Lillias (McWaters) McKim (abt. 1850 - 1917)

Born about 1850 in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland

Wife of Joseph Paisley — married 22 Aug 1873 (to 1884) in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland

Wife of Alexander McKim — married 15 Apr 1890 (to 1917) in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died 28 Jun 1917 at about age 67 in Swissvale, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Martin McDowell [send private message]

Biography

Lillie (McWaters) McKim was born in Scotland.

Lillie was born in 1850 in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland. She was the daughter of Thomas M McWaters and Ann Greenfield. She makes an early appearance in the 1851 Scotland census, aged 1, along with her 6 elder sisters.^[1]

On 22 Aug 1873 she married Irish-born Joseph Paisley at Kilwinning.^[2] They had 4 daughters (male children seemed to be very much at a premium in the McWaters genes).^[3]

• Margaret W Paisley 1874–
• Annie Paisley 1876-1895 Died aged 20/21, buried at Homewood in same lot mother and stepfather would later be buried in.
• Sarah Paisley 1877–
• Eliza McWatters Paisley 1879–1958 married Samuel J McKim, her stepbrother, son Samuel. See below.

The entire family emigrated not long after 1879. A passenger list for the Circassia dated 13th-24th May 1880 seems to show the children; while the top name is Lily Paisley her age is entered as 6. Possibly a mistake, or possibly a fare-dodging scam they'd been drilled in. The other names and ages, Mgt, 4, Anne, 3, Sarah, 2 and Eliz 11/12 (eleven months) fit perfectly, and they are marked as steerage passengers from Scotland. Perhaps Joseph travelled ahead or stayed behind to sort things out, or perhaps he ordered himself a nice third-class cabin for some peace and quiet?

In 1884 Joseph passed away in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Lillie and her daughters were left fatherless in the United States. On 15 April 1890 she got married to fellow Scots exile, iron forger Alexander McKim.^[4] His first wife Jennie had passed away in 1884.

They settled in Swissvale, Allegheny, where his 6 children from his previous marriage, and her 4 daughters (up to Annie's death in 1895) from hers all lived in the same dwelling.^[5] By 1910 only 3 of Alex's children and Lillie's daughter Elizabeth remained at the family home.^[6]

She passed away in 1917 and her husband duly buried her in his family plot at Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Alex passed away in 1925 aged 80.^[7]

Find A Grave: Memorial #91000761

Sources

Footnotes

1. ↑ 1851 Census
2. ↑ "Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910"
3. ↑ Scotlandspeople.gov.uk birth record search confirmed 3 daughters we knew about - and threw in Annie as an extra surprise.
4. ↑ "Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950" Record confirms Scottish origin and widowed status, she married under her previous husband's name.
5. ↑ 1900 census
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1910"
7. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91000742/alexander-mckim

Research Notes

Familysearch seems insistent on referring to alternative name McQuatters, despite this seemingly not appearing on any records. With Scots accents at the time being even stronger than today, that's probably how "McWaters" would have sounded phonetically.

The given birth year of 1854 can't be correct if she appears on the 1851 census, which certainly seems to be the case unless there was another family of McWaters in Kilwinning with the same parents' names. She was clearly born in 1850, or even 1849. It should be noted she died in 1917 and the age on the burial request form at FindAGrave is 62, which ties to the 1854/1855 theory, but how often have we seen people's ages magically change on censuses? Her widower may not have known the exact year (though woe betide him if he had forgotten her birthday!).

The Pennsylvania records are clearly the same person, there are too many coincidences - the daughters, the birthplace, the maiden and married names. Add to that now the passenger list and the Allegheny grave for Joseph, plus all the mentions on census and marriage records of the daughters being born in Scotland, we have a clear picture of what happened with this family.

Based on the passenger list record, the Jane Paisley born 1881 in Kilwinning with no mother's maiden name entered can be discounted as a child of Joseph and Lillie.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Thomas Baillie for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Thomas and others.