The Scottish Ancestry report commissioned by John Latta Wighton and Ella Peterson failed to find John and Ann's youngest daughter, Mary Ann. Her birth in Dundee on March 20, 1836 was recorded under the surname Weighton. (From the official documents that I found, and from Amy Louisa Wighton's letter, I believe that she referred to herself as Mary Ann as opposed to calling herself Mary with a less used second name Ann. As such, I will refer to her as Mary Ann in this biography.

Mary Ann appeared in the 1861 Census when, at the age of 24, she was living with her parents, John and Ann, at 174 Overgate in Dundee. Mary Ann's occupation was recorded as servant. Also present were Mary Ann's sister (Elizabeth, aged 30) and two of John and Ann's grandchildren, Alfred (2 weeks old) and Louisa (4 years old). Subsequent research revealed that both of these grandchildren belonged to Mary Ann. Both Margaret Serzans and I had a go at trying to find out more about these grandchildren, so let's take a little detour and I'll tell you what we were able to find.

Louisa was born on July 16th, 1856 at Calendar Close in Dundee. (From what we can determine, Calendar Close and 174 Overgate were the same address.) Louisa was listed as illegitimate and is shown on the birth record as Louisa Wighton.

As noted above, Louisa appeared in the 1861 census as Louisa Wighton, 4 years old. However, in the 1871 census, she is recorded as Luise McPherson, aged 14 and a scholar. It's fair to assume that Louisa's father was named McPherson, but this is the only record that we found with that surname used. Louisa Wighton died April 23, 1873 at the age of 16 years at 174 Overgate. The cause of Louisa's death was phthisis. This was an archaic medical term for pulmonary consumption (a wasting disease) that is essentially tuberculosis. Louisa's occupation was listed on her death certificate as a bookbinder's assistant.

Alfred was born March 22, 1861 at 174 Overgate in Dundee. He is listed in the record as Illegitimate and with only his mother recorded. As noted above, he is shown in the 1861 census as Alfred Wighton, 2 weeks old. Unfortunately, Alfred had a short life. He died aged 22 months on February 7th, 1863 of Whooping Cough at 174 Overgate. According to the death certificate, he contracted the disease three weeks earlier and suffered convulsions for the last six days of his life. The death certificate shows his name as Alfred Wighton.

Back now to your regularly scheduled programming. Let me fill in some information about Mary Ann's occupation that we learned from Alfred and Louisa's records. We know from the 1861 census that Mary Ann was employed as a domestic servant. However, that wasn't always the case. In 1856, when Louisa was born, she was a factory weaver. She likely took the domestic servant job some time before Alfred was born and remained in that occupation at least to Alfred's death in 1863. In the 1871 census, Mary Ann's occupation was shown as a factory worker. The Wighton family was still living in Calendar Close, but there were now only three of them: Mother Ann, Mary Ann, and her daughter Louisa. (Mary Ann's sister Elizabeth had been sent to Sunnyside in 1867 and her father had died in 1869.) The 1871 census revealed another significant life event: At the age of 70, Ann Baxter Wighton was blind. The natural assumption to make was that Mary Ann was working 12(?) hours to support them and taking care of her mother at other times. (Brother John and Sister Barbara may also have been helping out, but Mary Ann was the one on the front lines, so to speak.)

By the 1881 census, more changes in the household were evident. Now, only Ann and Mary Ann were recorded. (Luisa had died in 1873.) Mary Ann (listed as 40 but actually 44 or 45) was recorded as the head of the household and was working as a jute weaver. Click the button to learn more about work in the jute mills. Ann was listed relatively accurately as 80 years old. The two had also moved approximately 1 mile west from the home on Overgate to 40 Ure Street in the parish of Liff and Benvie. I believe that this location had been deliberately chosen.

As you've read in the biography for Ann Baxter Wighton, Mary Ann's mother died in a poorhouse in 1884. Also, If you've read the essay on Health Care in 19th Century Scotland, (Dundee's poorhouses ), then you'll recall that Ann's family had limited options for taking care of their blind mother. Ann had gone blind sometime between 1861 and 1871. By 1881, only Mary Ann was left in the house to take care of her, and presumably, she had a full time job (i.e., 12 hours a day). As Ann's condition deteriorated with age (she died of senile disability), the only healthcare option open to the family was to have Ann admitted to a poorhouse where she would get medical care and attention.

Here's where the 40 Ure Street address comes in. I've assumed that Mary Ann must have known that it was going to become impossible to take care of her mother's medical needs. I've made that assumption because it turns out that the house where Mary Ann was living in 1881 was only one block away from the poorhouse. Presumably, Mary Ann had decided to move to the Ure street location years before Ann was actually admitted to the poor house so that she could continue to be close to her mother and visit her in her final years.

Here's another fact that makes Mary Ann special. Ann died on April 5, 1884. Mary Ann passed away a mere two short months afterwards. That means that in Ann's final years, Mary Ann also must have been in ill health but nevertheless remained in Dundee to see to her mother. Shortly after her mother died, Mary Ann moved to Arbroath where she stayed at her brother John's house at 14 Wallace Street. It was there that she died of Pulmonary Congestion on June 3, 1884 at the age of 48.

Mary Ann left an estate of 478 pounds, 19 shillings and 3 pence to her brother John. Margaret Serzans found a reference equating an estate worth 1,568 pounds at that time to the equivalent of $180,000 of U.S. 2005 dollars. That suggests that Mary Ann's estate was worth about $55,000 current US dollars. That seems pretty good for a factory worker.

Sources

ScotlandsPeople Database (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/)

Scots Ancestry Research Society (March 26, 1971). Report to John L. Wighton

Letter by Amy Louisa Wighton (John Baxter's daughter-in law and John Murray Wighton's widow) to either her son Harry Latta Wighton and/or to her grandchildren (John Latta Wighton and Ella Wighton) around about 1939.

Where to now? To read more about Generation 5 John Baxter's immediate family, just click top to make a selection from Generation 5's genealogical table at the top of this page. The navigation buttons just below will give you quick access to biographies in other generations.