The Fraser Family Album

The Fraser Family, 1905: from left - Winifred (1898), Bertha (1894), Nellie (1904), mother Mary (1864-1952), Reynold "Ren" (1892), Elizabeth (1895), Margaret "Bella" (1899), Francis "Frank" (1888), father James Wren (1862-1928), William "Eddie" (1903), Ada (1889); Martha "Alice" (1900)
The only person missing is my father, Harold, who wasn't born till 1907

The purpose of this small web-site is to share the family pictures I've inherited myself or received from other members of my extended family. I still need information on many of the people pictured. For my complete family tree, see here.

This page is devoted to the family of my father Harold Fraser (1907-76). Harold, also known as "Pete", was the youngest of 12 children of James Wren Fraser and Mary Sargeant, of whom 11 survived. James Wren Fraser was the son of James Fraser (born 1824, Inverness, Scotland, father James Fraser, farmer) and Margaret Wren (born 1825, Brigham, Cockermouth, Cumberland, daughter of John Wren and Margaret Barwise). For Fraser family photographs from the UK, see here. For Fraser family photographs from the USA, see here.

Francis Alexander Fraser
(1888-1962)

Married Rose Elizabeth Lehn, no children

Frank's Photo Album

Ada Fraser
(1889-1973)

Married Richard Cecil Jarrett, child Alice Margaret (1911)

Ada's Photo Album

John Fraser
(1891-91)

"Wren"
Reynold Fraser
(1892-1971)

Married Mary Wareham, children Kenneth (1922), Margaret (1933)

Bertha Fraser
(1894-1982)

Married George McGeachie in Scotland, children Mary Sargeant "Mae" (1918-85), John (1919-44), Marion (1922-86), Georgina (1926-2004)

Elizabeth Jane Fraser
(1895-1985)

Married Francis Birch, children Stanley (1915), Doris (1917), Jean (1920), Irene (1922), Frank (1924), John (1928), Leslie (1930)

Winifred Fraser
(1897-1970)

Married George Grimshaw, child Joan (1926)

"Bella"
Margaret Isobel Fraser
(1899-1995)

Child Ernest Kenrick (1919-92), Married John Frederick Green, child William Philip (1932)

"Alice"
Martha Alice Fraser
(1900-88)

Married William Winstanley, children Elsie (1922), Cyril (1927)

"Eddie"
William Edward Fraser
(1903-75)

Married Ellen "Nellie" Wadsworth, children Brian Wadsworth (1927-2010), Jean (1930-2017), Irene (1931)

Nellie Fraser
(1904-85)

Married Harold Harrison, children Gordon (1929), Pamela (1932)

"Pete"
Harold Fraser
(1907-76)

Married Marjorie Hughes, child Alan Howard (1945)

His Photo Album

I have a long outstanding mystery concerning my Fraser family and mariner’s records. My grandfather James Wren Fraser was born in Kirkdale, Liverpool on 22 Feb 1862. He was the son of James Fraser, born around 1824 in Scotland (most probably in the Inverness area), and Margaret Wren from Cockermouth in Cumbria. This was Margaret’s second marriage – she had previous been married to a Scottish seaman called Alexander McCrimen (spellings vary wildly – see below) and had two daughters, Elizabeth Jane (born 1845) and Isabella (born 1847). Isabella was still living with her mother in 1901, and Elizabeth Jane’s story is included later.

Margaret was the third daughter of John Wren and Margaret Barwise, from the village of Brigham near Cockermouth in Cumberland (now Cumbria). John and Margaret married in St. Bridget’s Church in Brigham on 21 May 1819, but sadly the parish record doesn’t list their parents. They had four daughters: Elizabeth christened 2 Jul 1820, Jane christened 12 Oct 1823, Margaret christened 8 May 1825, and Mary (daughter of John Wren and Margaret “Banvise”) christened and died 20 Feb 1830. Before 1839 John, who was a blacksmith, and Margaret moved with their three daughters to Liverpool, where they ran a boarding house.

All three daughters married seaman, and all three were widowed very quickly! Elizabeth married Charles Keith in Liverpool in 1839, but was a widow in 1841 when she married Charles Henry Webb. In the Liverpool 1851 Census Elizabeth Webb born Cockermouth was listed as a sea captain’s wife. She had no children that I know of and died in 1875. Jane married three times – firstly in 1843 to George Murdoch, by whom she had a daughter, Margaret Wren Murdoch, in 1844. She next married Archibald Stuart Leitch in 1849, and in 1851 she is listed as Jane Leitch, servant in boarding house, along with her daughter Margaret “Leitch”. In 1855 Jane married her third husband, Alexander Croft Carlisle (an Archibald Leitch died at sea aboard the SS Parsee on 8 Sep 1856, but this may not be the right one). She died in 1893, and Alexander Croft Carlisle died in 1902. Margaret Wren married Scottish seaman Alexander “McCreman” in Liverpool on 4 Apr 1844, and on the 1851 Census she was listed as Margaret “McCrimer” along with her daughters Elizabeth Jane and Isabella. Margaret “McCremen”, widow, married James Fraser in Liverpool on 29 Aug 1853, so Alexander was deceased by then. On my grandfather’s birth certificate in 1862 her first married name is spelled “McCriman”…

Margaret’s daughter Elizabeth Jane McCrimen was born in 1845 and christened at St. Peter's, Liverpool, on 29 Jan 1847. She suffered the same experience as her mother and two aunts – in 1867 she married mariner Frederick Klickow in Liverpool, but was listed as a widow on the 1871 Census. I've now learned from Mary Evans of "Family Tree Magazine" that Frederick died of asthma at sea aboard the "May Queen" on 7 Jul 1868, aged only 35, so they were only married for ten months.

Elizabeth married a widower, John Greer, in Glasgow on 24 Oct 1876, when her address was given as that of her mother and stepfather in Walton, Liverpool. Her maiden name was given as “McCrimmen”. On the 1881 Scottish Census John and Elizabeth Jane were living at 125 Norfolk Street, Govan, Lanarkshire, and are listed as having an "adopted daughter" Elizabeth B Foulis Greer, who was born Elizabeth Blair Foulis, daughter of (the unwed) Anna-Isabella Durham Foulis, listed as "daughter of Factor". John died in 1888 and Elizabeth married her third husband, John Crawford, a school janitor, in Glasgow on 9 Nov 1889, her maiden name this time spelled "McCrimmon". In 1901 she was again a widow listed as Elizabeth J Crawford, living in Glasgow. With her was Margaret Jane Kinning Falcon, aged 13, who was the granddaughter of her first cousin Margaret Wren Murdoch. This Scottish census record solves a long-standing family mystery – where was 13-year-old Margaret in 1901? Margaret Falcon eventually returned to Liverpool and married a John Fraser (son of John Fraser, master baker, and a ship’s cook, but with no relationship to my direct family that I have so far found) in 1916. For more of her story see below. My aunt Bertha Fraser was sent to Scotland to look after Elizabeth, and was living with her in Glasgow in 1911. Bertha married George McGeachie in Glasgow in 1917 and eventually emigrated to the USA. Elizabeth Jane Crawford died in Glasgow on 1 Jan 1920 and her death certificate brings another marine mystery. Her death was reported by David Maclaren, her “intimate friend” (!) and she is listed as having had three husbands: Edward Le Gallais, master mariner; George Greer, compositor (John Greer’s correct occupation but his father's name), and John Crawford, school janitor. Elizabeth’s maiden name is now listed as “McCrimmon”. Frederick Klickow was not listed, although she's listed as Elizabeth Klickow formerly "McCrimmen" on her marriage record to John Greer.

The puzzle here is – where did Edward Le Gallais fit in? The answer may be in the marriage certificate for "Lizzie Jane" Greer and John Crawford in Glasgow in 1889. One of the witnesses was Charles Edward Le Gallais, with what looks like "Jun" after his name. He was probably Charles Edward Le Gallais (1868-94), born West Derby, Liverpool, in 1868, son of Charles Edward Le Gallais (1838-97), who married Jane Morris (1837-97) in West Derby, Liverpool, in 1865. Even so, I can't explain the Edward Le Gallais entry on Elizabeth Jane's death certificate. Help required from anyone who's researching Le Gallais family history!

I also still can’t find death records for three of the mariner husbands involved in this story:

None of these deaths are listed in the Findmypast record set "Deaths at Sea 1781-1968". Any help visitors to the site could give would be greatly appreciated.

Marriage of Isabella McCrimmon and James Wallace, West Derby, Liverpool, 20 Dec 1904

Margaret's younger daughter Isabella was born in 1847, christened at St. Peter's, Liverpool, on 5 Jul 1847. I can't find her on the 1881 Census (maybe she was in Scotland), but on the 1891 Census she was living with her widowed mother and listed as Isabella McCrimen, while on the 1901 Census she was still single and living with her mother, but this time listed as Isabella Fraser. Margaret died in 1904. Isabella "McCrimmon" (the spelling used for her sister's name on her 1920 death certificate) married James Wallace in West Derby, Liverpool on 20 Dec 1904, with her father listed as Alexander McCrimmon, carpenter. The marriage certificate confirms this was definitely her, despite the fact her age is given as 43 (she was actually 57)! James was a police constable whose age was listed as 41. An Isabella Wallace died in West Derby, Liverpool, in Jan qtr, 1905, aged 54 (again, she was actually 57), and I again think this is her, as I can't find her on the 1911 Census. James Wallace, born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1861, is listed on the 1911 Census as a widower aged 50 living as a lodger in Bootle, Liverpool, and this is probably the right James, although he would have been 43 in 1904, not 41.

Margaret Falcon eventually returned to Liverpool and in 1911 she had a son John Urell Falcon ("Jackie" or "Jake"). In 1913 she had a daughter Edna May Urell, who married Gordon Wood and these three photos are from Edna's son Kenneth MacDonald Wood. Margaret married a John Fraser in 1916 as stated above, but John Fraser died at sea soon after their marriage. She later married Kenneth MacDonald and moved to Inverness in Scotland (where my Fraser family came from). She had a second son, also Kenneth MacDonald. Margaret died in Inverness in 1937.

"Lizzie" Crawford pictured around 1900	Detail of 1920 Death Certificate	Death Certificate of Elizabeth Jane Crawford, Glasgow, 1 Jan 1920	Detail of 1889 Marriage Certificate
	The photograph of Elizabeth Jane on the left is a postcard from around 1900 and belonged to my aunt Ada Jarrett. On the back is written "Aunt Lizzie Crawford, Father's sister"