Need Help - Great Great Grandfather jumped ship and changed name

Hi Kathleen,

I am still struggling with my 'Christian' brick wall, but I did find the birth certificates of some of his children gave clues to the spelling variations of his surname. Have you tracked down the birth certificates to the children (10).
(I see we are distant cousins).

Good luck
Jules

You are looking for a sailor, probably Scottish, born around 1820s who might have been named Peter and disappeared mid 1850s in Canada?

Was there a legal requirement for the captain to lodge a report of the desertion?

Perhaps a newspaper report? Obit in Scotland for "lost at sea" or "wanted" in Canada.

Have you considered or tried DNA testing? I think your chances of connecting to some lost Scottish cousins via DNA is much higher than finding a document trail.

Sorry, I forgot to add in the profile Peter Drake Ramsay, Sr.

Julie, thanks for your reply. That's interesting that we are distant cousins on my mom's side! That side of the family is much easier to find information on.

From what I've found so far, all of the Ramsay children's records have Ramsay as their surname. The spelling doesn't seem to vary. I have seen the middle name Doran appear many times, so I've wondered if that might be a clue to their missing surname, but Doran is Irish in origin, so maybe not. I've wondered where the name Drake (Peter's middle name) comes from. That's doesn't seem to be very common for the time and area. Perhaps that might be a clue?

Alex, those are all questions I wish I had answers to. I'm not sure how to find out. Is there a way to search for records of desertion from a Scottish ship? First I'd have to find the names of the ships that came to the East Coast around 1855. I'm very new to this type of genealogical searching, so not sure of where to begin. I have done DNA testing myself, so looking for connections to Scottish cousins is definitely something I can try. Thanks for the input :)

No worries, i have no idea at the answers either :)
Is there a local museum you could ask or historical society, even if they don't know they could make point you towards more likely sources of info

Alex, thanks I'll try that. By the way, apparently we too are distant cousins according to Geni :) It would be through my connection to the Savoie family. But I have my doubts as to the truth of that connection. Another family legend claims that this same Ramsay great great grandfather married a descendant of the royal house of Savoie. The story goes that Francois Savoie, my direct ancestor (10 generations), was the illegitimate son of the Prince of Savoie, and was sent into exile in Canada in the mid 1600's. He supposedly revealed his royal bloodlines to his family as he lay dying. I love these family legends, even if they aren't true. They bring romance to our history :)