(Examining Alternative Claims-A Retrospective)
Many of these images were produced by searches on the Internet web site “Scotland’s People“.
Some family historians contend that William Campbell lived out his adult life in Scotland, dying in either 1888 or 1891.
This search of registrations for deaths for all of Scotland in the year 1888 produces only two potential candidates based on an extrapolated birth date compared with the known birth date in 1819 of the William Campbell born in Drumoak, Aberdeen. Neither of these individuals have their parents’ names entered on their death registrations. The individual whose death is recorded in Durris, Kincardine was born at least three years after the William Campbell of Drumoak; and also this individual reports his birth place as England on multiple census records (1871 and 1881) during his life. This individual also names several of his children with forenames that I believe might suggest an English background as much as a Scottish naming tradition. However, although I do not believe that this individual is the son of Sylvester and Helen Campbell baptised in 1819 in Drumoak, I do believe that he warrants additional study as the surnames around his family tombstone and throughout the cemetery may suggest some kind of connection in this geographical area to a parallel branch of the greater Sylvester and Helen Campbell family tree. Surnames of interest memorialized elsewhere in this cemetery would include Campbell, Masson, Milne, Pirie, Sherriffs and Skene. In summary though, I do not believe that either of these individuals who die in 1888 is the William Campbell baptised by Sylvester and Helen Campbell in 1819 in Drumoak, Aberdeen.
Several family trees hosted on Ancestry.com claim that the William Campbell baptised by Sylvester and Helen Campbell in 1819 in Drumoak, Aberdeen actually died in 1891 in the Aberdeen area. An inclusive search of recorded deaths on the government-sponsored Internet site, “Scotland’s People“, produced the death records shown above. The William Campbell who dies in 1890 in New Machar, Aberdeen appears to have been born about four years before the William Campbell of Drumoak. Two individuals named William Campbell actually die in 1891 in Aberdeen. One of these individuals can be ruled out immediately, as he dies during his first year of life, in 1891. The second William Campbell who dies in 1891 in Aberdeen appears to have been born in 1826, about seven years after Sylvester and Helen baptised their son, William Campbell, in 1819 in Drumoak. None of the individuals named William Campbell who die in 1891 in Aberdeen are potentially the son of Sylvester and Helen Campbell – in my opinion. There is another William Campbell of interest identified in this search. Although he dies in 1896 in Belhelvie, Aberdeen, his background is analogous to what I would expect of a relative of Sylvester and Helen Campbell. He was married to Margaret Machie and worked as an agricultural labourer during his adult life. His parents are identified as Gordon Campbell and Isabella Craig when his death is reported in 1896 by his son, William Campbell.
In my opinion, for the decade around 1891, from 1886 to 1896, there is no death registration in the Aberdeen area of any individual named William Campbell who could be the same William Campbell baptised by Sylvester Campbell and Helen Mas(s)on in 1819 in Drumoak, Aberdeen.
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