Moses Melvin - Help!

[dab691]

Hi,

I am looking for birth, marriage and death details (and anything else of interest) for my 3 x great grandfather, Moses Melvin.

The info I have on him is.....
Born in Monymusk (Aberdeenshire) approximately 1787 - I have looked at Parish records and drawn a blank.
Joined the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry in 1805 in Edinburgh aged 18.
Fought in every campaign in the Peninsular War.
Married a French lady, Prudence Damion (think he met her in Paris when he was part of the occupying force).
Became a Chelsea Pensioner in 1826.
Daughter named Harriet.

Thanks for your help!

[Northern Lass]

Hi moved this to general discussion

[grangers14]

Cant see anything on him at all! Not one record on Scotlands people odd
I think this may have to to brick walls?
I wonder if Adrian could help with military information
Jo:)

[dab691]

Apologies, original post should have specified that Moses Melvin was in the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry and not the 51st as I stupidly put!

[MarkCDodd]

He as in the 1st Battalion, 52nd Regiment of Foot at the battle of Waterloo.

He was a Serjeant and his captain was George Young.

He was awarded the Walterloo Medal in 1815.

[MarkCDodd]

There is a Moses Melvin in the Aberdeen Directory in 1828 and 1829 listed as a "Grocer, porter and ale dealer".

145 Gallowgate, Aberdeen.

[Maths girl]

There is a Moses Melvin in the Aberdeen Directory in 1828 and 1829 listed as a "Grocer, porter and ale dealer".

145 Gallowgate, Aberdeen.

Became a Chelsea Pensioner in 1826.

Just wondering how these two could match up - has a "Chelsea Pensioner" changed since 1826 - I thought they were all soldiers who were alone in the world and lived in London.

[MarkCDodd]

Who knows. After a year of beign bored on the Pension he may have gone back home and opened a Pub.

And they only live in Chelsea so each of their last years on Earth seems like 5. Ho Hum....

[grangers14]

In- and out-pensioners
During the reign of King Charles II, the Royal Hospital was still under construction, so he introduced a system for distribution of army pensions in 1689. The pension was to be made available to all former soldiers who had been injured in service, or who had served for more than 20 years.

By the time the Hospital was completed, there were more pensioners than places available in the Hospital. Eligible ex-soldiers who could not be housed in the Hospital were termed out-pensioners, receiving their pension from the Royal Hospital but living outside it. In-pensioners, by contrast, surrender their army pension and live within the Royal Hospital.

In 1703, there were only 51 out-pensioners. By 1815 this figure had risen to 36,757.

The Royal Hospital remained responsible for distributing army pensions until 1955, following which the phrase "out-pensioner" became less common, and "Chelsea pensioner" was used largely to refer to "in-pensioners".

From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_pensioner

[MarkCDodd]

There are not many Moses Melvin from Aberdeen in the records so it is either him or a close relative.

Either way, I simply pointed out there is one listed. More research would be needed to see if it was him or another Moses. I assume if he was a Chelsea Pensioner then there would be records to show when he was a resident and if/when he left.

[dab691]

Thanks for the help guys.

Looks like MarkCDodd has found the correct Moses Melvin! I have now found out that his widow, Prudence Damion, married an Alexander Aiken on 21st August 1829 in Aberdeen. The address of the marriage is given as 145 Gallowgate, which is the address which MarkCDodd found for Moses Melvin in the 'Aberdeen Directory' for 1828 and 1829.

As I am fairly new to this game, can you please tell me what you mean by the 'Aberdeen Directory'. Is it the Parish records? Is there any additional info which I can glean from this source?

Thanks again for your help.

[MarkCDodd]

Many places have various "List" that you can use to trace your acnestors.

Census
Poll Books
Trade Directories
Gazettes
People Directories
Phone Books

The directory Moses is in is called "A Directory for the City of Aberdeen, and its vicinity. 1828-1829"

That one is available on Ancestry.

Here are hundreds of pre 1920 books on Aberdeen you can read online....

http://openlibrary.org/search?q=Aberdee ... =&offset=0