Mary Mathieson and William Henry After years of struggle to identify William Henry, who fathered two children (William and Margaret) with Mary Mathieson, a minor breakthrough occurred when I discovered that the second child Margaret had been baptised at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Kilmarnock, in 1853. The parents are given as William Henry and Mary Mathieson. I searched for a baptism for the first child William and eventually found a record nearly two years after his dob which had been mis-transcribed. His parents were stated to be William Henry and Mary Brien. Looking at the original document I believe the mother’s name is Mary Bruce which is the name under which Mary Mathieson was recorded in the 1851 Census. Child William was 20 months old when baptised which would make his date of birth around October 1850. This fits in with being 5 months old at the time of the 1851 Census. All parents names in the Church Record seem to take the format of father’s name and mother’s maiden name so it is not possible to see if parents were married. The pairs of names in the second part of each record are Sponsors (Godparents). These might help identify WIlliam Henry, the father, if any links can be found. The history of St Joseph’s Church is interesting. It was built around 1844-1850 to cater for the many Roman Catholics who had come over from Ireland as a reult of the Potato famine. Many labourers would have been employed on the Kilmarnock Viaduct at this time. https://rckilmarnock.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/StJosephs_History_May24.pdf It seems probable that the father William Henry was Roman Catholic and as Mary Mathieson was Presbyterian this may explain why they didn’t marry. William may well have been one of the labourers who came over from Ireland. This thread follows Mary Mathieson, her son William Henry and descendents. If you want to see the research into Mary’s partner click on the link : Who was William Henry?