Margaret Sarah Finlayson
Great-grandmother of Colin Manson (ahnentafel #15, MMM)
○ No source citation
ℹ Birth foundHer birth entry (St Nicholas district, Aberdeen, 1904, entry 796) gives 1 June 1904 at 29 Loch Street, Aberdeen. The GEDCOM had only "about 1904" with no place.
Born
1 June 1904, Aberdeen
Died
24 Apr 1950, Orr St, Glasgow
Life details
From a second, independently-built 2011 family tree archive — not the primary source this site is built from, and not independently verified against a certificate or register.
Occupation
Fish Carter
Died
110 Forbes St, GlasgowCause of death: Myocarditis
ℹ NoteThe death certificate shows she died at 19 Orr Street. 110 Forbes Street, given as her death place in this archive, was the address of her daughter Helen Donald, who reported the death.
⚠ Worth double-checkingRecorded with the same occupation title as her husband Hugh Joseph Gavigan — attached distinctly to her own entry in the source, not a copy error on this end, but worth a second look before treating as certain.
Photographs
1 photo from the family collection. Names and dates come from the file names and writing on the prints. Click a photo to view it full size.
Margaret (Meg) Gavigan, née Findlayson, with her friend Meg Downie
Family photo, file: Meg Gavigan & Meg Downie (Megs Friend).jpeg and Margaret (Meg) Gavigan & Meg Downie (Friend) rear .jpeg· view the back
A studio postcard (Gale's Studios Ltd). The back reads "Meg Gavigan nee Findlayson" and "Meg Downie friend" and does not say which is which. The married name was added later, so the photo itself is probably from the 1920s. Placed with Margaret Sarah Finlayson, the only Gavigan née Finlayson in the tree.
Documents
8 records from the research archive. Click an image to view it full size.
Birth, 1904
Source: ScotlandsPeople downloads, 29 October 2026 — Margaret sarah finlayson birth certificate.pdf
Marriage, 1926
Source: McClure Gavigan — Hugh Joseph Gavigan Wedding Cert 1926.pdf
Marriage, 1948
Source: ScotlandsPeople downloads, 29 October 2026 — William McClure Agnes gavigan marriage cert.pdf
Death, 1950
Source: ScotlandsPeople — Margarte Sarah Gavigan 1950 death.pdf
Electoral register, Orr Street, Glasgow, about 1950
Source: Colin uploads, 30 October 2026 — Hugh jOSPEH Gavigan vOTERS ROLLS GLASGOW 1950.jpg· match unconfirmed
The date comes from the file name. The page itself shows no year in the part that was photographed.
Gravestone, Hugh Joseph and Margaret Gavigan
Source: Family photograph — Hugh Joseph Gavigan & Margaret Wood Grave stone.jpg
Gravestone, Dalbeth Cemetery, Hugh Joseph and Margaret Gavigan
Source: Find a Grave memorial 231588086 (photo by IC and TC, Renfrewshire) — Find a Grave photo of the Gavigan headstone
A clearer photograph of the same stone as the family photograph. Credit: IC and TC, Renfrewshire, on Find a Grave.
Helen McKechnie Gavigan, Ancestry tree page
Source: Colin uploads, 30 October 2026 — Screenshot 2026-10-30 at 08.37.30.png
Screenshot of a page in the Galloway Family Tree on Ancestry. It is another person's tree and shows no sources.
What the records say
Details read from the certificate images above. Handwriting is transcribed as read, with doubts noted.
Death of Margaret Sarah Gavigan, 1950
Statutory Deaths 644/03 0253 · Camlachie district, Burgh of Glasgow, page 85, entry 253
Name
Margaret Sarah Gavigan
Died
24 April 1950, about 3:45 am (time hard to read)
Place of death
19 Orr Street, Glasgow
Sex and age
Female, 45 years
Marital status
Married to Hugh Gavigan, Steel Erector
Father
George Finlayson, Tinsmith (deceased)
Mother
Helen Dickson Finlayson, now Johnston, maiden surname McKechnie
Cause of death
Valvular disease of the heart; myocarditis
Informant
Helen Donald, daughter, 110 Forbes Street, Glasgow
Registered
24 April 1950, Glasgow
ℹ Place of death resolvedThe 2011 archive gave her death place as 110 Forbes Street. The certificate shows she died at 19 Orr Street, and 110 Forbes Street was the address of her daughter Helen Donald, who reported the death.
ℹ Helen Donald is now in the treeThe informant is Helen Donald, named as her daughter. The 29 October 2026 export of the Ancestry tree has Helen McKechnie Gavigan, born 1 November 1927, married to William Miller Donald, as a daughter of Hugh Joseph and Margaret Sarah. She has been added, with her husband and two sons, as a supplementary person.
ℹ Corroborates her parents and ageHer parents match George Finlayson and Helen D McKechnie in the tree, and an age of 45 fits a birth in 1904. In 1950 her husband's trade is given as Steel Erector, where in 1925 it was Fish Carter.
Marriage of Hugh Joseph Gavigan and Margaret Sarah Finlayson
Statutory Marriages 644/03 0038 · Calton district, Burgh of Glasgow, 1926 register, page 19, entry 38
Married
31 December 1925, St Mary's Chapel, Glasgow, after publication according to the forms of the Roman Catholic Church (registered 6 January 1926, which is why it is indexed under 1926)
Groom
Hugh Joseph Gavigan, 19, Fish Carter, bachelor, living at 19 Orr Street, Glasgow
Groom's parents
Hugh Gavigan, Fishmarket Stableman; Agnes Gavigan, maiden surname Wood
Bride
Margaret Sarah Finlayson, 21, Fish Carter, spinster, living at 19 Orr Street, Glasgow
Bride's parents
George Finlayson, Tinsmith (deceased); Helen Finlayson, now Johnston, maiden surname McKechnie
Clergyman
Edward FitzGerald, Catholic clergyman, St Mary's, Glasgow
Witnesses
Thomas Gavigan (Mile End address) and a second witness whose name is hard to read
ℹ His first marriageHugh Joseph is recorded as a bachelor, so this was his first marriage. Margaret Sarah Finlayson, who died on 24 April 1950, was his first wife. Colin reports that he later married a widow, Margaret Doyle, around 1951 or 1952.
ℹ A possible brother as witnessA witness called Thomas Gavigan signed with a Mile End address. This may be Hugh Joseph's brother Thomas, who appears aged 6 in the 1911 census, but the certificate does not say so.
Marriage of William McClure and Agnes Wood Gavigan, 1948
Statutory Marriages 644/2 271 · Bridgeton district, Burgh of Glasgow, 1948, page 136, entry 271
Married
6 August 1948 at Bridgeton Church, Glasgow, after banns, according to the forms of the Church of Scotland
Groom
William McClure, 23, seaman in the Royal Navy, bachelor, 226 Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow
Groom's parents
Joseph McClure, tube factory worker; Mary Ann McClure, maiden surname Ward
Bride
Agnes Wood Gavigan, 21, cotton waste worker (spinster), 19 Orr Street, Glasgow
Bride's parents
Hugh Joseph Gavigan, fish curer; Margaret Sarah Gavigan, maiden surname Finlayson
Witnesses
James Anderson, 27 Boden Street, Glasgow, and Helen McK Gavigan, 19 Orr Street, Glasgow
Registered
10 August 1948, Glasgow
ℹ Her registered nameThe bride is Agnes Wood Gavigan, not Agnes Nancy. Nancy is not on this record or on her husband's death record. It is on the headstone ("Nancy Gavigan"), so it was the name she was known by. Her aunt, born in 1920, was registered with the same name.
ℹ Her sister as a witnessHelen McK Gavigan of 19 Orr Street is almost certainly the bride's sister Helen McKechnie Gavigan (born 1927), who is already in the tree. The middle name matches their grandmother, Helen D McKechnie.
ℹ Exact dateThe GEDCOM had only "1948, Bridgeton" for this marriage. The date is now shown as 6 August 1948.
ℹ Both parents confirmedThe record names both sets of parents as already shown in the tree: Joseph McClure and Mary Ann Ward, and Hugh Joseph Gavigan and Margaret Sarah Finlayson. A second marriage on the page (entry 272, Henry Joseph Hughes and Sarah Dunbar) is unrelated.
Birth of Margaret Sarah Finlayson, 1904
Statutory Births 168/1 796 · District of St Nicholas, Burgh of Aberdeen, 1904, page 266, entry 796
Name
Margaret Sarah Finlayson, girl
Born
1 June 1904, in the afternoon (hour hard to read)
Place of birth
29 Loch Street, Aberdeen (the street is hard to read; the 1901 marriage gives the same number and street)
Father
George Finlayson, tinsmith (journeyman)
Mother
Helen Dickson Finlayson, maiden surname McKechnie, married 8 June 1901 at Saint Giles, Edinburgh
Informant
George Finlayson, father, present
Registered
4 June 1904, Aberdeen
ℹ Her birth was only "about 1904"The GEDCOM had no date or place for her birth. This entry gives both, and confirms her parents and their 1901 marriage.
ℹ The family were in AberdeenGeorge Finlayson was already living at 29 Loch Street, Aberdeen when he married in Edinburgh in 1901, so the family had settled there by then.
ℹ Other entries on the pageEntries 797 and 798 (Isabella Ennslie Fisher and Edwin Gray) are unrelated.
Electoral register, Orr Street, 19 Orr Street
Print 21, page 7 · Burgh of Glasgow, Bridgeton Division, Polling District Y, 4th Municipal Ward
Entries at number 19
851 Gavigan, Agnes M. W. | 852 Gavigan, Hugh | 853 Gavigan, Hugh J. | 854 Gavigan, Margaret | 855 Gavigan, Margaret B. | 856 Gavigan, Peter
Street
Orr Street, number 19, Bridgeton
Other names
857 Gilmour, Margaret, and 858 to 865 are other households at number 19
ℹ Who is whoAgnes M. W. is Agnes Wood Gavigan (Hugh junior's wife). Hugh is Hugh junior (the soldier), and Hugh J. is Hugh Joseph, his son. Peter is their son Peter, born 1916. Of the two Margarets, one is probably Hugh Joseph's wife Margaret Sarah and Margaret B. is probably Margaret Brock Gavigan. Margaret Gavigan, born 1913, Hugh senior's daughter, is another possible match.
ℹ Hugh junior was aliveIf this is the 1949 to 1950 register, Hugh Gavigan junior, the soldier, was still alive at about 74. His death has not been found yet.
⚠ Margaret B.Voters had to be 21. A Margaret Brock Gavigan born in 1932 would not be on a register in 1950, while one born on 18 August 1928, as the Galloway tree has her, would be. The birth index entry (Calton 1932) and the death index entry in 1983 (age 51) both point to 1932, so the roll is unexplained. Margaret B. may be a different person, or the date of the roll may be later than 1950.
ℹ The dateThe file name says 1950. The part of the page photographed has no year.
Gravestone inscription
Transcribed from the headstone photograph above, one line per line of lettering.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
MY DEAR WIFE AND
OUR DEAR MOTHER
MARGARET GAVIGAN
DIED 24TH APRIL 1950
AGED 45 YEARS
AND
HUGH JOSEPH GAVIGAN
BORN 10-10-1906
DIED 20-10-1993
DADDY, POP, PAPA,
GRANDAD AND FRIEND
Margaret Gavigan
Died 24 April 1950, aged 45. Described as "my dear wife and our dear mother". The date matches the GEDCOM death date, and an age of 45 fits her birth entry of 1 June 1904. The stone gives no maiden name; in this tree she is Margaret Sarah Finlayson. Find a Grave lists her as Margaret Sarah Gavigan, born 1905 and died at Camlachie, Glasgow, aged 44 or 45. The 1905 is worked back from her age, and the Aberdeen birth entry of 1904 is the better source.
Born 10 October 1906 (matches the GEDCOM) and died 20 October 1993. The GEDCOM only has the year 1993 for his death, so the stone adds the day and month. His epitaph reads "Daddy, Pop, Papa, Grandad and friend".
Burial place
Dalbeth Cemetery, Glasgow, Section 19 (Find a Grave memorial 231588086, which is for Margaret). Dalbeth is in the east end of Glasgow, near Camlachie, where Find a Grave has her dying.
ℹ The grave is at Dalbeth CemeteryThe Find a Grave entry places this stone in Section 19 of Dalbeth Cemetery, Glasgow. The memorial there is for Margaret only, but the stone carries Hugh Joseph's name and death date as well, which makes the unverified claim of a burial in Karmiel, Israel (in his life details) unlikely. A name on a stone does not prove who lies beneath it, so his burial is still not confirmed. The cemetery's lair records would show who is in the lair.
ℹ Reading the stoneTranscribed from the photographs. The clearer Find a Grave photograph reads the age as 45 and the year of Hugh Joseph's death as 1993, so those are no longer in doubt. The family's copy was supplied under the name 'Margaret Wood', but the inscription says Margaret Gavigan, and Hugh Joseph's wife in the tree is Margaret Sarah Finlayson.
Spouse & children
Spouse — married 31 Dec 1925, Glasgow
Children