff, a (?Russian) refugee who was taken in by my Gran after the war. That is how James met her. My dad told me that Zara died before my Gran did in 1966. I haven't been able to find her death on ScotlandsPeople and the marriages don't go up as far as I need to check.

I remember calling James in the late 1980s, possibly early nineties when I first started my tree - he was living in England then. When I told him who I was, he told me to go away, though not as polite as I am saying it here!! My dad later said his attitude may stem from an altercation of sorts with my grandfather, his brother-in-law.

I don't know if James ever returned to Scotland, but I cannot find his death in their records up to 2006. As far as I know he didn't have a middle name.

I thought that I previously had free access to the BMDs on Ancestry so I could trawl for misspellings, but now I can only find an area where they list the names.

The computer at the Library is booked up for the next little while, so I am hoping you will be able to help me.

Many Thanks.

[Marilyn from Essex]

There is a death listed of a James Peter McMulkin Q2 1994 in Hendon Middlesex age 81. Does that sound like a possibility?

[Marilyn from Essex]

Sorry forget that, I see yours was born in 1905

[KiteRunner]

Margaret, do you have his exact date of birth, please? Then we can check the ancestry deaths for people who were born on that date.

[Margaret]

Thanks for checking Marilyn.

Kite, his DOB is August 13th, 1905.

[KiteRunner]

Can't see anything likely,sorry.

[Margaret]

Thanks for checking Kite. Like I said, I am not sure if he returned to Scotland after I talked to him. If he was all alone in England - the rest of his siblings lived in Scotland and he had no children with Zara - goodness knows who would have provided his death information.

Any ideas where else I can look? There are only 2 James listed on ScotlandsPeople from 1950-2006 ('58 & '78). There is a James McMullen who died in 1987 age 82 - but I am certain that I called James after my Granda died in 1988 (that's why I had to ask my dad why James was so rude to me; otherwise I would have asked my Granda).

[KiteRunner]

Is it possible that he died after 2006 or even is still alive?

[Margaret]

I guess that can't be ruled out until we find something definite. His younger sister died in 2001, aged 94. She wasn't in the best of health for a very long time though.

[Uncle John]

Have you had a shufti at the Phone Books on Ancestry? Might just give a clue.

[Margaret]

Just had a look-see UJ but none of the entries jump out and say "pick me".........lots of J or Jas McMulkin. If I remember correctly, he was in around the London area.

[Uncle John]

Certainly London is a large area to cover, and it also helps if you know where the old exchange names belonged on the map.

[Margaret]

If the books went a bit later, it might be easier. All I did was go to the big Library in Toronto and look his name up in the current London phone book (in the days before computerized records). He was the only James listed I think.

[Uncle John]

If you have some idea of where he might be, he could be hiding in the current online BT directory. The only problem (apart from finding him!) is that it is updated constantly. It only took 2 weeks for m-i-l's number to disappear after we had it disconnected.

[Margaret]

UJ - he'd currently be 103 so my guess is he wouldn't be on the phone too much!!

[Jean66]

Hi all.

I am trying to find information on my Gran's brother and his wife.

His name is James McMulkin and he was born in 1905 in Paisley, Scotland. I was told that he was married to Zara Rudikoff, a (?Russian) refugee who was taken in by my Gran after the war. That is how James met her. My dad told me that Zara died before my Gran did in 1966. I haven't been able to find her death on ScotlandsPeople and the marriages don't go up as far as I need to check.

I remember calling James in the late 1980s, possibly early nineties when I first started my tree - he was living in England then. When I told him who I was, he told me to go away, though not as polite as I am saying it here!! My dad later said his attitude may stem from an altercation of sorts with my grandfather, his brother-in-law.

I don't know if James ever returned to Scotland, but I cannot find his death in their records up to 2006. As far as I know he didn't have a middle name.

I thought that I previously had free access to the BMDs on Ancestry so I could trawl for misspellings, but now I can only find an area where they list the names.

The computer at the Library is booked up for the next little while, so I am hoping you will be able to help me.

Many Thanks.

Ancestry has entries on the London Electoral Registers for a Zara McMulkin and a James P McMulkin living in Heather Grove Golders Green Hendon for the years 1951-53. The James Peter McMulkin who died in 1994 in Hendon had a birthdate given as 13 April 1913. The 1911 Scottish census for James' parents Owen and Annie show 4 children - Owen aged 8, Annie aged 6 Helen aged 4 and Mary aged 2. James is not on it - or not at that address. Is it possible you have the wrong birthdate for James?

[margaretmarch]

Ancestry has entries on the London Electoral Registers for a Zara McMulkin and a James P McMulkin living in Heather Grove Golders Green Hendon for the years 1951-53. The James Peter McMulkin who died in 1994 in Hendon had a birthdate given as 13 April 1913. The 1911 Scottish census for James' parents Owen and Annie show 4 children - Owen aged 8, Annie aged 6 Helen aged 4 and Mary aged 2. James is not on it - or not at that address. Is it possible you have the wrong birthdate for James?

If he was born on 13 April he wouldn't have been born at the date of the census in 1911 which was Sunday 2 April 1911.

Margaret

[Margaret]

Jean, this is great news. I have searched on and off over the last few years but always came up blank.

Your message came in just before I took my son to the library, so I ran in and quickly checked their Ancestry (I don't have a copy). While I was there I snooped around and managed to find their marriage certificate -- her name was Rudochoff, not Rudikoff as I had been searching. So I'll be sending for that first thing in the morning.

As to the birthdate -- when I got home I went onto ScotlandsPeople and checked for a death of James born in 1905. It never occurred to me to look for this as I knew he was still alive in the 80s. I found one in 1906 with the correct parents, so that is why he isn't on the 1911 census.

A further search shows a James Hamilton McMulkin born in Paisley in 1913 - right area as the other siblings, and his mother's maiden name was Hamilton. No image available as it is only 99 years!! :(

I'm going to order the death certificate for 1994 as well, though I am unsure where the middle name of Peter would have come from. It depends on who the informant was, I guess.

Next order of business - find Zara's death.

Many thanks.

[bcbrit]

This is iffy - but you never know !

Hendon is a stone's throw from Hampstead. Allow for spelling variation /accent .

Saran McMulkin
d. March Q 1975
dob 27 Feb 1912
D. Hampstead 12 - 1934

I know your Dad said Zara died before 1966. I once found a person who came back froom WW1 and who supposedly died soon after from his injuries. He had an unusual name, so I knew I had found him, but he had died some twenty years later. Could that be in this case ?

bcbrit

[Margaret]

It's worth a try, bcbrit. Seems everything else I had on this couple wasn't quite as I had in my records, so I may as well add this to my order.