Sunday 8 December 2013

Genealogical Oddities (XXXIII): A Scot in Settles Down in 19th Century Galicia

On 10 October 1850 in the Galician seaport of Carril, Juan Salvador Newport, stated to be a convert to Catholicism, a native of Scotland and the son of Juan, deceased, and Isabel 'Magage', married a Spanish girl named Josefa Barcia. This couple had at least one daughter, and her baptism record sheds additional light on her father's origin. Matilde Newport was born on 23 September 1851, to Juan Salvador Newport and Josefa Barcia; her paternal grandparents were identified as Juan Newport, deceased and Elizabeth Macgee, residents of Grenoch in the Kingdom of Scotland.

This indicates that our expat in Galicia was the son of a John Newport who married an Elizabeth MacGee or McGee, and that he was born in Greenock, Inverclyde. His age is not given in either record; presumably he too would have been christened as John Newport, the 'Salvador' likely an addition at the time of his conversion to Catholicism.


SOURCES: Diocesan Archive of Santiago, Records of the parish of Carril (Pontevedra): Marriages 1792-1858, P. 167; Baptisms 1826-1852, P. 249.