Genealogy Chat

I have searched on Scotland's people, in every variation possible for my husband's Grandfather's birth. William Fraser Ramsay c 1876, Newhaven, North Leith. Another member, Jill Price, even looked at New Register House for him, but it can't be found anywhere. I have his marriage banns and cert. his death cert. and found him on 1891 and 1881 census with parents, so I know all my info is right. How likely is it that his birth just wasn't registered, bearing in mind that registration in Scotland became compulsory in 1855, with a hefty fine for not doing so, and all his older siblings were registered? Anyone got any ideas? Thank you Christine

Christine I have a great grandfather who was defintely not registered and he was born in the Midlands 1881. I have scoured the 1837online from Jan 1879- 1883 and thought I had found him as this entry from Jan 1882was the nearest, same name, same age same district but when I received the birth cert it was the wrong father!!! I have had to resign myself to the fact this birth was not registered, I reckon looking at census entries that the mother on the census was too old at this stage to be the true mother(she was in he fifities with a 7month old baby???. as she claims on the 1881 census she is mother, but by 1891 she claims to be grandmother, So I reckon one of her four daughters is actually the mother of this child and they tried to hide this from others. What I did is researched the first born and got his birth cert to find out the mother's maiden name and continued on from there, and just pleased to get further back. Hope all this makes sense to you and you will find it not surprising to find not everyone was legally registered at birth.... Sounds incredible, but I have found to my cost its true. Good Luck Pat

Christine....William's parents were, who? Judy :)

Have you tried a search on just the surname, sometimes if they had not decidied on a name then they were registered as Male or Baby and then the surname. Worth a try if you have not already.

I don't know how the registration system worked in Scotland, but I do know that in England sometimes if you can't find the details in the general index, you can in the local register office, if you know where that is. Also, again i don't know how common a name Ramsay is in Scotland, are there any William Ramsays born around 1876 that you have dismissed because they weren't registered where you expected them to be? Or might he have been registered Fraser Ramsay? nell

Hi everyone, thank you all for your answers. Pat I had wondered about the age of his parents, being that his mother was 46 and father 52 around the time when he would have been born. Although not too old, their last child before William was born 1861, so there is a big gap, so perhaps it is possible that they "adopted" him from perhaps an unmarried daughter. Judy, his parents were John Johnstone Ramsay b1824 and his mother Mary Anne McDonald c1830. Anne and Helen I have tried all the variations of the name, there were lots of Ramsays in Newhaven (and Williams) and a lot of research into this family, none which include my William. There is even a site www.oldnewhaven.org which has a lot about this particular family and pics of them, but he's still not there! Thanks again Christine ps. Kat in Scotland I'm sure the law came in on 1855, but at least I'm not alone if your still looking too. Thanks again

My great grandfather was never registered and he was born in 1887, although his first brother and last sister was . The story he told my grandmother was it was easy to register the first birth as they took the baby with them from frimley to Farnham, but by his birth there were too many children to leave with others and hisfather would loose a days work. (He wasa bootmaker) So he never got registered. By the time his youngest sister was born they could leave the children with the oldest sister . So out of 8 or nine children only two were registered. Kim

I can't trace my grandmother's birth in 1871: so it's not unusual.

Thank you everyone for your replies. At least I'm not alone. Cheers Christine