Genealogy Chat

Hello everyone - this one is frying my head! I have husb's 3 x g grandmother Jane Wilson Taylor b. approx 1816 in Scotland (somewhere around Paisley/Glasgow area probably), but can not find her actual birth anywhere. She married John Thomson (M.D.) on 30.09.1838 @ Hamilton. Died 03.04.1883 @ Bath Street, Glasgow. Parents on death cert are Matthew Taylor and Jean, m.s. Ronald. All well & good - BUT Matthew and Jean were married at Paisley on 01 & 03.04.1827 @ both Paisley High & Middle (presumably mixed religions hence 2 ceremonies?), and the three daughters I've found were born 1830-1836. I assume that Matthew is therefore Jane's stepfather, so have looked for her birth under Taylor, Ronald, and also Wilson in case she was illegitimate and dad's name sneaked in later. No joy. Can anyone please help??? Cheers Ellen.

Try by getting her death certificate as scottish ones give more information and that is how I found my gr grandmothers maiden name

Hi Ellen I would agree with Valerie about getting the death certificate. That should have her father's name (if known). By the way, with the marriage being registered in two places, does that not just mean that bride and groom lived in two different parishes prior to marriage? I have a few like that and have never thought that they might be mixed religions. I will have to look into that possibility. Also, I am having great difficulty finding any of my Scottish lots births before statutory registration came in so if you have any good tips, let me know! Good luck Lynne

Hello folks I do have the death cert already as noted above. It gives her father as Matthew Taylor - but I'm pretty sure he's her stepfather not her father, as his marraige to her mother took place 11 years after she was born, which is why I'm stuck. Lynne - Scotlandspeople (.) com gives you details of births (including parents names) for (registered!) births back to the 1500's, and you can order the extracts online - although the extracts in most cases do not give any more info than the online details. I have also had a lot of success in narrowing down my searches by cross referencing with both familysearch (.) org (.) uk and scotsorigins (.) com. Both are free sites. Anyone got any more ideas on next steps for Jane above? Regards Ellen.

Hi folks The dates you are referring to for the marriage are before compulsory registration and I think then that the 2 dates given are likely to be the reading of the banns and then the actual ceremony as the info came from "Old Parish Registers" Be careful with the LDS website as it is sometimes totally wrong. Rgds Caroline

If you go on the scotlands people they have births going back 1553 if they put a record in the parish records will say if mother was single but the death should give mothers maiden name as well as fathers name all you have to do is get her mothers death certificate will say who married to and you can check if birth with her mothers maiden name

Hi - having traced many of my scottish ancestors I too have come up against similar problems. Firstly I have noticed that they do often marry after the birth of one or several children. Secondly having been unable to trace the deaths of some people I know to have been in Scotland I phoned the registry office and was told that the web site only has Chuch of Scotland records so if your relatives were 'non conformists' they will not appear, you have to look them up the old fashioned way. In one case of mine, the parents must have been non conformist but registered their children and from then on the families were CofS. The religion of Scotland seems to be a minefield and thus they explain makes knowing who was 'conforming' more difficult given that it changed so much. Have you gathered anything from the census records, they often say 'step father'? - Karen

Thanks for your thoughts folks. Caroline - I'm not goinng by LDS - only use it for cross referencing to narrow down searches on scotlandspeople. I have all certs/extracts and all details given above are correct by them. Valerie - would that it was so easy! Cannot find the mothers death as yet, under any surname, Taylor, Wilson or Ronald! She may well have died before 1855 in which case I cannot get access to Scottish deaths - unless you know a way - I'd be delighted if there is a way as it could solve a lot of my other brick walls. Regards Ellen.

Sorry I had same problem I found husbands death and found her name on his death certificate but deaths before then try freecen.rootsweb.com have some not all

Have one family on hubby's side that don't appear to have registered the births (4 children I know about). Have found their marriages and deaths but no births. Even found one on the 1841 census being a soldier age 15 at Aberdeen so its down to Kew to find the details - hopefully on his first appearance on the Muster Rolls it will give his date of birth and place (believed Edinburgh).