tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67392343696637128232024-03-13T14:35:52.058-07:00The Scottish Genealogy BlogEmma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.comBlogger258125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-49735594244114003512022-05-30T08:10:00.000-07:002022-05-30T08:10:20.332-07:00Genealogy mistakes to avoid #5 - Not keeping a research log<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iYEtyjrYCcXTRs4RydMSh99Vu_Q4ic1-uRS35tZLnjqnG7jfkUONXojJBzmBIF_jniaMFQZYi4cUU-NxBmlZnF_u8mTCUrkjajrYcJXTmr8INiLhFRampJ3j1lo_EcN-hNpBEmNS6sLpji2pnhrm0RtZHb2bct4JPGAWAIlaGOkpsFjVltm_AucI6w/s4996/%23%205%20Genealogy%20mistakes%20to%20avoid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2617" data-original-width="4996" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iYEtyjrYCcXTRs4RydMSh99Vu_Q4ic1-uRS35tZLnjqnG7jfkUONXojJBzmBIF_jniaMFQZYi4cUU-NxBmlZnF_u8mTCUrkjajrYcJXTmr8INiLhFRampJ3j1lo_EcN-hNpBEmNS6sLpji2pnhrm0RtZHb2bct4JPGAWAIlaGOkpsFjVltm_AucI6w/w400-h210/%23%205%20Genealogy%20mistakes%20to%20avoid.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This is one I think we will all be guilty of. We’re hunting down an ancestor, looking here, there and everywhere. We search newspapers on Findmypast then head to ScotlandsPeople and Ancestry making all sorts of searches; then we have to stop. We’re right in the middle of our research and we have to put the dinner on or go to bed! When we come back to our research we can’t remember what we’ve searched already and end up doing it all again. <p></p><p>I like to keep a simple research log. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You could write it in a notebook, use a spreadsheet or make a simple <a href="https://docs.google.com/">Google Doc</a>. An electronic note is useful as you can paste the URLs of entries.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8fqRpo4KsFtmkk8G9zyX1kc-Mv8JRofwCDkig1-c1_JmbDkLuixk_515gkZpdqaSJtJo05nGtanpcRtCnjO63X7oogLI67DkvWaPpcpcpEksIIF-GzbIUSOkYpuqIMM9tIJviF1sCjjgfGPCqm0UG1ACmPvdpHBZ-E4CNMoi1_KucxG6b-r8sRtryGA/s320/Instagram%20Square.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For example, let’s say I am searching the <a href="https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/record-guides/kirk-session-records">Kirk Session records on ScotlandsPeople</a>. I may come across an entry which could be relevant but I’m not sure. I copy and paste the reference above the entry and put this in a Google Doc, then I copy the URL. The URL is the text in the address bar at the top of the page that will start https://www.scot…. Copy and paste the whole thing, even if it’s really long. I then make a quick note like “could be X, Y or Z person but not sure”. <p></p><p>I will also record what I have searched and by which terms. For example, if I am searching newspapers on <a href="https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers">Findmypast</a> I will record who I have searched for and by which spellings. I do this even if the search didn’t result in any interesting finds! I may also make notes of things I should search for next time.</p><p>This means if I have to break off halfway through my research I can pick up where I left off next time. </p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-38654046512665824592022-05-26T01:49:00.003-07:002022-05-26T01:49:57.365-07:00Genealogy mistakes to avoid #4 - Ignoring the occupation<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2IxQpN-_mymuWwQzaapr3xHfQ7NGOloOm8wkEqcsSc03nCGJPzYxQJUEZURvkezjYhF1cnZ9OAQQtY34m_VBr3758PDnGzZlBBFOVyHJ1XsVR6uymTZ5R2LvHx4tbfAaaoo2rFg2QSTs-i-dquBr__fFCPJIR4wjUdW95inYRS4O5qSkcsLgZck41EQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2617" data-original-width="4996" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2IxQpN-_mymuWwQzaapr3xHfQ7NGOloOm8wkEqcsSc03nCGJPzYxQJUEZURvkezjYhF1cnZ9OAQQtY34m_VBr3758PDnGzZlBBFOVyHJ1XsVR6uymTZ5R2LvHx4tbfAaaoo2rFg2QSTs-i-dquBr__fFCPJIR4wjUdW95inYRS4O5qSkcsLgZck41EQ=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When trying to match our family up with the records it can be a real challenge when they have common names and lots of cousins in the same parish also have the same names. It can be a real tangle. </span></p><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4cfa995b-7fff-1ef0-0fd0-72d94cb39a5a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes we’re so focused on the names we forget about the occupation. Although people did sometimes change their occupation, it’s fairly unlikely that a married man would change occupation from a stone mason to a shoemaker. Both of these occupations would require an apprenticeship. Our ancestors would have served as an apprentice as a teenager and perhaps into their early 20s before they got married. How would a married man with children afford to be able to serve an apprenticeship and switch professions as we can today? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, some occupations are the same but described differently. A shoemaker in one record may be described as a cordiner in another. A shipwright may also be described as a joiner. Or you may find a grocer being described as a victualler. If you come across an occupation that is uncommon today, check out the <a href="https://dsl.ac.uk/">Dictionaries of the Scots Language</a> to discover what it was.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="1080" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCxOZQ1RfpjCX2bg_4fHrZ9kIXBF-JsuwkCqE7GQSbx529k_9TCgzf5K011FaumC-l1n8lYLbM2v7YdrwSVz3ToHYWDfDPEuxfbNbb0ysC_NEHMo_dpWfsP5fG4qPTRNtfnui7MIXBkUKM57usjXmo8CUxVPCtdqKHvlFZiz812XIjZaywZ-6eYV1LAA=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div></div></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-70659552158604539812022-05-25T01:44:00.005-07:002022-05-25T01:44:51.841-07:00Genealogy mistakes to avoid #3 - Not looking at a map<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidmL8pfMUY5miUPFyQ28WzaJ7lOBO8kLOHk3sjw_s-EgzsmoeOvJ_qpQLugsoihT6_YIa_cyoXK6r_38peM_2cLDzavpscKWjvRQ3NE42QSjB-L2IX5WTxkvdbbi0yZQM_imC6HAaPxAaJHYE_xJJCWmc2LXT4BKY0ftzsZawxztzV_vDS6U7fqoA8yQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2617" data-original-width="4996" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidmL8pfMUY5miUPFyQ28WzaJ7lOBO8kLOHk3sjw_s-EgzsmoeOvJ_qpQLugsoihT6_YIa_cyoXK6r_38peM_2cLDzavpscKWjvRQ3NE42QSjB-L2IX5WTxkvdbbi0yZQM_imC6HAaPxAaJHYE_xJJCWmc2LXT4BKY0ftzsZawxztzV_vDS6U7fqoA8yQ=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p>When we’re hunting for our family they can move from place to place. In fact, agricultural labourers may have moved every 6 months. It may not be too surprising that we find our ancestors have moved but where have they moved to? Does it make sense?<p></p><p>We might try to match up a family from Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a family in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland. If you are not familiar with Scottish geography this may seem OK, but checking the map will show you the great distances involved and reveal that it would not be an easy journey. Nothing is impossible, but make sure you are connecting the right families. For example, if you have your family in Huntly in 1861 then you think you have them in Campbeltown in 1871 check the 1861 census of Campbeltown. If you find the family there in 1861 it can’t be ‘your’ family.</p><p>The opposite is also true. A map could show you that places are very close together. Let’s say you have a family in the 1840 census living in Weem Parish but you find the baptisms in the Parish of Killin. As this is a different parish and seemingly a good distance away, it could seem like the ‘wrong family. Looking at a map showing where the family were living and where the church is would show you that the children were baptised at the closest church even though it was in a different parish. </p><p>For old maps check out the <a href="https://maps.nls.uk/" target="_blank">National Library of Scotland</a>. They have a great collection and they are all free to access. </p><div><br /><br /></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-1999146740906074312022-05-24T06:52:00.005-07:002022-05-24T06:52:58.785-07:00Genealogy mistakes to avoid #2 - Not looking at the next page<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24HfhlOxbBbXUUqIx3RahwsmTUbRl-xy-GLMpL2KqizUjxJyEtOh5u7la6zKYYTOAM1oVkTTBxC21jUhSZoTmP85lVNKbr5MeL9d-QIId-S0Ep2CzYUB3OkLzkk1MwWlCY4fJrkzN1rhjFUHajdPF6B2LBgvEp5zxxhZ9HQyFHMcT-IlzctQHY4dE8g/s1080/%232%20Genealogy%20mistakes%20to%20avoid%20%232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="1080" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24HfhlOxbBbXUUqIx3RahwsmTUbRl-xy-GLMpL2KqizUjxJyEtOh5u7la6zKYYTOAM1oVkTTBxC21jUhSZoTmP85lVNKbr5MeL9d-QIId-S0Ep2CzYUB3OkLzkk1MwWlCY4fJrkzN1rhjFUHajdPF6B2LBgvEp5zxxhZ9HQyFHMcT-IlzctQHY4dE8g/w400-h210/%232%20Genealogy%20mistakes%20to%20avoid%20%232.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I was looking at a passenger list the other day. The first time I looked at it I thought I had read all the information. Later I went back to review it and realised there was more information on the next image. The relative in Scotland was listed on the second page! If you can, always look at the page before and the one after to make sure you have come to the end of the record. It’s a good habit to get into.<p></p><p>On ScotlandsPeople you will usually be charged for looking at the next page but if your family is split over two pages in the census you can ask for a refund. If they are at the top or bottom of the page check to see if you have the whole household. For example, is the top person listed as the head of the house? If they are at the foot of the page, are there two small lines indicating the end of the household? If not, the rest of the family may be over the page. </p><p>It’s not just passenger lists and census records this applies to. In some countries birth, marriage and death records may have something written on the back. This is less likely to happen in Scotland; the exception would be that a sibling may be listed on the previous or next page of a parish register (but this would be indexed). </p><p>If you can, look at the next and previous pages to make sure you have the entire record. </p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-48927792550873778652022-05-23T09:41:00.004-07:002022-05-23T09:41:53.720-07:00Genealogy mistakes to avoid #1 - Don’t assume anything.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegsKAHX9mbrF_-EtK-mvFKLRPmPFbWdMJBjB_csshmmsU5-yZI2x5YkftqUo59fgH4oZoePnKcQJst8-spzDF6a1B_ux21K5Fb6ekT4yGLhgrlWr30Zc0EHwz8Fpc8Vq4Cz3-Bpc6J6iRue1JHajsmlcmPpM-fjZrgf3HQjs3DWesVpB-DQXUpYJmSw/s1080/20220516_2053010.7155067217380462.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="1080" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegsKAHX9mbrF_-EtK-mvFKLRPmPFbWdMJBjB_csshmmsU5-yZI2x5YkftqUo59fgH4oZoePnKcQJst8-spzDF6a1B_ux21K5Fb6ekT4yGLhgrlWr30Zc0EHwz8Fpc8Vq4Cz3-Bpc6J6iRue1JHajsmlcmPpM-fjZrgf3HQjs3DWesVpB-DQXUpYJmSw/w400-h210/20220516_2053010.7155067217380462.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Let’s say you find your family in the census, a husband, wife and three children. From 1851 in Scotland you will be told how each person relates to the head of the house; usually the husband. Therefore you will be told that the woman is the wife of the head and the children are his children; that’s right, his children. It would be easy to assume that all the children are biological children of both the husband and the wife but the census will not tell us if that’s the case or not. Of course, they often will be, but keep digging and find documents to support this. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, in the 1841 census, we are not told any relationships at all so we need to be even more careful. Assumptions though can be made when looking at other records too. When you are researching, ask yourself:</div><div><br /></div><div>How do I know that?</div><div><br /></div><div>Have I made an assumption or do I have evidence to support my research?</div><div><br /></div><div>It’s OK to have a theory but don’t rest until you have the evidence. This is the first in a series of genealogy mistakes to avoid. More will be coming soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>Have you made any mistakes? If so let me know and we may feature it in our #GenealogyMistakes series to help other researchers avoid the same pitfall. Don’t worry, we won’t name and shame you!</div><br /><div><br /></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-32771204737387933512022-05-03T06:00:00.001-07:002022-05-03T06:00:47.235-07:00Did your ancestors work the land?<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">If your ancestor was a farmer, shepherd or agricultural labourer you may be able to find information in estate records. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-30e3b348-7fff-8b9f-792c-ce24f16c54ee"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Families who owned large estates would need their own records. These might record who were their employees, or who rented their farms. These records can be useful when you are researching your family history. For example, it’s not unusual for a farm to be rented by generations of the same family. This can be crucial information for periods when there are no census records or there are gaps in church records.</span></p><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwTCqzzKh0jL81VV5AwdTNQdlNlXKsQXThlBYhcDCfOAj226e0eP-rVgswyf6X8u5lRVLcaZmkANAXuAYLdfcJfkuu5QxSas6FplEvO8pJUhnjowq8o30QxJsBYhFltdhKASt2vMAomnhipddELJt9REwcEADB_0-zKq4hSR796vuaXwP0rF903v4JA/s2980/0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2008" data-original-width="2980" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwTCqzzKh0jL81VV5AwdTNQdlNlXKsQXThlBYhcDCfOAj226e0eP-rVgswyf6X8u5lRVLcaZmkANAXuAYLdfcJfkuu5QxSas6FplEvO8pJUhnjowq8o30QxJsBYhFltdhKASt2vMAomnhipddELJt9REwcEADB_0-zKq4hSR796vuaXwP0rF903v4JA/w400-h270/0001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valuation Roll, Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotalnd (1896-97)</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In general, you are more likely to find records of farmers and shepherds than agricultural labourers. This is because the farmer would often sublet the cottages on a farm to workers, in fact, the cottage would probably come with the job. In this case, your ‘Ag Lab’ may not appear in the estate records. Having said that, records of this nature vary so if you are up against a brick wall it may be worth checking.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step one is to find out the name of the estate and who owned it. There are a few ways to go about this. One way is to look at the </span><a href="https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/advanced-search#%7B%22category%22:%22valuation%22%7D" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Valuation Rolls</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, some of which are on ScotlandsPeople. They will tell you who owned a property, who was the tenant and who lived in it. Not all small properties are listed in the early years and they only go back to 1855. Although they were produced yearly, ScotlandsPeople has generally added the volumes ‘between the census years’ like 1855, 1865, 1875 etc. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another way to find out is to search the newspapers, this is particularly helpful for farms. If a farm was available for rent it will be listed in the newspaper and tell you which estate it was on. This is also interesting as it will tell you a bit about the land your ancestors farmed. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maps from the National Library of Scotland can also be very helpful. Ordnance Survey maps are good but there are also a growing number of estate maps available: </span><a href="https://maps.nls.uk/estates/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://maps.nls.uk/estates/</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-size: 11pt; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMV9yhJ7ks1wtjJFeTcoiSU9dQs6BbMAhsVqQyJg4nknUy-4sQz1BDrZWw4soRARdOK_yKzxBd_a7fidytwibarCRsqJk9qT4PKzE939lsgiruMMl9UZX2X75JEOBb4Wy8BEywtpFgsTlsc0R8m9NL1YYuBngjpnYK1gvrSg81FymvAnbGmD7XsvHew/s3702/sasine%20office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2240" data-original-width="3702" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMV9yhJ7ks1wtjJFeTcoiSU9dQs6BbMAhsVqQyJg4nknUy-4sQz1BDrZWw4soRARdOK_yKzxBd_a7fidytwibarCRsqJk9qT4PKzE939lsgiruMMl9UZX2X75JEOBb4Wy8BEywtpFgsTlsc0R8m9NL1YYuBngjpnYK1gvrSg81FymvAnbGmD7XsvHew/s320/sasine%20office.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "Lucida Grande", Verdana, Lucida, Geneva, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Register of Sasines records heritable property being transferred.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In some cases, you may need to use property records. As these are not online, I try to use the other means already mentioned, but here is some information about Scottish property records: </span></span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningsasines.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningsasines.aspx</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you know which family owned the farm you can search for their estate records. The National Records of Scotland and National Library of Scotland both have large collections so they can be a good place to begin. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Archives across Scotland also have their own collections of estate records. Either go to the archive for the area your ancestor lived or search the Scottish Archive Network catalogue: </span><a href="https://www.scan.org.uk/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scan.org.uk/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The National Register of Archives is another good place to look. The National Register of Archives for Scotland (NRAS) was established by the Scottish Record Office (now the National Records of Scotland) in 1946 to compile a record of papers of historical significance in private hands in Scotland. You can search this catalogue here: </span><a href="https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrasregister/welcome.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrasregister/welcome.aspx</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing to remember is that often these records still belong to the family. Think of your small family archive, perhaps you have photographs of your great-grandparents or letters written to your granny. These are precious and belong to your family. Even if the letter mentions somebody else it’s still your letter and it’s up to you how it is used. It’s the same with estate records, they still belong to the family. Many estates allow access but they are not public records. This means that some may have restrictions on copying and publication. Make sure you find out what these are. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learning.aspx" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2817" data-original-width="5004" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwT8OUht_4SgLQAGAUk4wTSNjSoXEQ-po2AZbu_a6YhgnnCuRKNqbcbhLxXCNlG_3pM5DWWYDjTFfo88TgYyWod1th0hHmJXxXkibU4sw6xEuFE4gQdl0BR87bFYeJyK6tejo2fqDv-i5b7iZ00Y25G8Q2YhT72Xw71F_QIIh1zjVE7AtzlUe3pe3jIA/w640-h360/head%20in%20a%20spin.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-7895972815957539162022-04-27T03:11:00.004-07:002022-04-27T03:11:27.277-07:00Robbie Collins - an Eccentric Vendor<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNf5R33u2XBqjtL_jIbsEuoC2XDcaEE2sBbyZYnjE_sT7BQTJm3nPiOdTkYv8q0TJ8_xU3xSxyuyIqI4BtIkLK3KIgJn8fq1geSMt2Yt5PD28yCGTLtplq2jzbPQ2L-NoXBbq8A7iK8GE2L-UNdusj_BtGnSaDyVYbO0-JPo09DIPJhGL8nho9A2tzw/s1492/worthies%20image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="1492" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNf5R33u2XBqjtL_jIbsEuoC2XDcaEE2sBbyZYnjE_sT7BQTJm3nPiOdTkYv8q0TJ8_xU3xSxyuyIqI4BtIkLK3KIgJn8fq1geSMt2Yt5PD28yCGTLtplq2jzbPQ2L-NoXBbq8A7iK8GE2L-UNdusj_BtGnSaDyVYbO0-JPo09DIPJhGL8nho9A2tzw/w320-h320/worthies%20image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Today we have another story from John B. Drylie’s book, “Worthies of Dumfriesshire”<p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-156cd2fc-7fff-58f2-f984-821aa1d3308d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Poor Robbie Collins, who was known far and near as a vendor of stationery and smallwares, was buried in Troqueer Churchyard in March 1830. Although he had no secret hoard like Wull Steenie [I will tell you more about Wull in another post], his books and clothes, when turned into money after his death, sufficed to lay his head decently in the grave, even to leave a balance, which was handed to the treasurer of the Kirk session, so that in one respect he was on a par with miser Wull, and though a pauper himself, he left a legacy to the poor.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robbie was a native of Ayrshire, and at one time in his varied and chequered career he taught a small school in some Highland island. He was short of stature, lame of a leg, blind of an eye, and decrepit in mind as well as in body, and it was said that he had a "spice of the knave in him as well as the fool." He migrated to Dumfries about the year 1813, at which time he was possessed of only a few shillings. Gradually acquiring credit, however, with booksellers and other tradespeople, he traded his way so successfully that he at last grew rich, at least comparatively for a man of his grade, and he was able to deposit in the parish bank a sum little short of £70. His "round" was travelled very cheaply. Although most extensive, he visited many thousands of people in the east as well as the south of Scotland, and there were few who grudged him a bed or a meal; indeed there were many who patronised Robbie when they could have purchased more cheaply elsewhere. Robbie had a fawning, winning manner, and as a "character" he was favoured by the rich as well as by the poor.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3vWEsqS98UG8aTpByUgFo9yiMc27mfj98QWLLp33b4SQE8UurJiMLg12UaEAWVcPQrpHbw1tStHYU2YXX16FxDxrcGJcrJQndVcsD3nwAZ4BVvWkA0fj2kvr8BDi-97RqE9wir5G8PJyHFH_A3EtVrGZ-cJ8lgW1V5ZFeaG_yr9xPvglfCcDu5hRhg/s1080/A%20man,%20his%20books%20and%20a%20donkey.%20Robbie%20Collins.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3vWEsqS98UG8aTpByUgFo9yiMc27mfj98QWLLp33b4SQE8UurJiMLg12UaEAWVcPQrpHbw1tStHYU2YXX16FxDxrcGJcrJQndVcsD3nwAZ4BVvWkA0fj2kvr8BDi-97RqE9wir5G8PJyHFH_A3EtVrGZ-cJ8lgW1V5ZFeaG_yr9xPvglfCcDu5hRhg/s320/A%20man,%20his%20books%20and%20a%20donkey.%20Robbie%20Collins.png" width="320" /></a></div></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As times prospered the box slung behind his back was exchanged for a pair of panniers, which, when filled with smallware, were mounted on a donkey's back, and Robbie, who had limped many a weary mile, thenceforward made his rounds more at his ease, and indeed quite like "the gentleman." By some means or other he fastened a printed label in verse on the donkey's forehead, which served for a sign wherever he went, by intimating the owner's name and occupation, and enumerating the various articles he had for sale.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robbie had many a sore contest with his cuddy, which he designated as "a dour, thrawn, contrary beast," and though he frequently tried to reason with it in set speeches by the wayside, his eloquence was entirely thrown away. Nothing, however, could disabuse Robbie's mind of the notion that the ass understood every word he said. and as he was an enemy to every form of corporal punishment, he endeavoured by gentle and lenient means to train it in the way that cuddies should go. But, like many other reformers, even of the present day, his plans were too Utopian, and in the end he procured a cudgel, and discovered that this argument was the only sort of logic fitted to make an impression on the long-eared tribe.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robbie's success in some measure "turned his head." Tired of wandering, nothing would serve him but a little shop, and ultimately he secured one in Church Place, Dumfries. This he furnished with all sorts of small gear under the sun, and, as he had the capital to begin with, he obtained plenty of credit. His arrangements being completed, he sent for the cuddy, got it hoisted up the stair of the shop, and then desired the wondering beast to look round on all the grandeur and tell him "what it thought of Collins now?" The speculation, unfortunately, failed, and, but for the kindness of a benevolent gentleman who allowed him a pension of six shillings per week for many years, he would have been reduced to the greatest penury and distress. Thus secured, however, he made long sweeps east and north, and was as well known in Edinburgh as he was in Dumfries. At one time he contemplated visiting France, and talked of drawing his pension on the other side of the Channel, and spending his days tranquilly in some sequestered corner of the finer climates of the south, and where, as he said, provisions were cheap, and the taxes a trifle.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_hjeqvdZOEumyH9knO2K4H_2cm57RjOpOw9aqi6c8tzD0DvYBCbXqvhIw6iDk3axAPVPNaqAjNxen5YNUq4cDrqojBjY6R6s1zwZSIKmEsSBj_1Tj2sc4N98Nyfiup-XvRlHiVJRq3UBH4yGj_i5wdCA38PP6yWDB4gjsmeUfqgqI7Xe0DxZ0Nhnlw/s320/New%20016.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On another occasion he conceived the idea of making his fortune by marriage. He had set his fancy on two fair dames whose merits were on a par, and between whom he was as much divided as his cuddy would have been between two bundles of hay. To both of these ladies he wrote letters filled with all sorts of honeyed words, and determined to be the bearer of his own dispatches, and, as the ladies lived in the country (in the parish of Irongray to be exact), he commenced his wooing as the crow flies - that is, he called at the nearest house first, and delivered his epistle in due form. At first the family took the matter seriously, but speedily relaxing, they merely laughed at Robbie, and instructed the servants to regale him in the kitchen. Collins "took the bite and the bat with it,” and then wended his way a mile or so further. As luck would have it, it so happened that the lady Collins first addressed was invited to tea at his second house of call, and as she travelled faster than her suitor, she got there before him. Of this the "braw wooer" knew nothing, and great was the merriment when the young ladies compared notes (for the first letter had been carried to the home of Robbie's last hope as a curiosity), and found that the second letter was a facsimile of the first. The "Laird o' Cockpen" had only one string to his bow, but Robbie had two, and yet he was unsuccessful. Another meal was all the poor man got for his pains, and he departed as much crestfallen as his great prototype, and perhaps he said or sung, as he walked or rode through the glen, "they were daft tae refuse Robbie Collins.""</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><br />Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com1Glasgow, UK55.864237 -4.25180627.554003163821157 -39.408056 84.174470836178841 30.904443999999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-90183846701735098632022-04-18T06:15:00.002-07:002022-04-18T06:15:47.418-07:00 Lawrence Murphy — what a chancer!<span id="docs-internal-guid-56d572f2-7fff-1f4f-db69-925048746b38"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezT2_eNb99HIt3y3BoSKGYa10nMqW1E3eJ-6sOQKKjCRucEwnK9qXw-dM3IMFSqwZ_wnIP_AJtuJAvT__33DMUmlBObTH_oXyx988do41A_44R2v_PvN9gvwsj3qMhadb7fVAsYc1-lrbZlcbKMT7QvNeFI_f0-zR0qBroyKgu572Uaz_f64BvTu3Jg/s1383/larry%20page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1383" data-original-width="975" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezT2_eNb99HIt3y3BoSKGYa10nMqW1E3eJ-6sOQKKjCRucEwnK9qXw-dM3IMFSqwZ_wnIP_AJtuJAvT__33DMUmlBObTH_oXyx988do41A_44R2v_PvN9gvwsj3qMhadb7fVAsYc1-lrbZlcbKMT7QvNeFI_f0-zR0qBroyKgu572Uaz_f64BvTu3Jg/w283-h400/larry%20page.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Worthies of Dumfriesshire and Galloway’ was written by Jon Drylie and published in 1908. It is similar to other publications of the period, giving a biography of various characters in the area. Today’s story is that of Lawrence Murphy aka, ‘Tarry Larry’. The challenge for us as family historians is to separate fact from fiction.</span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some research shows that Larry died in April 1902 in Dumfries Poorhouse. His age is recorded as 101; is this correct? I started doing some digging and on </span><a href="https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=TNA%2FMSEA%2FBTOTH%2F4584988%2F00605&parentid=TNA%2FBT113%2F2132683186%2F1" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Findmypast</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I discovered Lawrence Murphy in the Merchant Seaman records. We’re told that he first went to sea as an apprentice in 1835 and that he was born on 10 March 1822. This is a long way off his date of birth being around 1800.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I checked </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scotland's Criminal Database</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on Scottish Indexes and discovered that Lawrence was no stranger to the prison at Dumfries. </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/prisontranscript.aspx?prisonid=490200121" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1841 his age was recorded as 20</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which was about right. </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/prisontranscript.aspx?prisonid=490301303" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eight years later in 1849 he’s only 6 years of age</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. By </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/prisontranscript.aspx?prisonid=560201005" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1857 he’s only 42</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and by </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/prisontranscript.aspx?prisonid=490404533" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1868 he was claiming to be born in 1811</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This age massaging continues. </span><a href="https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBC%2F1891%2F0033681218" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the census of 1891, when he was living in the poorhouse, his age was recorded as 88</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, giving him a birth year of 1803/4. Somehow by the time he died he had managed to increase his age again! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bear these facts in mind as you read the chapter, ‘Tarry Larry’ from ‘Worthies of Dumfriesshire and Galloway’, written by John Drylie.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji1a-R6DFYke2oYyf6-e3l6zc3FmYUu6mc_9cg2t2ValZ4XWsl2PAZ60bPzVbx1imm3Q59JbSmYIAyIvM3owXh8lquXJt2kJawqCmzMPN9wRkd_SBXFL7w8EvNmAl0YeqOK9EnpzeZcJ2QE5BoyG_6E8po5j6jwbFN5udftosglPCMaZgkoQ8j5w0_cw/s1080/Larry%203%20frogs%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji1a-R6DFYke2oYyf6-e3l6zc3FmYUu6mc_9cg2t2ValZ4XWsl2PAZ60bPzVbx1imm3Q59JbSmYIAyIvM3owXh8lquXJt2kJawqCmzMPN9wRkd_SBXFL7w8EvNmAl0YeqOK9EnpzeZcJ2QE5BoyG_6E8po5j6jwbFN5udftosglPCMaZgkoQ8j5w0_cw/w320-h320/Larry%203%20frogs%20(2).png" width="320" /></a></div>“Lawrence Murphy, who lived till he was over 100 years of age, and who died only a few years ago, was a native of Dumfries, and in the twentieth century he could relate to the smallest detail his recollections of the French prisoners in Dumfries at the beginning of last century. With them he was on intimate terms, and acted as a sort of page boy. For them he made excursions to Lochar Moss and the Long Wood for puddocks, frogs, and hedgehogs, on which the French officers would dine. Larry, as he was familiarly called, took to a seafaring life in his early days, and for almost half-a-century he followed that vocation, during which time he saw a good deal of the surface of the globe. He sailed a lot between Canada and Britain, and he used to say that "the very dogs in Quebec knew him."</span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once when sailing on the "John Wilson," which was bringing home timber from Quebec, and which belonged to Laird Thomson, commonly called "the Laird," the skipper of the bark refused to allow the sailors the usual allowance of "grog." The weather was bitterly cold at the time, and "Larry," who was generally the ringleader in any adventure, undertook to supply the crew with a share of the special brandy which was contained in a big jar enclosed in a wicker case for the Laird's delectation. Larry's "modus operandi" was as follows. Cute enough not to touch the seal he turned the jar up-side down, and boring a hole into it, he extracted the liquor, which was substituted by salt water, the hole plugged up, and the jar returned to its proper place. The Laird naturally was amazed at the transformation of his wine into salt water, and he thought that the agent at Quebec had played a practical joke upon him. It was a year after that before Larry found occasion to explain the real reason for the disappearance of the liquor. He was rafting timber on the Nith at the foot of Bank Street, and when the Laird unwarrantably "yoked on " Larry, the latter took the Laird off with the remark - "Hech, ye needna be sae bubbly; we did ye wi' the brandy last year."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During his seafaring career, Larry was an adept at smuggling tobacco. He had no faith in the stereotyped false-bottomed chests, or any her worked-out fakes, but like Myles Crow, he was original in his ideas, and fortunately or unfortunately as readers may think, Larry was more successful than that unfortunate whom we met in a previous chapter. Sometimes Larry would tie the tobacco into a tight bundle, climb to the truck of the mast, secure the bundle there with a cord, and remove it from its lofty resting-place on the quiet. Another plan was to put the weed into an old canvass bag, tie it round and round with ropes, and then besmear the whole with tar. It is needless to say that such an article got little investigation from the officers of excise.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgc6LwIK3Rjam2JiB2KS3S8OhHmL_tdypdXDGJLmLX1FBH29n-ePAprpZ45krdvBcFo-kOgyHVb4KoodE7DrBYu5wa647eWio7qHaWXx6jK1_Lihx_H48BNXe_GH2OBKmPHeukEKb74C2TXVQmtt9mX5XOyal2adGGzdFr84DsETOjUdPfahLEIKMKDQ/s1572/2018-07-02_06-13-44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="1572" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgc6LwIK3Rjam2JiB2KS3S8OhHmL_tdypdXDGJLmLX1FBH29n-ePAprpZ45krdvBcFo-kOgyHVb4KoodE7DrBYu5wa647eWio7qHaWXx6jK1_Lihx_H48BNXe_GH2OBKmPHeukEKb74C2TXVQmtt9mX5XOyal2adGGzdFr84DsETOjUdPfahLEIKMKDQ/w400-h258/2018-07-02_06-13-44.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tired of the sea, Larry settled down in Dumfries, and was principally employed rafting on the river. He had a constitution of iron, and was devoid of all fear. About sixty years ago the scaffolding at the Martinton Railway Bridge, on the Castle Douglas Railway, which was then being built, was carried down the Nith by a flood, and a considerable quantity of it was stopped by the piers at the New Bridge, Larry was swung from the bridge by a waistband and a rope, and by this means he tied ropes to the planking and machinery swirling in the flood below, which were then drawn safely to the side. Larry might be said to have been a water-kelpie. On one occasion someone, by way of a joke, had nut an advertisement in the newspapers stating that on a certain day an American diver would dive into the Nith from the Old Bridge. A large crowd of people turned out to witness the exhibition, but the Yankee failed to appear, and Larry, always ready to please, said: "We'll no see folks cheated; I'll dae't mysel'." Thereupon, Larry, fully dressed, dived from the Bridge to the great amusement of the people. He was warmly received on swimming to the shore, and like Tam Broon, who had accomplished the same feat several times, he was trotted across to the "Grapes Inn," and royally treated for his pluck.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Larry was also instrumental in saving a good many lives. On one occasion when he was about sixty years of age, two boys got beyond their depth at the "gullet pool" near the Caul. A man named Glendinning, who was rafting wood below Bank Street, ran to the spot, dived in after them, and disappeared. Larry, who had been similarly employed, stripped off his jacket and waistcoat, plunged into the river, and succeeded in rescuing one of the boys, Bob Bennet, a celebrated Maxwelltown worthy. also lent a helping hand, but as Larry said with a grin - "He was nae use." After Larry had brought the first boy safely ashore, the cry went up- "There's another!" and again our worthy dived and brought up the second boy. "Where's Glendinning?" was the next cry, and Larry with his unconscious humour, asked if there was "mair yet," and then diving brought up Glendinning, who, however, had succumbed in his effort to rescue the boys.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyKy3Z5OXEdA6r07IwFn1BQ-9Fg_iQ_LnHVklBptW89IkDCrfJ28zVkm5ZpN2R2OfBr3nB400SYer_fqe0mGw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shortly after that a painter named M'Culloch got into difficulties while bathing at the same spot, and Larry was again instrumental in saving life. Subsequently Larry came across this same man in a public-house, and as a reward, Larry wanted him to "stand his hand"; but the painter in an ungenerous and uppish fashion ordered Larry off, whereupon the latter retorted - "Ye needna be sae big; yo wisna sayin' that when ye wis gruppin' at the chuckie stanes at the bottom o' the gullet pool."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Larry became unable through advancing years to follow the employment of rafting, his principal source of income was from tarring fences and wooden sheds, etc. When tarring high buildings, his experience before the mast stood him in good stead, and like the baker, the sweep, and the coalman, he bore marks of his profession, both on his clothes and on his hands and face. It was then that the younger generation bestowed upon him the nickname of "Tarry Larry." After the death of his wife, the poor old man fell on evil times. He lived in a little barrow shed in the yard of the White Hart Hotel, the site of which is now occupied by a big drapery establishment in Buccleuch Street, This shed was more like a dog's kennel than the abode of a human being, and it was pitiful to see him crawl into this box at night, and pull an old rag down over the front, which was all the protection he had from the strongest gale and the keenest frost. On one occasion he was found lying outside his hut, with his hair frozen fast to the ground, and it was only after hot water had been applied to his locks, that he was released. No ordinary man could have endured a tithe of the privations that Larry survived and indeed seemed to thrive upon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even in his later years, Larry was renowned as a pugilist, and being possessed of abnormal strength, he generally came out of any broil unhurt. Even when his legs would scarcely keep his body in an upright position, he would support his back against a wall and continue the fight with vigour, and sometimes his friends would hold him up from behind, while Larry kept his fists going like battering rams. One winter he was found lying covered with snow, only one foot being visible above the white blanket. It was then that he entered the Poor-house for the first time at the age of 81. In the Poor-house he was well behaved, and he was the generally accepted chairman of the room in which he and a number of other old people dwelt. His fighting spirit remained with him to the last, as will be evident from the story that when Larry was 98 years of age, he quarrelled with James M'Inroe, a frisky emigrant from the Emerald Isle, who was 88 years of age. Larry, who always respected the rules of the house," went to the Governor, and said:-"Please, sir, may I ha'e five meenits o' Jimmy M'Inroe ootside?" Of course the request was not granted, but Larry stoutly maintained that he could have settled Jimmy in two meenits."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9-0RVgCIoPvNBLbzxfpgI1XLBXWHAQxHC9ZHZYKw6JUM1ocHoQlodc31gEtbA7v1v5pyJRAAOPYSMN1BwaggKx-C0nV6zq2n1YYRojUKyHD7tZS5kwi8bMeSoCorotzILYK4O4_kHE39oZoV-oqIUYos0O3VH1ETdJ6v6ybGuLPttXh29Y6tGSROsw/s1080/Larry%20outside.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9-0RVgCIoPvNBLbzxfpgI1XLBXWHAQxHC9ZHZYKw6JUM1ocHoQlodc31gEtbA7v1v5pyJRAAOPYSMN1BwaggKx-C0nV6zq2n1YYRojUKyHD7tZS5kwi8bMeSoCorotzILYK4O4_kHE39oZoV-oqIUYos0O3VH1ETdJ6v6ybGuLPttXh29Y6tGSROsw/s320/Larry%20outside.png" width="320" /></a></div>Larry had only been a month or six weeks in the Poorhouse when he began to make approaches to the governor with the intention of asking permission to go and get his whistle wet. For some reason or other Larry's heart failed him at the critical juncture, and he always left the governor's presence without stating his errand. Probably it was the fear of being refused that prevented him from expressing his wish, but at last he could stand it longer-for Larry, it must be explained, was a man who could get drunk and sober two or three times a day before he went into the Poor house and being granted permission he remained outside for three or four days in a perpetual state of intoxication. Subsequently an arrangement was come to between Larry and the inspector of poor, whereby Larry consented to go to the Poorhouse on condition that he got out for an afternoon every month. Regularly for many years after that, the poor old man was allowed out to see his friends once a month, and, as regularly, Larry got roarin' fou," the cab men having a standing order to convey him to the Poorhouse from wherever they found him lying about the town. Latterly, our aged worthy was unable to walk out of the house himself, his legs, which for many years had been his greatest, and, indeed, his only physical defect, having become completely useless; but, notwithstanding, he was enabled, through the goodness of the inspector, to pay his monthly calls as usual by means of a cab, which was provided for his use on one afternoon every month. A cab was hired for the afternoon, the driver taking his instructions from Larry, and in this way he continued his periodical visits at his ease and comfort, and in a style worthy of his venerable age. Larry at last passed away in Dumfries Poorhouse on the 11th of April, 1902, in the 102nd year of his age.”<p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What a story! How can we separate fact from fiction? We can compare what we’re told, whether in a family story or a printed book, with original sources. We can be fairly confident that Larry did not go foraging for frogs on Lochar Moss to feed the French officers! The story about saving lives in the river may well be true, but he was a lot younger than he said and I suspect the story is greatly exaggerated. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing we do know, however, is that Larry was certainly a character. Even if some of the stories are tall tales, they are very entertaining and I would be very happy to have him in my family tree!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These volumes rarely had large print runs. Although they pop up on auction sites from time to time, a good place to hunt for them is in local libraries. Many libraries now have their catalogue online. Note that this will be separate to the archive catalogue, even if the library and archive are in the same building. If you live in the UK you may be able to access some volumes through ‘inter-library loans’. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Follow our blog for more from ‘Worthies of Dumfriesshire and Galloway’.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnzOguKZp1RkJ1Rf4OJyahBjFYuhfrGE4JMpjBu4MFjKUkKU-CTaQwXDi7Rthp9DpB0JEEMhmxJ6DGtBqBgZLhPJa9yis3ouMknjeAEjXdi2neoetw_9swQXgtNpklTEJ1fy-jwAIXYXi_bnyHwC9mAsH6knEV3Qa7deSxwH2SxxCVOv1guW1NbvHew/w640-h334/20220406_0837530.6688349463632244.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><br />Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-62246849814811226562022-04-12T02:34:00.003-07:002022-04-12T02:34:45.821-07:00Why did you start tracing your family tree and why would you encourage others to start? <p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are five 5 reasons I think people should ask about their family history this weekend; there are many more I am sure!</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e9c33fcb-7fff-1f60-212b-33053aaae1d9"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrL7sCGxSH5DIco85T3xCJxxUqTJ3eekVsu3LOeY0oQV5cFPgE0lkT4dinDLwp9YHwq_-NMIbWhU8lFd55Y3ycTGkkRlhhFTPpoZBRCedeXi2sZvlYJBgeouNj0B0PycFSdOdD2v1zVcuRlKcUc_eQG98RD-QlQuSZAwJqhitoG76Xw7Ihj0iZCbLpQ/s1080/5%20reasons%20you%20should%20ask%20about%20your%20family%20history%20this%20weekend.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrL7sCGxSH5DIco85T3xCJxxUqTJ3eekVsu3LOeY0oQV5cFPgE0lkT4dinDLwp9YHwq_-NMIbWhU8lFd55Y3ycTGkkRlhhFTPpoZBRCedeXi2sZvlYJBgeouNj0B0PycFSdOdD2v1zVcuRlKcUc_eQG98RD-QlQuSZAwJqhitoG76Xw7Ihj0iZCbLpQ/s320/5%20reasons%20you%20should%20ask%20about%20your%20family%20history%20this%20weekend.png" width="320" /></a></div>Want to make a start? Use our free guide to help you get started: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningdetective.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningdetective.aspx</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><p></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One</span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a great puzzle! Great fun. As you learn more it’s as if your jigsaw gets bigger and bigger. There are more pieces to find and more puzzles to solve. Some are easy; some are more challenging. If you love puzzles you will love family history! Is there a family mystery you want to uncover?</span></p><br /><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two</span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It helps you understand your relatives. As you talk to your family about their life you learn more about them. More than that, though, you can learn more about the family you never met. Finding out about a great-grandmother could help you understand your parent’s childhood; the life experiences that shaped them. </span></p><br /><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Three</span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It stimulates thinking and long-term memories. Sadly as we age our short term memories can suffer. This can make conversations difficult with older people. Asking them about their childhood can stimulate long-term memories and lead to an enjoyable conversation. Of course, some may not want to talk about it. Always be kind and considerate of other people's feelings. </span></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four</span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a great way to learn about history. We may know the basics of history but discovering your ancestor's place in the past gives you a whole new perspective. Were they some of the weavers who rioted due to low wages in the early 1800s? Did they leave Ireland during the great famine? Were they interviewed as part of a Royal Commission report into housing? Did they witness King George IV visit Edinburgh in 1822? Were they moved from their home as part of the Highland Clearances? Whatever part your ancestors played in the past they are part of history.</span></p><br /><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Five</span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Discover more about the place where you live. If you still live in the area your ancestors lived in, you may be surprised by what you discover. Did your children go to the same school as your great-great-grandmother? Is the house they live in still standing? If you are planning a trip to Scotland, knowing where your ancestors lived, even the house they lived in, can make the experience so much more enjoyable. </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Want to make a start? Use our free guide to help you get started: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningdetective.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningdetective.aspx</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br />Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0Glasgow, UK55.864237 -4.25180627.554003163821157 -39.408056 84.174470836178841 30.904443999999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-23516435694929898132022-03-22T04:54:00.000-07:002022-03-22T04:54:08.852-07:00Lost loves and failed relationships: what happened in the past when a relationship went wrong and children were involved?<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Whether married or not, if a man left the mother of his child because their relationship broke down this left the mother in a difficult situation. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7f2c2cc9-7fff-26a5-dc7a-1239aff690b4"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the census we often see grandchildren living with their grandparents while the mother is working away from home, perhaps in domestic service. When you find children living with their grandparents, dig a little deeper to work out who they all are.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFz4gMdUfuDKDaFn5HvdASP-RDdl1Xy0FVYwQ0X-bBWLDQnFv6D8FHF_FD4DxsVI8o-fPEM6LdYfC4PG24oMMQgKljyCX0xa_300Ql-XgIGCPsVHrEwZCtxcZu2C7l80wjfd2QMZElLYsAC4sC5L0y5lBsDkzQhwKdFY1knZaoLzB8NzbOdrl9fgdkQ/s1080/lost%20loves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFz4gMdUfuDKDaFn5HvdASP-RDdl1Xy0FVYwQ0X-bBWLDQnFv6D8FHF_FD4DxsVI8o-fPEM6LdYfC4PG24oMMQgKljyCX0xa_300Ql-XgIGCPsVHrEwZCtxcZu2C7l80wjfd2QMZElLYsAC4sC5L0y5lBsDkzQhwKdFY1knZaoLzB8NzbOdrl9fgdkQ/s320/lost%20loves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In Scotland, at one time most children took the surname of their father whether their parents were married or not. After 1855 however, the child would usually be registered under the mother’s surname. </span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Generally speaking, it is easy to identify children on the maternal line as we find them with their mother or her family. What about on the paternal line? And how can we discover the background to this relationship?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top tip #1</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search the Scottish Paternity Index for your male ancestors only. Leave all information about the mother blank and see if your ancestors fathered children you know nothing about. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This index is predominantly an index to Sheriff Court records where the mother took the father of her child to court to force him to pay maintenance for the child. This can include unmarried mothers but also married women abandoned by their husbands.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can search for free here: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/paternitysearch.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/paternitysearch.aspx</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top tip #2</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check the Kirk Session records. Sadly there are very few indexes but the records themselves are free to browse on ScotlandsPeople. Look for the parish where your ancestors lived and read through the minutes. As well as finding cases of fornication you may find other entries relating to your family too. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s no index but they are free to access on </span><a href="https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/</span></a></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top tip #3</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A man who did not support his family could find himself in prison. Search Scotland's Criminal Database to discover who spent some time in prison. Again, these would include fathers of illegitimate children and men who refused to support their families. If you find a man in a civil prison there's a higher chance it’s this type of case.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search here: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><div><span><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy4D1JKrAADnbaLIwN6qAWq1EW1iF7WDQteTg_p-ymUXmm_XbF4XfKgX8ocXOR3jodusDinsbqb2t2iFDCl9w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><span><br /></span></div><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top tip #4</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search poor law records. If a mother could not provide for her children she may have asked for assistance from the parish. These records may give a clue as to who the father of the child was. In the case of married women they may also indicate why the relationship broke down. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sadly these records are not all in one place. Use our free article her to locate the records for the area your family lived in: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningpoor.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningpoor.aspx</span></a></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top tip #5</span></h3><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Divorce in Scotland was rare historically but it did happen. In fact, abandoned or mistreated women may have been given financial assistance to divorce or separate from their husbands. From 1830 until 1984, all divorce cases were dealt with by the Court of Session and the online catalogue of the National Records of Scotland may reveal if your ancestors were divorced. Find out more here: </span><a href="https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/court-of-session-records" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/court-of-session-records</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-50347898831235165542022-03-18T03:11:00.000-07:002022-03-18T03:11:16.500-07:00What if they didn’t pay?<span id="docs-internal-guid-ed630d17-7fff-a076-e7c3-f26dbc83afa1"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re often asked what happened if the father of an illegitimate child did not pay maintenance to the mother. If a woman had taken the father to court and proved her case there would be a decree made. This decree would be legally binding. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example Mary Irving who lived at Marjoribanks in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland had a child on the 19th of November 1871. At Dumfries Sheriff Court on 26 April and 7th Mary 1872 Mary pursued her case against William Richardson.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">William Richardson is described in the case as the son of and residing with David Richardson, Farmer at Riggside, Lochmaben. David is ordered to pay Mary four pounds yearly as aliment for her child. He was to pay until the child was 10 years old. David was also to pay half-yearly and in advance. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9S79NYE8nHO-avdmwvWn1N3MPj4A_auNOd0TvyeAo8IU9lj5lIjEma348n0WfQ85csUwpyV7HutG79faPFQx9ppJ3jErvsplcN3MxThuQg6jwfvzoBwqQVUCVWWPqZfgof6YMw3xb9hzayhDaxg9cvdbd2faZUIyvi00IqvvOPae8ANleGlzc32ia9Q/s2560/what%20if%20they%20din't%20pay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="2560" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9S79NYE8nHO-avdmwvWn1N3MPj4A_auNOd0TvyeAo8IU9lj5lIjEma348n0WfQ85csUwpyV7HutG79faPFQx9ppJ3jErvsplcN3MxThuQg6jwfvzoBwqQVUCVWWPqZfgof6YMw3xb9hzayhDaxg9cvdbd2faZUIyvi00IqvvOPae8ANleGlzc32ia9Q/s320/what%20if%20they%20din't%20pay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />What did David do? Often the decree is the last mention of the case in the records. Our recent indexing project of prison records has uncovered more. We’ve just added an index to Dumfries (Maxwelltown) Civil Prisoners. In this register, we have found many men sent to the person for not paying aliment of children. One of these men is William Richardson. </span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interestingly he was sent to prison on 6 August 1872 for a debt he failed to settle with William Wright. The debt with William was settled a few days later but not the debt to Mary Irving. He languished in prison until 7 September 1872. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For now, these entries are in the prison index on our website with a note, ‘Aliment of a child’. In time we will add these to the Scottish Paternity Index too. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You never know what you will find in historical records. Search over 400,000 Scottish criminal records in Scotland's Criminal Database: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx</span></a></p><br /><p> </p>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-57698970711496145832022-02-24T02:42:00.000-08:002022-02-24T02:42:29.029-08:00"I received your sister’s letter announcing the birth of a thumping laddie" - Betsy's court battle against a lawyer!<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgizzxRGH5XMKtcrXEIQHzAP6VQRbTGrRv7qoUMR3mFL2U6MBAwoGD1PeERAgpEvkZbZ2yzHy1kfmXakHpffGZck4eb4nMXV1P0cEbIiyP8n4bOJDbizYHbD_C-pxPdkKvD3wpAiRBjyVqmIJ2QaLDpGECa0ZinE82zAW1ymwK6zWhKsd6MNZE9FcEQWQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Graham and I were back in the National Records of Scotland this week. Being in so rarely these days really makes me appreciate getting my hands on original records. I love working with records of ‘ordinary’ people. Our ancestors, the ones who don’t pop up in the history books but are very important to us.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7e69e070-7fff-b699-d636-af9f3225de79"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This week I discovered a hidden gem. On 13 June 1836 Elizabeth Aikman, an unmarried mother, gave birth to a wee boy. The father of this baby was Mitchell Patison, a lawyer in Edinburgh. We already knew from the decree that Elizabeth had won the case and that Mitchell was to pay £8 per year to Elizabeth. The court processes however add more detail, giving us the background of the case (NRS reference SC39/17/846).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can search our index here: </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/paternitysearch.aspx">Scottish Paternity Index</a></span></span></p><div><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What did the court process tell us in this case? We learn that to begin with, Mitchell paid for the child’s care, in fact, there were some very sweet letters. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On 21 June 1836, Mitchell wrote,</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Dear Betsy, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I received your sister’s letter announcing the birth of a thumping laddie - I am proud of it and I hope you and he will be long spared and the he will prove a blessing and I here solemnly pledge and bind myself to have him brought up and educated as well as any other member of my family in as far as my abilities will enable me to do…” </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By 19 April 1837 Mitchell was already behind with his payments. He wrote to Elizabeth’s representative:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I enclose three pounds as I promised in my last, this pays you up to the first of June next so far as board goes. I am still your debtor however for £2 of expenses incurred by you which I will send some time next month - Let me know how the little fellow is getting on - I intend being out to see him soon as I can spare time.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The case papers also tell us how Mitchell and Betsy met. Betsy was a servant at the neighbour's house and their paths crossed as the gate was opened. Although we see in this record that Mitchell had a change of heart, we’re not told why this happened. Why was it that at first he was so pleased about the birth and happy to support Betsy? What changed so that Betsy had to drag him through the courts?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mitchell was a lawyer so it is hard to believe that he simply couldn't pay. We cannot say for sure why Mitchell stopped paying, but what we have discovered is that on 1 June 1837 Mitchell Patison married Eleanora Mitchell Wilson, daughter of the late George Wilson, a farmer. It seems to be around this time that Mitchell became less supportive of poor Betsy and her ‘thumping laddie’.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is just one of the genealogy gems hidden in the archives. What survives for your ancestors? To be able to learn so much about a woman and her circumstances in the 1830s is amazing.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search for here and see what you can discover</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/paternitysearch.aspx">Scottish Paternity Index</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzqB1i3DydYV4mITFj9y-ENEOQYlWM_rYLWh95Fm4SHmcYAErekZbBJxeA4QgKXlM28npx1Lv0xp8LolRfoTQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /></span><p></p><br /><br /><br />Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-49605362026034350382022-01-11T07:00:00.001-08:002022-01-11T07:00:34.805-08:00Scottish Indexes Adds More Records to Scotland's Criminal Database<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ahead of the Scottish Indexes Conference this weekend we’ve just added an index to Crown Counsel Procedure Books 1854-1863 to www.scottishindexes.com. These are entries from volumes AD9/15-18 which are held by the National Records of Scotland. In this release, we have added over 30,000 new entries.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-56d54d85-7fff-ddc3-7a2d-cb4a0c34f28f"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The total number of records now in Scotland's Criminal Database is 365,732. You can see a breakdown of our coverage here: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div></span></span><div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ePdSvWRXdeo" width="320" youtube-src-id="ePdSvWRXdeo"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Why are Crown Counsel Procedure Books so helpful? </span></span></h3><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">All cases reported to the Crown Counsel were recorded in the Crown Counsel Procedure Books. As is the case today, some went on to the High Court, some to the Sheriff Court or another lower court, and some were dropped. This means that the Crown Counsel Procedure Books act as an index to other records.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We may often wonder, why did our ancestors end up in prison? Join us at the Scottish Indexes Conference on Saturday 15 January 2022 for Emma Maxwell’s presentation, ‘Visualising Your Family History’. Emma is a genealogist and as well as tracing names, dates and places she enjoys helping her clients visualise the lives of their ancestors. Emma will share diverse records which can help you visualise your family history and share your story with your extended family. Visit </span><a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.scottishindexes.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to find out more about this free event.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzsyUEKHmAMDsgDmuNK0pPvDxdadpKwYvxHmZvsMNlrkhNVBlxUWcMnxy3aBWk7nO36o2dAyE8li78QvkO4_beSDm39nN-I81msYti0hAngwTJxz1_ifwip4v3qWDjAF_yqHwfeXvd6RA4C0pO-PN2enZvtzcflbzsbooiQVg_fOywOJFQDegy3ZquLQ=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzsyUEKHmAMDsgDmuNK0pPvDxdadpKwYvxHmZvsMNlrkhNVBlxUWcMnxy3aBWk7nO36o2dAyE8li78QvkO4_beSDm39nN-I81msYti0hAngwTJxz1_ifwip4v3qWDjAF_yqHwfeXvd6RA4C0pO-PN2enZvtzcflbzsbooiQVg_fOywOJFQDegy3ZquLQ=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-5371949600727500202021-09-21T11:00:00.001-07:002021-09-21T11:00:54.116-07:00New records added to Scotland's Criminal Database<p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-94da9678-7fff-0a1c-2ea6-069c5db3a6d5"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far Scotland's Criminal Database on </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">scottishindexes.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has included High Court records, prison records and some Sheriff Court records. We have now added a new category - Crown Counsel Procedure Books. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why are Crown Counsel Procedure Books so important? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ePdSvWRXdeo" width="320" youtube-src-id="ePdSvWRXdeo"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">All cases reported to the Crown Counsel are recorded in the Crown Counsel Procedure Books. As is the case today, some went on to the High Court, some to the Sheriff Court or another lower court, and some were dropped. This means that the Crown Counsel Procedure Books act as an index to other records.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-c6f8b2b2-7fff-68a6-5fc7-c111d1df26c3" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">This new record set effectively indexes Scottish Sheriff Court jury trials for the corresponding years. As time goes on we hope to link up the corresponding records to make the database even better!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">As always our indexes are free to search and we give the full reference, enabling you to follow up for free in the National Records of Scotland. </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Check our coverage pages</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> for the most up-to-date information on what you can search on our website, it will be updated as we add more records.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dziwh62c-xiOQDzS1BhdMsws_g_enTKeF27NnNNh8owO5P1wakUj5sJa-hpL9PJlhAYbucvzYI_fqE7Bf7RgQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><p></p></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-65418745366952160312021-05-25T02:36:00.002-07:002022-04-19T00:12:31.461-07:00Five Ways to Save ScotlandsPeople Credits<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only ScotlandsPeople gives online access to civil registration, Church of Scotland parish records and Scottish census record images. We all know how important it is to view these original documents to make sure our research is accurate but the costs can soon mount up if we keep viewing the wrong records. Here are five tips to help you pick the right record the first time.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-69a24b93-7fff-4eb6-c313-18deed6f1613"><br /><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 - Post-1855 Death Records.</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cross-reference death records using a woman’s maiden surname. In Scotland deaths of married women are indexed under all the names she used during her lifetime (or at least all the names the person registering the death knew about). Let’s say your ancestor was born Janet Porteous and she went on to marry a Thomson. There will be a lot of Janet Thomsons, so use the surname Porteous to narrow down your search. On the search page look out for ‘Other surname’. It doesn’t matter which way round you put the surnames, put Thomson in one and Porteous in the other and it will narrow down your search.</span></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 - Birth Records from 1855 to 1874</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The International Genealogical Index (IGI) includes most Scottish civil registration births from 1855 to 1874. Unlike the index on ScotlandsPeople, the IGI includes the names of both parents. This enables you to narrow down your search then view only the correct entry on ScotlandsPeople. This index is available on Ancestry, Findmypast and FamilySearch. </span></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3 - Census Records 1841 to 1901</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use an index to the 1841-1901 census you already have access to. FreeCen gives access to a free indexed transcription of many Scottish census records from 1841 to 1901 (it is particularly for the earlier years) and it’s a great way to find the right household. Then you can simply go to ScotlandsPeople to view the original. You may also have access to the 1841-1901 census as part of your Findmypast or Ancestry subscription or you may have free access through your local library. </span></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 - 1911 Census</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As only ScotlandsPeople gives access to the 1911 census for the whole of Scotland we need to be a bit more savvy. Use the reference to group family members together. Let’s say I am looking for a ‘Scott’ family in the parish of Annan. I will see a lot of entries, for example there are four Agnes Scotts in the parish of Annan in 1911. In the free index on ScotlandsPeople I am also given the reference (‘Ref’), which is key. I can see, for example, that there is an Agnes Scott aged 48 with the reference ‘812/ 5/ 10’ and another Agnes Scott aged 49 with the reference ‘812/ 2/ 10’. Let’s break the reference down, 812 is the parish number for Annan. 812/2 means enumeration book two in the parish of Annan and the 10 at the end is the page number. This means that I know these two Agnes Scotts are not in the same household. Looking through the other ‘Scott’ entries for Annan I see that there are the following entries with the reference: 812/ 2/ 10. I can see James Scott aged 51, Robert Scott aged 20 and George Scott aged 17. Now I have a family group, this should be enough to tell me I have the right family or, in fact, that it’s the wrong family and I don’t need to waste my credits.</span></p><br /><h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 - Church of Scotland pre-1855 Births and Marriages</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although the images are not available, indexes to the Church of Scotland pre-1855 births and marriages found within the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) are available in various places. As with the 1855 to 1874 civil registration birth records, you can find indexes available on Ancestry, Findmypast and FamilySearch, entitled ‘Scottish Church Records’. Again a feature is that you can search by parents’ names. At first glance this feature is not available on ScotlandsPeople but it actually is! Enter your search criteria and click search in the usual way. When your results appear you will see new search options. You can now add ‘1st Parent Name’ and ‘2nd Parent Name’, this enables you to narrow down your search. I like to search by the surname of the child and the full name of the parents, which shows all children born to that couple. </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrUJ-DYKOcS9Vjqm6cDS987XZi1dj7iatIQJEm9B6T_Y7r7hm7Z4qS0Oeq_Vh90-tLHiDZWF5vxOftXPO_K2OWTWvXXqM_NL4kO8X7VA6SgUHNQqDSkzU3eknDW3zNJmIQrc91ZvrmKH1cmEHrxQwPQuEicP9fxUH_ZfedATATIX4zjjNu26w3C2W5g/w640-h334/20220406_0837530.6688349463632244.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-10691257731836606582021-05-11T06:53:00.001-07:002021-05-11T06:53:48.397-07:00 Genealogy - Unravelling lies, myths and cover-ups!<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">People lie. They shouldn’t, but they do. Sometimes people lie inadvertently, perhaps repeating something they have heard.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d9bea7c2-7fff-16c6-dd22-fb508c7a090f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about our ancestors? What about the records? Do they lie? If so, how can we discover the truth?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s start with a very standard marriage entry from London:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">28 May 1865: in the Parish Church in the Parish of St. Mary Lambeth, Sussex. Henry Carter, son of Thomas Carter, married Margaret Louise Tryon, daughter of George Tryon, deceased, a soldier. The marriage register also tells us that Margaret was a ‘minor’ which means she was under the age of 21 years. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tryon isn’t a particularly common surname, but I could find no birth for Margaret in England. At this stage, there are a few possibilities. It could be that the surname has simply been misindexed or she may not have been born in England.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Faced with this problem, I could keep banging my head off the proverbial brickwall or I could simply walk around it. As researchers, we can become fixated on finding every birth, marriage and death entry for every ancestor, spending countless hours looking only to be no further forward. What do I mean by going around the brick wall? Put the search for the birth to one side and look for other records. This can involve tracing a person forward in time or looking for records relating to relatives.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this case, when we go forward to 1871 we find a clue in the census. Thomas and Margaret were living in Chelsea, England and the record gives Margaret’s birthplace as ‘Scotland’. Here was a possible reason why I could not find a birth register entry. Margaret was a ‘minor’ in 1865 and recorded as 25 in 1871 so we are looking for a birth about 1845/6.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningcivil.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Civil registration did not begin in Scotland until 1855</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Before then we rely on church records. Sadly there are many </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningopr.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘missing’ pre-1855 birth, marriage and death records in Scotland</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We can search the Church of Scotland Old Parish Registers on ScotlandsPeople but these are not complete. Some records have been damaged, lost or destroyed. Also, these records do not always include children who were not baptised into the Church of Scotland. As Margaret Tryon has a connection with England the family may not have attended the Church of Scotland. A search was made but no entry was found for Margaret Tryon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Returning to the census, I was able to find a Margaret Tryon living with her mother, Peachy Tryon, a widow, in the 1851 census of Brighton. This time, however, Margaret’s birthplace is given as Framfield, Sussex, England. Although the age is correct, how do we know for sure that ‘our’ Margaret belongs to this family? It’s all too easy to ignore slight inconsistencies because we want to keep going with our research. I now have a workable theory but I need to be sure.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the same household there is a son of Peachy Tyron, one Charles E Tryon, aged 14. His birthplace is given as Shepherds Bush. A few quick searches later and I was able to find a marriage between Charles Edward Tryon and Jane Jane Victoria Andrew Cuthbert. The father of Charles Edward Tryon is recorded as George Tryon, a Military Officer. This reassured me that ‘my’ Margaret Ann Tryon was in fact the daughter of the widow Peachy Tryon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peachy! That’s not a common name, is it? Fairly quickly, I discovered that Peachy (Peachey) Chambers married George Tryon in Brighton, Sussex, England on 27 April 1842. As Peachy was recorded as a widow in 1851, we believe George died before 1851. Margaret was born around 1845, so presumably George died between 1844/45 and 1851, right? Sadly it’s not that straightforward. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I discovered that George Tryon Esquire was buried on 1 June 1842. Peachy is named on George’s will, so I know I have the right George. What is going on then? Is Margaret older than we think? Is her father George and how are we going to find out?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was time for another theory. We have a clue that Margaret Tryon may have been born in Scotland, so let’s follow up on that clue and see where it takes us. It’s also possible that Peachy was not married when Margaret was born. If Peachy had remarried why not name that man as Margaret’s father? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Scotland, mothers of illegitimate children could take the father to the Sheriff Court and force him to pay maintenance or aliment to help care for the child. On </span><a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.scottishindexes.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> you can search the ‘Scottish Paternity Index’ which includes records from the Sheriff Courts as well as some from Kirk Session records.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s really easy (and free) to search and very quickly I found a case relating to </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/courtentry.aspx?courtid=39022042" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peachy Tryon, Mrs. Mann's Lodgings, 87 Princes Street, Edinburgh</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Peachy was the pursuer and the defender was Edward Crawcour Esquire, London (formerly at 1 Wellington Place, Leith). Already from the index we learn a lot. It looks like Peachy was claiming that Edward Crawcour Esquire is Margaret’s father.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two sets of records being indexed by Scottish Indexes, these are the registers of Extracted Decrees and the Sheriff Court Process. Once the case reached ‘decree’ (the court had made a decision) there was an option for the decree to be ‘extracted’. After 1830 when a case was ‘extracted’ a copy would also be written in the register of Extracted Decrees. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxrODUXjjNf4WhdecBHyVHlkZENSaYt-LOxvv0OpWP0OUVZl6uAo31NpkL7HuUk7vPJEIX-InIn7F2hfzLWsQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The extracted decree tells “The Sheriff Decerned and ordained and hereby Decerns and ordains the said Edward Crawcour as father of a female child of which the pursuer was delivered upon the first day of February Eighteen hundred and forty five to make payment to the said Mrs Peac[h]y Tryon pursuer the sum of Five Guneas in the name of Inlying expences &c Item the sum of twelve pounds St[erlin]g p[e]r annum of yearly Aliment for the said child”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is interesting. We now know that the court’s decision was that Edward was Margaret’s father. You may be asking though, why was Peachy in Edinburgh? How did she meet Edward? What’s the story? Can we find out more?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good news is that before 1860 most Sheriff Court processes survive. Although many have been destroyed between 1860 and 1900 more survive in the period after 1900. Processes are the papers created by the court and can be very extensive. Held by the National Records of Scotland, these are generally only catalogued by court and year. Until Scottish Indexes came along it was very difficult to search these records.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxCJ7MqVkW4OUXXYp7mcL47XXX5VdKNjPVrpLrLm_SD39e3IMhy0Rz-2XG-fAJWr3FZBiSBSUbnyRHzRTlfKQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peachy Tryon v Edward Crawcour can be found in box </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/courtpentry.aspx?courtpid=390933002" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SC39/17/933</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. What will we find then in this case? Folded up and preserved in the archive we find an absolute treasure!! We’ll look closely today at the ‘Petition For Mrs Tryon V Edward Crawcour Esq 4 April 1845’ and ‘Answers For Edward Crawcour To Petition Mrs Peachy Tryon 16th April 1845’. I have transcribed a lengthy section of this case. This will hopefully give you an insight into the format these cases took. Also despite the formal legal language it is a gripping story. Perhaps only DNA could reveal who was telling the truth.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Answers For Mrs Tryon V Edward Crawcour Esq 4 April 1845’</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This begins with the standard legal form for these documents. We are told that the ‘Petitioner’ (Mrs Peachy Tryon) ‘has frequently desired and required the said Edward Crawcour to aliment and support said child, yet he refuses so to do’. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next, we find the ‘Petitioners Statement of Facts’ - this is where things start to get interesting.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“1. The Petitioner is the Widow of George Tryon Esquire Major in Her Majesty's 44th Regiment of Foot. He resided with his family at Brighton for some time prior to his death, which took place there on the 27 day of May 1842. He left the Petitioner with a family consisting of three young children.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 The house possessed by the Major, and which the Petitioner and her family continued to occupy after his death, was large and handsomely furnished; and with the view of enabling the Petitioner to educate her children according to their prospects and rank in life, the Petitioner at the suggestion of her friends resorted to let part of her house as furnished Lodgings.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. In the Autumn of 1842 application was made to the Petitioner by the Respondent, Mr Edward Crawcour of Edinburgh, for a set of her apartments for the season. He was accompanied by two children, and a female Servant, and represented himself as a widower, and having just arrived at Brighton, where he intended to pass the season for the benefit of his health. The Petitioner being satisfied with his statements, and believing him to be respectable, agreed to give him furnished apartments in her house during his stay at Brighton. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 The Respondent and his family accordingly entered to possession of the Lodgings about [blank] and remained therein till December following.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 During his residence in the Petitioners house, the Respondent became very intimate with her, and ultimately made proposals of marriage to her. He represented himself as possessed of house property in Edinburgh of great value, and to be a person of large means. From what the Petitioner saw, she had no reason to doubt the truth of his statements, or that his intentions were other than honorable; and believing that such a connection as he desired would be of advantage both to herself and children, she consented to his proposal, but it was agreed for various family and prudential reasons that the marriage should not take place till after the Respondents return to Edinburgh when the Petitioner and her family should join him.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 The Respondent and his family left Brighton for Edinburgh about the end of December, being accompanied by the Petitioners elders daughter, who it was arranged should reside with the Respondent until the Petitioner should complete the necessary arrangements, and join them in Edinburgh. From various causes, the Petitioner could not leave Brighton for several months, but during the whole of this period the correspondence between her and the Respondent was kept up;- she receiving numerous letters from him containing expression of the utmost regard and affection, and urging her to complete her arrangements at Brighton and come to Edinburgh. In particular, he urged her to dispose of part of her furniture, and to send the rest, being the more valuable, to him at Edinburgh which she, replying upon his promises ultimately did. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7 In the month of June 1843 the Petitioner arrived in Edinburgh. She was received by the Respondent with the utmost kindness and affection, and taken to his house which was then in Wellington Place, Leith Links. The Petitioner obtained the sole management and direction of his house, and was treated in all respects as mistress. Her children at the Defenders request were brought to his house in December following. She expected him immediately to fulfil the promise of marriage, under which she had left Brighton, and come to Edinburgh; and in this expectation she was induced to deliver to the Respondent many articles of Plate and Jewellery amounting in value to several hundred pounds, all of which he has disposed of. She was also induced, under the said promise, to yield to his embraces, the consequences of which was that the Petitioner became pregnant by the Respondent. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 The Petitioner continue to reside in the Respondents house in the daily expectation of his fulfilling his numerous promises of marriage; but to her astonishment he intimated to her that he married another female, whom he brought to his house as his wife on or about the [blank] day of [blank]. The Petitioner and her family were then requested to leave the house which they were constrained to do.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9 After leaving the Respondents house, the Petitioner removed with her children to Lodgings, and was delivered of a female child in the house of Mrs Mann, No. 87 Princes Street, Edinburgh, upon the first day of February 1845. Of this child the Respondent is the father”.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next we see ‘Pleas in Law’, but the story continues in the ‘Answers For Edward Crawcour To Petition Mrs Peachy Tryon 16th April 1845’. This is what we may think of as a ‘rebuttal’ to Peachy; it’s Edward’s side of the story. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“1 - The Respondent has heard, and has no reason to disbelieve, that the ceremony of the marriage was celebrated between the late Major Tryon and the Petitioner towards the end of the month of April 1842. The Major was then suffering under his last illness, and died within a few weeks thereafter. He has been formerly married, and his wife predeceased him by only a few years. His connection however with the Petitioner commenced many years before his first wife’s death. The Respondent is not acquainted with the previous history of the Petitioner, but some eighteen or nineteen years ago or thereby, she was a servant in the Family of a relation or intimate friend of the late Mrs. Tryon, and there picked up an acquaintance, which soon resulted in a criminal intercourse with the Major. The consequence was her becoming pregnant and being delivered of a daughter, the eldest of the three children here referred to, a young woman now somewhere about seventeen or eighteen years of age. Shortly after the birth of this child, the Petitioner having learned that Major Tryon had gone to Paris followed him there, and remaining with him for a short time in Paris returned with him to England, while Mrs Tryon was confined to her bedroom, and unable herself to make enquiries after her, she, (the Petitioner) with assistance of Major Tryon, continued to get herself introduced into the family as waiting maid upon Mrs. Tryon. The criminal intercourse between Major Tryon and the Petitioner continued to be carried on there, and being detected by Mrs. Tryon, the Petitioner was as a matter of course, turned out of the house. Major Tryon then took lodgings for the Petitioner at a place called Shepherds Bush near London, & afterwards at Brighton. At both places the Petitioner was, wherever the Major was out of the way, visited by other men; but having during that time, borne other two children (boys) she continued to get the Major to acknowledge the paternity of them. After Mrs Tryon’s death, the Major took the Petitioner and her children to his own house at Brighton, and the Petitioner there openly lived with him as his known mistress, till, as already stated, she, within a few weeks of his death, prevailed on him to submit to the ceremony of marriage celebrated between them.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. It is admitted that the Petitioner and her family continued to possess the house in which Major Tryon resided at the time of his death. It was but a modestly sized house, the rent of which did not exceed £27 or £28 a year at most, and was respectably, tho’ not handsomely, furnished. Major Tryon had, from his necessities, been obliged to sell out his Commission, and the price of it was more than exhausted by the time of his death. His relations were comparatively wealthy, and could, without its being at all felt by them, as, but in reprobation of the Petitioners conduct and character, they would have made a proper allowance for the maintenance and education of his family. All that was done on their part, was to make an allowance of £30 a year as for behoof of the children, and that was all, on which the Pet[itione]r had to depend for the support of herself and her children. She tried to eke out this allowance by letting Lodgings, but the notoriety of her previous conduct and connexion with Major Tryon, added to her having become addicted to drinking, and very deaf, prevented her from succeeding in that way.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Admitted that the Resp[on]d[en]t who was then a stranger in Brighton, and ignorant of the Petitoners previous history and character, did, towards the end of October 1842 bargain with the Petitioner for lodgings for himself, his two children (about 7 & 8 years of age) and a servant, at the rate of one guinea per week.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 Admitted that the Resp[on]d[en]t and his family accordingly entered to possession of the lodgings, and continued therein for six weeks or thereby.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. The Resp[on]d[en]t had no sooner entered upon the lodgings than the Petitioner did every thing a woman could to expose herself, and to draw the Resp[on]d[en]t into an improper intimacy and connexion with her. She constantly continued needless messages to him, and frequently came into his bedroom while she was herself partly undressed, and there insisted on drawing the Resp[on]d[en]t into very needless conversation with her. It is admitted that they soon became very intimate and familiar, but it is positively denied that he ever made proposals of marriage to her. It is also denied that he represented himself as possessed of House property in Edinburgh of great value and as a person of large means. The Respond[en]ts only available income consists of a life interest in the money which belonged to his late wife. It will not much, if anything, exceed £200 a year, and of that, £100 a year has been assigned to pay off his debts. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6 Admitted that on Resp[on]d[en]t and his family leaving Brighton, they were accompanied by the Petitioners eldest daughter. The Petitioner, who by that time had got involved in debts to a considerable amount, having represented to the Resp[on]d[en]t her inability longer to keep all the three children at home, prevailed on him to take her daughter with him as servant or attendant upon his two children. But it is denied that any proposals or arrangements were then made as to the Petitioner herself afterwards joining the Resp[on]d[en]t in Scotland, or that any such correspondence, as is here stated, passed between the parties. The articles of furniture (which were few in number) which were sent by the Petitioner to the Resp[on]d[en]t were purchased, and paid for by him from her, and the reason of the Resp[on]d[en]t, who was then in course of furnishing his house here, for making the purchase was to prevent the furniture being as the Petitioner said it otherwise would be completely thrown away inder execution for Rent, and other debt due by her. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7. Admitted that the Petitioner came to Edinburgh in the month of June 1843, but it is denied that she did so on the invitation of the Resp[on]d[en]t, or that she was received by him in the manner here stated. On the contrary, it was with difficulty that the Resp[on]d[en]t, who by that time had come to know something of her character, was, by a party to whom they were both known, prevailed upon to receive her into his house : But having once got admission into the house, she soon made herself quite at home, making herself however at sometime useful to the Resp[on]d[en]t by taking upon herself the duties of Housekeeper and the charge of his children. The Petitioner also about December 1843 brought her two younger children to the Resp[on]d[en]ts house : It was not at the Resp[on]d[en]ts request, or his suggestion that these children were brought there. On the contrary it was done by the Petitioner under the pretext of their being immediately boarded somewhere else, and of the Resp[on]d[en]t being immediately remunerated for their maintenance in the meantime. It is denied that the Petitioner was induced to deliver to the Resp[on]d[en]t the plate and jewellery, as here stated, or that she ever did so. The Resp[on]d[en]t was informed by the Petitioner that Major Tryon and she had, at different times, been obliged to pledge various articles of plate and jewellery, upon which there was a sum, with interest, of £93 odds then due. She farther stated that the articles were worth and would, if properly disposed of being a much larger sum, and prevailed upon the Petitioner to redeem them with the view to their being sold in Edinburgh. The sum which they did bring, on being brought to sale, fell considerably short of what the Resp[on]d[en]t had advanced for the redeeming of them. It is also denied that the Petitioner was, as here stated, under promise of marriage, induced to yield to the Resp[on]d[en]ts embraces, and it is specially denied that any connexion took place between the parties within a period of eleven months of the date of the birth of the child in question; And averred that at and about the time on conception of the child in question, she had sexual intercourse with a young man of the name of William Browning who towards the end of April last year (1844) was brought to the Resp[on]d[en]ts house, and continued there till about the middle of June, as Tutor to the Resp[on]d[en]ts children. The Petitioner at once formed an intimacy and familiarity with that person, and was frequently seen in his bed room, and in the mornings, articles belonging to, and which could only be taken by her to his bedroom were also found there. On these things coming to the knowledge of the Resp[on]d[en]t, he taxed that person with them, who then, in presence of the Petitioner and her daughter, admitted having had connection with the Petitioner, and was in consequence at once turned out of the Resp[on]d[en]ts house.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8. Admitted that the Petitioner continued to reside win the Resp[on]d[en]ts house till the beginning of the month of July last (1844), when sensible if having in various ways given the Resp[on]d[en]t just cause of dislike and offence against her (all friendly intercourse between them having in consequence ceased for several months before) she left the house of her own accord, taking with her various articles of property belonging to the Resp[on]d[en]t. Her younger children had been some time previously sent away, but the daughter continued in her service in the Resp[on]d[en]ts family for some months thereafter. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9 Admitted that the Petitioner was delivered of a female child as here stated, but denied that the Resp[on]d[en]t is the Father of the child.”</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>What do you think?</i></b> Who is Margaret Tryon’s biological father? Perhaps DNA could answer this question but one thing we do know is that it’s not Major Tryon. As a conclusion to the case, aliment was initially set at £20 per year but this was appealed by Edward and dropped to £12. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did Margaret know all this? When she gave her father’s name as George Tryon, was she covering up her illegitimacy or is that what she believed? We can’t know but what we do see is that information in the records can be misleading. We need to keep our options open and keep searching. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although the COVID pandemic has slowed the indexing of Sheriff Court processes scottishindexes.com hope to be back at it soon, unfolding long-forgotten court records to find these hidden gems. </span></p><br /></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-80557280720331972372021-04-29T02:43:00.001-07:002021-04-29T02:43:14.320-07:00Indexing Wigtownshire Poor Relief Records - Giving women their full name<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fundamental purpose of our indexes is to help people to find individuals in historical records more easily. When we began indexing the Wigtownshire Poor Relief records we were presented with a problem. </span></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKogimUXynUc4ZOv7nnJUfLqoMnI2y0XizyDSXxORCExkw3o0G2SLAopQjgVcAgN1mARoPyT1ykQjZqKyezLj4CmdNc1sZtTO1jAhc18DnIAC9UqWV_WXE_iZi7QbyqFcYwBqeKiN2qqT4/s1136/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_+widow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="1136" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKogimUXynUc4ZOv7nnJUfLqoMnI2y0XizyDSXxORCExkw3o0G2SLAopQjgVcAgN1mARoPyT1ykQjZqKyezLj4CmdNc1sZtTO1jAhc18DnIAC9UqWV_WXE_iZi7QbyqFcYwBqeKiN2qqT4/w640-h125/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_+widow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-49602b1a-7fff-d754-7792-4a8f4db2fd8d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, here we have ‘Widow Agnew’. Unfortunately, we are not given her forename. For anyone searching these records, a forename would be useful. We’re genealogists, though, so we simply did some research. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheY5-lQuGmZDaXdAWNC_mYOGwcPegYipCNjovXqjV9EHVdeqs8Fd4r6QaFl9m5qY0lIUNyu71obV-Q954XxXhsUSCRznrg-H_rRxW3fElbwW16CBmopNLwP_t4mBDU2xu8DXmCwXjUj2jk/s1234/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_page+C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1049" data-original-width="1234" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheY5-lQuGmZDaXdAWNC_mYOGwcPegYipCNjovXqjV9EHVdeqs8Fd4r6QaFl9m5qY0lIUNyu71obV-Q954XxXhsUSCRznrg-H_rRxW3fElbwW16CBmopNLwP_t4mBDU2xu8DXmCwXjUj2jk/w400-h340/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_page+C.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fecd289c-7fff-43d6-2e3f-52dc6f06f0e1"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The record tells us that the pauper is the widow of Alexander Agnew, we are also given an age and the names of her children. As this record is dated 1882 we have a lot of resources at our fingertips to work out exactly who Widow Agnew was. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9_T4Wn4qop8tG1PCFGm7aFxmKAsxG4OhgYvC7FJgZzvM67GTcJRdt1r6wx5ZOcTd_3auPkJS6Cexqueswrh7F7fTHAsP62hjb8fmBmiZ8VX8EOnIPqtcZev6w-On4CW7X316_dCk1bgmO/s403/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_+widow+of+Alexander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="403" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9_T4Wn4qop8tG1PCFGm7aFxmKAsxG4OhgYvC7FJgZzvM67GTcJRdt1r6wx5ZOcTd_3auPkJS6Cexqueswrh7F7fTHAsP62hjb8fmBmiZ8VX8EOnIPqtcZev6w-On4CW7X316_dCk1bgmO/w400-h205/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_+widow+of+Alexander.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d81e7095-7fff-b7a7-5d48-3901492cdfad"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">We discovered that ‘Widow Agnew’ was actually Ann Agnew and her maiden surname was Brown. The index entry on our website records now shows this information, making her easier to find. As always, our indexes are free to search and we provide the full reference for the original record at the National Records of Scotland. In this case, the reference is CO4/45/11 page 413 - Stranraer Parochial Board General Register of the Poor. If you are able to visit the National Records of Scotland you can look at these records in person or you can use our research service to find out more. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">You can find Ann and many others in our index: </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/poorsearch.aspx" style="font-size: 11pt; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.scottishindexes.com/poorsearch.aspx</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><br /></p></span></div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5cacd60e-7fff-fd12-b7d6-953d7d86b369"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/poorsearch.aspx" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="1030" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_e-ZlLdyVxgSduhAa2LP3FDnaB1NIrmZy47b4A3ApD9P49vtEHWRnUJwikHqhXC6RiXpYiAgschfWZNwUdpXVT82M0eLtn6xxf13aiiiP__ToD_ywIxFkr3fapecJsZHdbK6WQPdDrkMT/w640-h322/Widow+Agnew+CO4_45_11+page+413+_+website.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-81212347115821338712021-04-02T04:49:00.001-07:002021-09-24T02:17:38.259-07:00Scottish Marriage by Declaration - Irregular Marriage - Sheriff Court Records<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While you are researching your Scottish family history you will come across different wordings in the civil marriage registers (marriage certificates) that begin in 1855. These are the ‘Statutory Registers’ which you can search on ScotlandsPeople.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ff40ba9a-7fff-63af-7435-71c914abb6c3"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">You may have seen, “After Publication according to the Forms of the Church of Scotland/Free Church/United Presbyterian Church of Scotland/Roman Catholic Church”. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">You may also see, ‘By Declaration in the presence of [names of witnesses].” In these cases, you will also see, “Warrant of the Sheriff Substitute of the [name of Sheriff Court]”.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I am including an image from ScotlandsPeople, which shows both of these types of entry on the same page. What’s the difference? Why is there a difference? Will the Sheriff Court records tell me more?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SKNIvHABhpKedsUGKbKDCVtRkqrCldj755UUruZEyjIXDPLNu4cI3U7m-gq3OUu2DOgcnNP-HeeLukHcQ_NUC5HCV8eip8ZJByuy49JKIYsGygNik2mqEKH_WG11X43qn9mV6BGMWyG1/s2048/ScotlandsPeople_M1906_168_01_0109Z+%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2048" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SKNIvHABhpKedsUGKbKDCVtRkqrCldj755UUruZEyjIXDPLNu4cI3U7m-gq3OUu2DOgcnNP-HeeLukHcQ_NUC5HCV8eip8ZJByuy49JKIYsGygNik2mqEKH_WG11X43qn9mV6BGMWyG1/w400-h264/ScotlandsPeople_M1906_168_01_0109Z+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Until the mid-twentieth century, you could marry in Scotland by declaration. What does this mean? Basically, you said in front of witnesses that you were married and that was it; you were married. This was also known as an ‘irregular marriage’ (sometimes also referred to as a clandestine marriage) as opposed to a ‘regular marriage’ when a minister (or clergyman) performed the service.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">An irregular marriage was quicker to arrange as the banns were not read. Although used by people throughout Scotland, it was perhaps the convenience of the marriage, along with the lower age requirement for marrying in Scotland without parental consent, that made places like Gretna Green on the border with England so popular for ‘runaway weddings’.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Both of these types of marriage were legal. The Church did not approve of irregular marriages and for that reason these frequently appear in Kirk Session records, but that’s a subject for another day.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Before 1855, when civil registration began, couples could declare in front of witnesses that they were married and that was that. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">After 1855, this type of marriage by declaration continued, but how was it to be recorded? To have the marriage registered the couple went to the Sheriff Court to receive a warrant. That warrant authorised the registration of the marriage.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Looking back at the marriage register is helpful here. We often make a dash for the names and dates but always take time to look at the headings. In the case of an irregular marriage, we see under the heading ‘When, Where and How Married’, the words ‘By Declaration in the presence of [names of witnesses].’</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Another column heading is ‘If a regular Marriage, Signature of officiating Minister and Witnesses. If irregular, Date of Conviction, Decree of Declarator, or Sheriff’s Warrant.” Again in the case of irregular marriage, we usually see it completed, ‘Warrant of the Sheriff Substitute of the [name of Sheriff Court]’.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Are there corresponding records kept by the Sheriff Court?</span></span></h4><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Yes. These can be helpful, but not usually. Surviving records are generally found in the ‘Diet Books’ or ‘Minute Books’ of the sheriff court and are usually quite brief. In the example shown here, we see that the only extra information we are given is a bit more detail about the witnesses. I would never say not to follow the paper trail, just don’t get your hopes up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm47MDfaC-Ly1yeWfu4Q5CqocMF1TteIzmb41H1mOBMUauIQoJNbfTOz8cIqiI7Rilow86JI6jYmRA6usDCBxppiQSI3bEM-Awj6x1xmIQ3IYKPyuiBmaPKVwKWzraFe-HLHPyudpqmWVf/s1372/SC1_2_139.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="1372" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm47MDfaC-Ly1yeWfu4Q5CqocMF1TteIzmb41H1mOBMUauIQoJNbfTOz8cIqiI7Rilow86JI6jYmRA6usDCBxppiQSI3bEM-Awj6x1xmIQ3IYKPyuiBmaPKVwKWzraFe-HLHPyudpqmWVf/w400-h240/SC1_2_139.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Of course, there are often surviving church marriage registers post-1855 too which are occasionally useful. In general though, the information in the marriage register you can easily access on ScotlandsPeople will tell you just as much, if not more, than the corresponding church records. If you are up against a brick wall and can visit the National Records of Scotland, look at everything you possibly can.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Were all irregular marriages after 1855 registered?</span></span></h4><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There is evidence that they were not. I would like to do further study into this but occurrences in the Kirk Session minutes of the parish of Canonbie have been noted where a couple were reproved by the Kirk for being irregularly married and no corresponding record can be found in the marriage registers on ScotlandsPeople. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Keep learning about Scottish genealogy by attending our free <a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" target="_blank">Scottish Indexes Conferences</a>. The next is scheduled for </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "Lucida Grande", Verdana, Lucida, Geneva, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">23 October 2021.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAiuST7mJ1rbEoHNYI604fvf6T1DkHFh33Dfl414uV9I5ahQb0tnZCAZpHixT5b0yYChufB8uHKeL-hzMh7226wQ7on3YhUdc4o596hYe3zePgMUUtekTwP4dzSSEjlTRIMMwJqgTSIa1/s1278/October+Con+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1278" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAiuST7mJ1rbEoHNYI604fvf6T1DkHFh33Dfl414uV9I5ahQb0tnZCAZpHixT5b0yYChufB8uHKeL-hzMh7226wQ7on3YhUdc4o596hYe3zePgMUUtekTwP4dzSSEjlTRIMMwJqgTSIa1/w400-h225/October+Con+main.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-69697771427177537282021-03-08T07:07:00.000-08:002021-03-08T07:07:08.132-08:00 A glimpse of what's lost and hope for what can be found!<p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Sadly before 1855 there are 'missing' birth, marriage and death records. One reason for this is that not all of our ancestors attended the Church of Scotland. This may have been because they were not very religious or it could have been that they attended a church of another faith. If that’s the case we are less likely to find their life events in the Church of Scotland records on ScotlandsPeople. Sometimes a very diligent parish clerk ensured all births were registered regardless of the parents’ religious persuasion, but sadly this is not common.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ce673fb5-7fff-59d7-6892-a1aab215c084"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are, of course, records of other churches. Some of these have been digitised and made available online. Even when records are online they are not 100 % complete. The ravages of time, water, dust and on occasion mice have taken their toll on these records. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvBLr9iGMfu6a94kWQyjA_uePHi03zM240Z1rK5Afxb1fZcaTY7Zd4UBqyfTBHL0fB6Smv-FaRAePiEknHKEiHJ6buhW5a-BtiFXBd45fgDwR943ZywU2wmR9iowJt3NjV_r7f9zyJerIg/s1016/John+Flynn+case+SC16_51_16+0031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="678" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvBLr9iGMfu6a94kWQyjA_uePHi03zM240Z1rK5Afxb1fZcaTY7Zd4UBqyfTBHL0fB6Smv-FaRAePiEknHKEiHJ6buhW5a-BtiFXBd45fgDwR943ZywU2wmR9iowJt3NjV_r7f9zyJerIg/s320/John+Flynn+case+SC16_51_16+0031.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In today’s example we have something very interesting. John Flynn, as some of you may remember from an earlier post was a ‘vagabond’. John married Ann Colquhoun on 5 April 1845 but by 1859 the marriage had broken down and there was quite an extensive court case.</span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This extract was provided as part of the court case. The marriage register was obviously still around in 1859 and I wanted to find the original entry. A search in the Church of Scotland Old Parish Registers (or OPRs) on ScotlandsPeople showed no results. What I found curious is that there are records for the parish of Urr for this period so I kept digging. I should mention at this point, the town of Dalbeattie was in the parish of Urr, which is in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I looked at the register to see if there were any gaps. I did this by searching for marriages in the year 1845 for the parish of Urr. I left the name blank. I could see that page 211 had marriages from March 1845 and page 212 had marriages from April 1845 (you can see this for free). I then clicked in to see the register and it looks very complete, with no blank sections where a clerk intended to come back and fill something in. There are entries for 15 March 1845 and 18 April 1845, but nothing for the 5th of April 1845 and nothing for John and Ann.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Looking again at the extract we found in the court case I see that John and Ann were married by John Strain. Who was John Strain, which denomination did he belong to? A quick search on Google brought up the Catholic Encyclopedia and this confirmed what I was beginning to suspect, that he was a Catholic priest. That would explain why the marriage is not in the Church of Scotland records!</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEA1spUsUAWJ25gK92UZUgrJuwIYwLz8YclwsO5Q-M6pBvAHkT4wCHE-USsJ_dg2m9XovsOFsIu8JxeaiWxaGYr3RHxC-SmsuKpNFDZeWidNBA9GLm_BaKoSCuKxqapdcW7HNfLS7GQTy/s2048/Find+Scottish+Convicts+Copy+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEA1spUsUAWJ25gK92UZUgrJuwIYwLz8YclwsO5Q-M6pBvAHkT4wCHE-USsJ_dg2m9XovsOFsIu8JxeaiWxaGYr3RHxC-SmsuKpNFDZeWidNBA9GLm_BaKoSCuKxqapdcW7HNfLS7GQTy/s320/Find+Scottish+Convicts+Copy+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Both Findmypast and ScotlandsPeople have Catholic registers so I made a search in these but nothing has been found. What I have found on <a href="https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/scotland-roman-catholic-parish-registers-browse" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Findmypast using their ‘Browse’ feature</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is that although there are many records for Dalbeattie, including for much earlier periods than 1845, there are not very many for the period when John Strain was a priest there. </span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">On this occasion, we know the record was created and was still in existence in 1859 but it seems that the original is lost. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What can we learn through this little meander in the records? Look carefully at the record, find out who created it and why. Learn more about the creator of the record and the records they created. This will help you understand what you are looking at and help you piece together your family story.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We also learn that all is not lost when we can’t find a record of a birth, marriage or death before 1855. Clues survive in all sorts of places and we’re working hard to help get more of these court records added to scottishindexes.com so you can find these treasures. There is hope for what is lost. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjhyphenhyphen9wOYsaYLI2kt4RzL7szjsI-nWeM9Cf8ajOgo_0Q8l4aKfXPSxNMrssaAlVoeyRCVhdfuz5sms0BhGM9ie6gMrFiq6OHjrXmvhek2ZwTCDsDfZc5__sa8YszTlX0xr3xo4K9yc5qNB/s1277/March+2021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1277" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjhyphenhyphen9wOYsaYLI2kt4RzL7szjsI-nWeM9Cf8ajOgo_0Q8l4aKfXPSxNMrssaAlVoeyRCVhdfuz5sms0BhGM9ie6gMrFiq6OHjrXmvhek2ZwTCDsDfZc5__sa8YszTlX0xr3xo4K9yc5qNB/w640-h360/March+2021.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-47547986161061400202021-02-23T03:00:00.001-08:002021-02-23T03:00:10.851-08:00 Smart Searching on ScotlandsPeople<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />We have all been in that situation, made a 1911 census search on ScotlandsPeople only to have five or more options that could all be our ancestor!</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-45ff9f26-7fff-4017-1959-8d7334e03b2b"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can save those precious credits by making some smart searches.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although you can add a ‘Forename of other person on that census page’, which can be helpful, this is not so helpful if you are searching for Johns, Marys and Williams as the chances are those names are on quite a lot of Scottish census pages!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you get your list of results you are given Surname, Forename, Year, Gender, Age, Ref, RD Name and County/City.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first five columns are self-explanatory, but what about ‘Ref’ and ‘RD Name’, what do these mean?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Ref’ is reference, this is displayed as a number, e.g. ‘569/ 1/ 7’. The first number which in this case is 569 represents the Registration District (RD) which is in this case Kilmacolm.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0mJEzH-Co-RYUwSOqP7qp8XG_R4ZhLYw6Qftqm-R1b6FHluSvlZowzgpWAtz6FC3a94q7nnLIIULC_AcW5efQtiN-pW-zW9xt1Nit4P6JqfyHlu4V7banU1-VWdFbgjln7a2kyxuPARB/s1102/Understanding+References.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0mJEzH-Co-RYUwSOqP7qp8XG_R4ZhLYw6Qftqm-R1b6FHluSvlZowzgpWAtz6FC3a94q7nnLIIULC_AcW5efQtiN-pW-zW9xt1Nit4P6JqfyHlu4V7banU1-VWdFbgjln7a2kyxuPARB/w266-h400/Understanding+References.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over time some places grew rapidly and the registration districts were divided, when this happened we may see a district number like 572/2 which is Barrhead and Levern.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Returning to our original example of ‘Ref’ 569/ 1/ 7, the 1 represents the enumeration book and the 7 represents the page. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is this useful? All members of a standard household will be either on the same page or on the page before or following. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can this help? Let’s say you find a John Smith in Kilmacolm, he’s the right age but you are not sure it’s quite right. Refine your search, take out the forename and age but look for all ‘Smiths’ in the district of Kilmacolm. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you get the search results up look to see who has the reference ‘569/ 1/ 7’. Also, watch out for ‘569/ 1/ 6’ and ‘569/ 1/ 8’ in case the family splits over two pages!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have now effectively recreated the family group and you can easily work out if this is ‘your’ John Smith before you spend those credits. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is going to be particularly helpful for the 1911 census as it is not available on other websites. If you are struggling to find people in earlier census years use websites like Freecen and ScottishIndexes to make free searches, or if you have a Findmypast or Ancestry subscription use their search to identify the family then go to ScotlandsPeople to see the original image.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-23580942755931038222021-02-22T04:58:00.003-08:002021-02-22T04:58:39.870-08:00 Conversations, photographs and documents; taken out of context they can all be misunderstood!<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />We’ve all been in that situation, having heard a conversation and got the wrong end of the story. The same can happen with documents. We look at an entry half way through a volume and misunderstand what we are looking at. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6fb7f6d2-7fff-79a3-2336-f1dd199f7407"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was an example this morning in our group, a member asked why a 1902 list of Glasgow voters were all women. Good question! It seemed odd, and there were some ideas as to why this may be, but how would we get to the truth?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXb8XteXGPkkKLE7sdYuFjoA5bXm2dxTX9IrZprtqoDyuoy92lkZnkbiM-oPJ82E26wPv5PgnUvVzO2JKwwFM-DZ_PCyl9IFIALHoQvHeF33mw3B5dIXuUhcQvrRSAbZe-GMaq3YaWBl4/s1200/TIPS+FOR+FAMILY+HISTORY+context.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXb8XteXGPkkKLE7sdYuFjoA5bXm2dxTX9IrZprtqoDyuoy92lkZnkbiM-oPJ82E26wPv5PgnUvVzO2JKwwFM-DZ_PCyl9IFIALHoQvHeF33mw3B5dIXuUhcQvrRSAbZe-GMaq3YaWBl4/w640-h334/TIPS+FOR+FAMILY+HISTORY+context.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I went to Ancestry where we can view the records (</span><a href="https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61020/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61020/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and found the entry that was mentioned in our group. I then paged back to the start of the section to read the heading which read, ‘Supplementary list of persons other than Parliamentary Electors entitled to vote in the election of the Town Councillors for the City and Royal Burgh of Glasgow’. These women were therefore only permitted to vote in certain elections. Their male counterparts will have already been listed in the other lists. Interestingly this list is not all women. There are some men but predominantly women are listed.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do we learn? Don’t take a record out of context. If you can, page through to the start of the volume or section. Find out who created a record and why. Read other entries to see the whole picture.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Join our Facebook group to join in the conversation. </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/scottishindexes" style="text-decoration-line: none;">www.facebook.com/groups/scottishindexes</a></span></p><div><br /></div></span>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-51749867589646316952021-01-12T02:42:00.001-08:002021-01-12T02:42:58.738-08:00Tips for finding our ancestors in the 1911 census<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As many of you will know the 1911 census for Scotland is not available on Findmypast or Ancestry. The Orkney 1911 census has been transcribed and is available from the <a href="https://orkneyfhs.co.uk/home.php" target="_blank">Orkney FHS</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This means that we have to use the census on ScotlandsPeople which is a pay-per-view website. If we are researching a common name in a densely populated area we may have to look at many entries before we find the right one. </span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">How can we save those credits?</span></h3><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-faf60802-7fff-d8b0-1bf6-2ca8c6ec2436"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">I will be sharing some tips at our conference on 30 January 2021 but here is one for you today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Use Street Indexes</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Before the census was available to public access, street indexes were prepared for large towns and cities. These can be helpful as they tell you which streets are in each registration district and even which census enumeration book. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">For example, earlier today I was searching for someone who I knew had been living at 272 Buchanan Street Glasgow in 1909. I wanted to work out from the ScotlandsPeople index (without paying anything) if any of the possible results could relate to 272 Buchanan Street.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">First I went to the census street index for Glasgow and I was told that 272 Buchanan Street was in registration district number 644/8 and the relevant enumeration book was number 29.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Sadly you can’t use these reference numbers to search on ScotlandsPeople so I needed to work out what the name of registration district number 644/8 was in 1911. For rural areas, this isn’t such a problem but there are loads of districts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. It can all get a bit confusing. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUEy54DK_nmwKfjG4rlvjbSYPgilQffoYy7A3_-h5i94R14kCC8CSNlOwh3CVeWpELxJboP2kfPMDAG6KbXMb9Mry3viLmzkLzDTIluAEMPqnUOMjPhLvH7y6SU8DCu6IrIh1QgdbQI48/s1102/Understanding+References.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUEy54DK_nmwKfjG4rlvjbSYPgilQffoYy7A3_-h5i94R14kCC8CSNlOwh3CVeWpELxJboP2kfPMDAG6KbXMb9Mry3viLmzkLzDTIluAEMPqnUOMjPhLvH7y6SU8DCu6IrIh1QgdbQI48/s320/Understanding+References.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I now headed to the ‘Registration District guide - Glasgow’ which told me that in 1911 (very important to look at the date column) 644/8 was St. Rollox registration district.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I could now return to ScotlandsPeople and narrow down my search to St. Rollox. You can’t narrow it down to the enumeration book but we are looking for entries from 644/8 29. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">On ScotlandsPeople you will also see a page number as part of the reference number, for example we may see, ‘644/8 29/ 26’ This is registration district (RD) 644/8, enumeration book 29, page 26.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If I had originally thought that the entry with the reference 644/8 29/ 26 was 272 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, I would now know that it wasn’t and therefore I could save my credits for another search.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></h3><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are 1911 Census Street Indexes for the following places in Scotland:</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Aberdeen</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ayr</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Bonhill</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Bothkennar, Grangemouth and Polmont</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Bothwell, Holytown and Bellshill</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Cambusnethan</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dalziel</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dumfries</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dunbarton</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dundee</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dunfermline</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">East and West Calder</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Edinburgh</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Falkirk</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Glasgow</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Greenock, Gourock and Port Glasgow</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Hamilton</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Hawick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Inverness</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Kilmarnock</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Kirkcaldy and Dysart</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Lewis and Harris</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Montrose</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">New Kilpatrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">New Monkland</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Old Kilpatrick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Old Monkland - Western District, Coatbridge and Old Monkland - Eastern District</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Paisley, Johnstone and Elderslie</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Perth</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Skye</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">St Ninians</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Stirling</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The Street Indexes are free from the National Records of Scotland here: <a href="https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/census-records/1911-census#Street%20indexes">https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/census-records/1911-census#Street%20indexes</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The ‘Parishes and Registration Districts of Scotland by name’ guide (1.4 MB pdf) lists all parishes and districts in alphabetical order with the dates during which each was operative. There are also pages with further breakdowns of the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. See: <a href="https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/statutory-registers/registration-districts">https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/statutory-registers/registration-districts</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I hope this helps you understand the referencing system a bit more and will hopefully save you some of those credits while you hunt for your ancestors. Hope you can </span><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" style="font-family: helvetica;">join us at the next conference</a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> for more Scottish genealogy tips!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.scottishindexes.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2xTIO-JGpGg_rsD6tN7_pcS0w8_-vfWgSYmpZKg2A9T35DFyHKBt_n2MMYCBNlE2ANyrHgjmWDbTPtPMV1NS9X8L8l2i4NCZK04vimd-_d8IaqS32pHoHA8Ihlwoi5aXmj7KLXpvptz0/w640-h360/January+2021.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><div><br /></div>Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com1East Kilbride, Glasgow, UK55.764352400000007 -4.176998727.454118563821162 -39.3332487 84.074586236178845 30.9792513tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-63137088906394518942019-03-26T08:14:00.000-07:002019-03-26T08:14:09.204-07:00Top tips from the experts to keep your precious family photos safe for future generations!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/goog_867724608" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkEmaloM9cYmxwFnzztOcYwOsKL01E65sSbc8xs3m_Et7ARCRVwmAio0TLRT3tbJwxA9SAy8QfH_dj15Vni_sDuX0jCANLBpJ5vq_2qVkhZB8DHTJitKjiDHHMRmGsptsHzn89W4pLph6/s400/InstaRestoration_Before_After2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before and After - www.instarestoration.com</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
This is Peter Rosenkranz from <a href="https://www.instarestoration.com/" target="_blank">InstaRestoration.com</a>. We are a professional online photo restoration service with instant quotes. Our company repairs all kinds of different damages such as watermarks, scratches, cracks or even torn pieces. Simply <a href="https://www.instarestoration.com/" target="_blank">upload</a> your old family photo and we’ll do the rest. </div>
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In this tutorial, I will explain to you how to properly archive your images to prevent such damage in the first place.<br />
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Around 80% of all the restoration work we are performing is related to family photos. What’s interesting about it is that around about 60% of these images have only suffered severe damage because of improper storage or display. This shows how important it is to archive your old family photos properly.<br />
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One of the first things you have to understand is that the process of decay is extremely slow. Improperly storing them won’t affect them today or tomorrow but eventually will have an impact. Just take a look at photographs from the early 20th century. It is almost impossible to find prints without any damage. Most of them have minor or even major damage. Compared to the length of your family’s history a 100 years is a blink of an eye. For saving these images for future generations to come it is crucial to apply some simple guidelines.<br />
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1. Temperature and Humidity</h3>
This one is the most important one. Your photographs have to be stored in a dry and cool place. Don’t store them like most people do, either on the attic or in the basement.<br />
In the attic, high temperatures during summer cause your photograph to fade whereas the high humidity in the basement can lead to fungus and mould. These alterations are irreversible and can only be restored by a professional.<br />
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2. Use proper archiving material </h3>
When buying archive boxes and sleeves always check whether they are acid and bleach free. Even paper boxes can include these harmful chemicals. Over time these substances slowly alter your photographs through chemical reactions. You might not see it straight away but think about the days and years your photographs stay in those boxes.<br />
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3. Photos only!</h3>
This sounds reasonable but you won’t believe how many times I have seen those kinds of damage. Photos have to be stored with photos only. Don’t put Grandma’s necklace or Grandpa’s ring into the same box as their photographs. Every time someone is moving that box these objects scratch the sensitive surface of your photographs. For the best protection put each photograph in an acid-free archive sleeve.<br />
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4. Ultraviolet light</h3>
Ultraviolet light is the number one reason for faded photographs. Always try to keep your original photographs out of direct sunlight. Think about how dangerous it can be to human skin, the same goes for photographs. If you like to display your old family photos in the living room or office use UV block glass or even better create a copy of that photo and store the original somewhere else.<br />
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5. Adhesives </h3>
We have done it all at some point… I’m talking about those handy and easy to use sticky strips and other adhesives. As useful they might be as dangerous are the chemicals inside of them. Only use those sticky strips on reproductions of your photos, not the original ones.<br />
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6. Air Pollutants</h3>
Yeah, I know this one sounds silly but still it happens quite often. Don’t put your photo box in the same room as daddy stores his paint thinner or mommy her aggressive cleaning agent. What makes you dizzy makes your photographs dizzy as well.<br />
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7. Framing</h3>
This one comes in handy when you want to frame your photographs. First of all, think about whether you want to display an original print or not. If it’s an original photograph make sure to use UV blocking glass. Also, think about the possibility of the image becoming stuck to the frame’s glass. This sometimes happens because of fluctuating humidity during the seasons. And seriously this happening is pretty much the worst case scenario.<br />
To prevent that either use frames with a distance between glass and print or put a special translucent plastic sheet between glass and image.<br />
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8. Labelling</h3>
Some of you like to label their old photographs. This actually makes sense for future generations to understand who that person is. But never use a ballpoint-pen, marker or one of these printable sticker labels. Again these all include chemicals that will slowly alter your photograph. The best and most gentle way to label your images is by using a very soft pencil.<br />
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9. Create digital copies</h3>
Last but not least create digital copies of your images, especially the ones which have already suffered damage. If worst comes to worst you still have a back up on your hard disk.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAPULh5Qy2yGzz8cOq6iCG2RD7CCYqT9H8PcTB43dlJwYBwSNTIop17QA9ZR8T6_AIWUc2mgAP-Ru6i11Uk92WyRdAWVex0ICpwBeyYw1Ma_AoRujho0CE4vJ2sFZLsk8D05QC1ojthSTA/s1600/InstaRestoration_Before_After.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAPULh5Qy2yGzz8cOq6iCG2RD7CCYqT9H8PcTB43dlJwYBwSNTIop17QA9ZR8T6_AIWUc2mgAP-Ru6i11Uk92WyRdAWVex0ICpwBeyYw1Ma_AoRujho0CE4vJ2sFZLsk8D05QC1ojthSTA/s320/InstaRestoration_Before_After.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Before and After - www.instarestoration.com</td></tr>
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Apply these simple steps and you're good to go. If any of your images are already damaged and you'd love to get them repaired or colourized check out our website.<br />
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<a href="http://www.instarestoration.com/">www.instarestoration.com</a></h2>
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Guest blog by <a href="https://www.instarestoration.com/" target="_blank">Peter Rosenkranz</a><br />
<br />Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-87514092384996986442018-08-28T03:45:00.000-07:002018-08-28T03:45:02.980-07:00Breaking Down those Brickwalls: Scottish Sheriff Court Records<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHT580hQVJweIF_pJLJmNK9ZMe5vE7CrtMC-v9fSdZXCaOnkaH5lPgjnbv85RwxQuIvsKrh-EkNQpps9-fhtBDfMwZKWd76oMVwiJNTlNNjvNIm1zNk5iPbXamIfjuheacay0XRAxJa66/s1600/Crown+Copyright%252C+NRS%252C+SC5_8_434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="389" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHT580hQVJweIF_pJLJmNK9ZMe5vE7CrtMC-v9fSdZXCaOnkaH5lPgjnbv85RwxQuIvsKrh-EkNQpps9-fhtBDfMwZKWd76oMVwiJNTlNNjvNIm1zNk5iPbXamIfjuheacay0XRAxJa66/s400/Crown+Copyright%252C+NRS%252C+SC5_8_434.jpg" width="322" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/courtptranscript.aspx?courtpid=50434001" target="_blank">James Anderson</a> - Crown copyright NRS SC5/8/434</td></tr>
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<h3>
An Amazing Discovery</h3>
We have found what may be one of our best discoveries ever! As evidence in an affiliation and aliment case (paternity case) there is an ambrotype (an early type of photograph) of the accused man dated pre-1860. It was bundled up in a box of court records.<br />
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The man pictured here is James Anderson, a wood carter who was living at Arbeadie Cottage, Banchory Ternan, Kincardineshire. (<a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/courtptranscript.aspx?courtpid=50434001" target="_blank">Click here to see the entry in our index</a> - NRS, SC5/8/434). To make sure no damage comes to this amazing item the <a href="https://twitter.com/UnNomeACaso/status/1031841685280632832" target="_blank">conservation branch at the National Records of Scotland</a> have removed it from the bundle and work will now be undertaken to preserve this piece of history.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfvekAqrl6k4KR0XJ_0m_f0SAzhKY74UmaiiXX_HOVnAHo5zvr4DOQzxxTzq700M8TOWGO9HHUbaIWRGtHVqxxCbsvYGH1rlIwkZlio6y4yb9x_DNUK5rsXbHx8VtR993Q6oMBHSZAH3W/s1600/summon+aurther+bell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1180" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfvekAqrl6k4KR0XJ_0m_f0SAzhKY74UmaiiXX_HOVnAHo5zvr4DOQzxxTzq700M8TOWGO9HHUbaIWRGtHVqxxCbsvYGH1rlIwkZlio6y4yb9x_DNUK5rsXbHx8VtR993Q6oMBHSZAH3W/s320/summon+aurther+bell.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Example from another case NRS Ref: <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/courtptranscript.aspx?courtpid=620390004" target="_blank">SC62/10/390</a></td></tr>
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<h3>
Court Records</h3>
<span id="goog_1908985308"></span><span id="goog_1908985309"></span>For longer than we might expect, women have been taking the fathers of their children to court to compel them to pay maintenance for their children. In Victorian Scotland these cases were most often heard in the Sheriff Court. The most common type of case is ‘Affiliation and Aliment’, that is a case that proves ‘affiliation’ or paternity and decreed how much ‘aliment’ or maintenance should be paid by the father. If your ancestor was illegitimate their mother may well have taken the father to court.<br />
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Decree</h3>
At the end of most cases a decree would be made, this was legally binding. You could pay for an extract of the decree so that you could keep a copy. There were various reasons people might want an extract of a case but they were not always made.<br />
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From the 1830s most Scottish Sheriff Courts kept a volume of extracted decrees. So let’s say someone went to the court and asked for an extract, they would be given one and the court would write the extract into a book. We are indexing these books. See our <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragecourt.aspx" target="_blank">coverage page here</a>.<br />
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Processes</h3>
As well as the volumes of decrees the court would also keep the <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/learningcourt.aspx#q5" target="_blank">process, or paperwork</a>, related to the case. These include witness statements and can include love letters. This week we found a case that included this ambrotype!<br />
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Birth Certificate</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YH8RYUrZhZjP2oC-TcFFmwDsSQpvMbDvJQjMar2sGD_djWqwv9qwm69lj_NSV64WUB_NAZVZ2JWvQwLj6fzAuBwAqsBw4VTzzx8H3mQGe5DXwUg0jMGHqHVDW5yzvPPWGGpCA9xw-f9X/s1600/20180828_105831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="1600" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YH8RYUrZhZjP2oC-TcFFmwDsSQpvMbDvJQjMar2sGD_djWqwv9qwm69lj_NSV64WUB_NAZVZ2JWvQwLj6fzAuBwAqsBw4VTzzx8H3mQGe5DXwUg0jMGHqHVDW5yzvPPWGGpCA9xw-f9X/s320/20180828_105831.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
From 1855 all ‘affiliation’ cases which reached decree resulted in a correction being made to the register of births. This means that you usually know which court to start your search in. This particular case was settled, so it did not reach decree. This means that there is no note on the birth certificate naming the father of the child.<br />
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<h3>
Indexing</h3>
With the help of a volunteer we are indexing the volumes of extracted decrees. Although these do not contain all cases, they do contain many of them. When a client orders a pre-1860 decree we let them know how many boxes we need to search to find the court process, or the more detailed paperwork. We charge £30 to search three boxes. As we search for the client’s case, we also note all other ‘paternity’ cases in the box and <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">add them our index</a>. If you would like us to search some records for you please <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/contact.aspx" target="_blank">get in touch</a>.<br />
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This is what we were doing last Tuesday when we found the case that contained the ambrotype. The case can be seen <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/courtptranscript.aspx?courtpid=50434001" target="_blank">here in our index</a>. If you would like us to make a search for you just email me.<br />
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Brick Wall</h3>
Having an illegitimate ancestor is a major cause of family history brickwalls. We hope our indexing project will help break these down. If you would like us to search some boxes for you <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/contact.aspx" target="_blank">please just get in touch</a>, I can’t promise to find a photograph for you but who knows what we will find!<br />
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Learn More</h3>
If you would like to learn more about Scottish Sheriff Court records or our indexing project, please see our <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/learning.aspx" target="_blank">Learning Zone</a>.<br />
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Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com6East Kilbride, Glasgow, UK55.764352400000007 -4.176998700000012855.69287640000001 -4.3383602000000128 55.835828400000004 -4.0156372000000129tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739234369663712823.post-65258569174441079262018-08-06T07:41:00.000-07:002018-08-06T07:41:36.733-07:00Breaking Down those Brickwalls: Scottish Death Certificates<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eJtX6IXLjgQmBDydnvsuHqTIw_Nip5N0HSReiQde5CW1xYPo-ddXPtstSeNDpP9gwsSlHAs7Q1TVXeLAh90ksYNUq_TQuEWTQ6pc1YrXSl39c749GNYq1izdBpZESxnx_ZtSIQUD2t5E/s1600/PB174799.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eJtX6IXLjgQmBDydnvsuHqTIw_Nip5N0HSReiQde5CW1xYPo-ddXPtstSeNDpP9gwsSlHAs7Q1TVXeLAh90ksYNUq_TQuEWTQ6pc1YrXSl39c749GNYq1izdBpZESxnx_ZtSIQUD2t5E/s320/PB174799.jpg" title="New Register House, Edinburgh" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.24px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">New Register House, Edinburgh</span></td></tr>
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As is the case with birth and marriage certificates, 1855 is a great year from a genealogist's point of view.</div>
<br />In this first year of registration Scottish death certificates included the following information:<br /><br />Date, time and place of death, usual residence, deceased's name, sex, marital status, age and occupation, the deceased's place of birth, spouse's name, both parents' names (including the mother’s maiden surname) and whether deceased, occupations and whether they were deceased, the names and ages of children (or age and year of death if the child pre-deceased the parent), cause of death, duration of last illness, doctor's name, when the doctor last saw the deceased alive, place of burial, the name of the undertaker and details of the informant.<br /><br />Much of the bounty of information recorded in 1855 was sadly not continued after that year. From 1856-1860 you can expect to find the name, marital status, occupation, date, time and place of death and usual residence, full names of both parents and whether deceased, cause of death, duration of disease and doctor's name, place of burial and undertaker's name, and details of the informant.<br /><br /><h3>
Did you know?</h3>
<br />By looking at your ancestor's death certificate between 1855 and 1860, or even that of a close relative such as a sibling, you may get a clue as to where the rest of the family were buried. If it was a family plot you may then be able to trace your ancestors using transcriptions of the gravestone, if it has survived. It’s not unusual to find three generations recorded on one gravestone!<br /><br /><br />Find out more about Scottish civil registration on our website: <a href="http://www.scottishindexes.com/learningcivil.aspx">http://www.scottishindexes.com/learningcivil.aspx</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Emma Maxwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476067133903233402noreply@blogger.com0H M Register House, 2 Princes St, Edinburgh EH1 3YY, UK55.9538135 -3.189280999999937255.953258000000005 -3.1905414999999371 55.954369 -3.1880204999999373