Genealogy Chat

Try (www)paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/archaicmedicalterms.htm fascinating stuff! Linda

Trying to sort out these entries in the old parish records. I believe that this was the same baby rather than twins as they are registered 10 days apart and the confusion over names. Also the mother survived and went on to have other children so it would appear that the birth itself would have been fairly straightforward. At birth the sex of some babies can be difficult to tell, apparently (we were watching an hospital programme a few days ago and my little boy asked if his "tail" was as big as that newborn baby's when he was little like that!!), especially if they are premature. Is there any way of finding out whether babies were premature or disabled in any way? I do not think this baby survived (which could bear out either) but because it is 1841 I cannot find any death records. Is there anywhere I can look for these? Also is there any resource for medical knowledge at the time which might help? There are one or two events in my family in the last 80 years which may have a connection to this information. Thanks Abigail

In the old parish records of 1842 in scotland there is an entry for my great great great grandfather registering the birth of his first child. March 30th 1842 John Henderson...had a daughter named Jane then a later entry a couple of pages later: March 20th 1842 John Henderson...had a daughter (crossed out and "son" written in above)... named Jane (crossed out and "John" written in above). Any guesses from the more experienced researches out there? When I approached the supervisor in the microfilm room he just looked and laughed. He never actually said a word to explain! Confusedly Abigail