My grandfather William Stewart Rae was born a citizen of Scotland, where in Scotland was he from?

Question

My maternal grandfather, William Stewart Rae, was born off of the coast of Malta on a Hospital Ship, because his father was in the military in India. My Grandfather's mother died in childbirth and my grandfather spent his first 3 years aboard this ship being raised by the nurses on board. I don't know the details of how or when he emigrated to America. He served in the United States Military during the second world war and died in a military nursing home in Port Orchard, WA called Retsil in approximately 1971-1972. Can anyone give me information re: who his people were and where his father was from in Scotland? He had two children in the USA William Stewart Rae, Jr. and Joanne Roselee Rae, born in Bend, Oregon

Comments

An amazingly difficult start of this man's life. I wonder if the nurses wanted to keep him. Oh, my what a story!

Answer 1

Not sure if you've seen this one already, but...

On Ancestry.com, I found a 1922 passenger record that could possibly be him:  William Stewart Rae, age 17, born in Malta, traveling from Glasgow to New York on the S.S. Cameronia.  He is accompanied by Emilie Rae, age 44, and on the following page it says they are both headed to Bend, Oregon to the address of Alex Rae, who is identified as Emilie's husband.  He could possibly be William's father (in fact, the word "father" is crossed out), so I looked up Alexander Rae and found him in the 1940 census, and also in the 1920 census with a son named "Stewart", birthplace Malta.

Comments

With that information, I found a World War I draft card for Alexander Milne Rae listing his exact birth date, which then led me to this birth record here.  IF this is the right person, then his birthplace was Fordyce and his parents were James Rae and Ann Kerr.  On Scotland's People, his birth record's registration number is 153/2 67 and of course you can view it for a fee. :-)

 

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(and I've just noticed that this question was asked almost 5 months ago!  hehe... well, I hope this helps someone someday!  cheers!  :-D  )

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That is great work, Vicky Majewski!!!!!

Answer 2

Get his death cert and his marriage cert. It might tell you something about his parents. If it doesn't, then you go to their information: death certs, marriage certs etcIn the case of your g grandfather, there should be information in the India Records (http://indiafamily.bl.uk/) or military records.

familysearch has this information on him (I think it's him):

William S Rae

United States Census, 1930

Name	William S Rae
Event Type	Census
Event Date	1930
Event Place	Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington, United States
Gender	Male
Age	25
Marital Status	Married
Race	White
Race (Original)	White
Relationship to Head of Household	Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original)	Head
Birth Year (Estimated)	1905
Birthplace	Malta
Immigration Year	1914
Father's Birthplace	Scotland
Mother's Birthplace	India
Sheet Letter	B
Sheet Number	11

HOUSEHOLD	ROLE	GENDER	AGE	BIRTHPLACE
William S Rae	Head	M	25	Malta
Mildred M Rae	Wife	F	20	Washington
Joan R Rae	Daughter	F	2	Oregon
William S Rae	Son	M	0	Oregon

CITING THIS RECORD

"United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCQX-NKK : 8 December 2015

There is a photo of the original document too. Great stuff.

Cheers

Comments

Thank you, Susan Scarcella!!!

Answer 3

http://scotlandexplained.com/scotland-genealogy-finding-your-clan/

 

take a look at this site it may help you

Answer 4

My great grandfather was Matthew Rae from Dumphries, Scotland.

He emigrated to Nova Scotia in the 1800's.  The name Rae became Ray when they moved to Boston. It was common to anglicize the name at that time.  My paternal grandfather was William Thomas Ray. They settled in Norfolk, Ma where there are now 5th generation Rays growing up on the same piece of land!

Answer 5

I have both Rae and Kerr in my direct line.  Both of my families are from the Aberdeenshire section of NE Scotland.  I would be interested in sharing any information I have on Kerr and Rae with you,

Answer 6

Hi Ky, this is Bonnie, your Uncle Bill's wife.  I just accidentally came onto your query.  I had no idea that you were interested in the family history.  I have it all on Ancestry.com.  One thing that is new is that I I made a connection with Scotty's birth father and their descendants.  Scotty's birth name was Halford.  I think you can sign up for Ancestry.com for two weeks for free and would be able to see everything.  I'd be glad to send you copies.  I'm still at the same address.  And same phone number.