Scottish Quaker Marriages - Index Coming Soon

Quaker Meeting House 

Update - December 2014

You can now search Quaker births and marriages on our new website www.scottishindexes.com

We’ve been looking at the Digest of Scottish Quaker births, marriages and deaths again, with a view to creating an index. Interestingly before the digest of marriages starts properly there are two pages of marriages which “have been either considered irregular or to have been but imperfectly recorded”. Here are a couple of examples:

Book: 17

Page: 3

Names: Ormston Jane, Waldie John

Date of Minute: 1749, Novr. 26

Description: [Jane Ormston] daur of Charles (merchant) of Kelso: Fewar and Commissary Clerk

Information given: At Kelso Monthly Meeting a letter was read from Jane Ormston acknowledging her having married contrary to the Rules of the Society. {The first child of this Marriage is recorded in the Parish Register as born 5th September 1750.}

Monthly Meeting or other records: Kelso Mo Mg

Book: 14

Page: 17

Names: Cook James, Liddell Mary

Date of Minute:1703, 4, 25

Description: [James Cook] of Linlithgow: [Mary Liddell] daur of James [Liddell]

Information given: These Friends applied to Hamilton Monthly Meeting the second time for leave to marry and were directed to wait till Mary Liddell could produce a certificate from Ireland - The Marriage appears to have taken place as Mary Liddell, as James Cook’s widow, afterwards married George Cunningham, as below. - 

Monthly Meeting or other records Hamilton & Glasgow Mo Mg.

© Copyright National Records of Scotland reference CH10/1/64 and Emma Maxwell of www.maxwellancestry.com

We will index these two pages with the rest of the volume of marriages so that they can be easily found. I’m not sure what the total number of entries will be but it will certainly help to fill in some of the ‘missing’ entries that cannot be found in the OPRs. 

If you have arrived here from Google and wonder what we’re all about take a look at the ‘Online Indexes’ tab to see what we have available already to help you trace your Scottish family tree.

Excerpt from the National Records of Scotland

I am reading minutes relating to the administration the the Old Age Pension. National Records of Scotland reference GRO5/779.

Under the subject of the Census being returned to Scotland The Registrar General said (as recorded in the minutes) in November 1909:

"Transmits files as to this matter is strongly of the opinion that a case has been established for access being given to the Census Returns and further thinks that Scottish Census Returns for 1841 & 1851 now crumbling to pieces in London, should be transferred to Scotland & housed in the Register House as soon as possible."

To read more about the Old Age Pension read my blog: In search of the Old Age Pension records - Part One

In search of the Old Age Pension records - Part One

It was brought to my attention recently that in Ireland there survive records of 'Age Verification' which drew on the 1841 and 1851 census to prove an individual's age so that they could claim their Old Age Pension.

The Old Age Pension was introduced throughout the United Kingdom (which then included what is now the Republic of Ireland) in January 1909. In order to claim, you had to be 70 years of age or older and you would have to prove you were old enough.

In Scotland and Ireland it could be very difficult to prove your age. In Ireland civil registration of births had not begun until 1864 so nobody of pension age in 1909, who had been born in Ireland, had a birth certificate. Although civil registration of births had began nine years earlier in Scotland it still meant that none of the first applicants for the Old Age Pension had a birth certificate.

What was to be done?

First of all a search could be made in parish records. Sometimes a baptism could be found, but in a number of cases (as you will know if you have ever searched for these) nothing could be found. It was decided that in Ireland and Scotland searches could be made in the 1841 and 1851 census to verify ages.

Ireland

This is a very valuable resource in Ireland as in the years that followed most of the 1841 and 1851 census enumeration books were destroyed. The remaining Age Verification forms are a really valuable resource. To read more about this see Chris Paton's excellent blog: Walking in eternity.

Scotland

In Scotland I cannot find these age verification forms. I have been able to demonstrate (contrary to the belief of some) that they did exist in Scotland and I also have some statistics. Here is an extract from a file held by the National Records of Scotland (their reference is GRO5/778):

STATEMENT showing NO. of SEARCHES in CENSUS RETURNS of 1841 and of 1851 on behalf of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD in each month from January 1911 to February 1912.

In the same file (GRO5/778) there is also a copy of a question raised by Captain Murray in the House of Commons on 7 August 1912. The question was: “To ask the Secretary for Scotland, whether he can state the number of persons in Scotland who were in receipt of old age pensions on 1st January 1909, 1st January 1910, 1st January 1911, and 1st January 1912.”

The reply by Mr. Masterman. - “There are no records to show the number of old age pensioners on the 1st January in any year except 1909; but the following figures represent the number of persons who were in receipt of old age pensions in Scotland on 1st January 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1912.

On 1st January 1909 64,770
On Friday immediately preceding 1st January 1910 76,037
On Friday immediately preceding 1st January 1911 80,502
On Friday immediately preceding 1st January 1912 94,243”

If the Scottish Age Verification forms could be found they would be really interesting. Whilst they concern a small percentage of the population, it is the percentage of the population that were struggling during their lifetime, to provide proof of their their age. If you are now tracing your family tree just think how useful it would be to have a record from 1909 for these individuals!!

If you have any insight into what has happened to these forms please get in touch.

England and Wales

Civil registration beginning in England and Wales in 1837 meant that some pensioners had birth certificates, but also the parish registers for the period immediately before 1837 are in much better order than in Scotland and Ireland. It therefore seems that the census was not often (if ever) used for the purposes of age verification.

Original Application forms

The Age verification forms should not be confused with the original pension application forms, which every claimant would have filled in right at the start of the process, regardless of whether they had evidence of their age or not. They would be interesting to find too and will be the subject of another blog.

UPDATE: Read part two

Uses for the prison indexes

So we have spoken a lot about the prison indexes adding colour to your family tree but they may add even more than that. I came across this post on rootschat.com.

Quiet a familiar situation, born Ireland no further information. Where do you start? Is this the end of the line? Well as you can see from the post I made our prison index gives a County in Ireland. Now the family will have a chance of tracing their Irish ancestors.

So if you have Irish ancestors living in Scotland have a look at our prison indexes and see if we can unlock your little mysteries.

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Harsh punishment for Michael

As work continues on the seemingly endless Jedburgh Prison book Graham is transcribing he came across entry that we thought may be of interest.

20 May 1861

Michael Gallacher, labourer at Newcastleton, single, aged 60, born in Ireland, 5' 6", 157 lbs on admission, 151 lbs on release, in apparent good health, can read a little, but cannot write.

Tried 3 June 1861 for the crime of the theft of a handkerchief, sentenced to 3 days imprisonment, total; time in jail 17 days, conduct good.