Genealogy Chat

Last week, I finally found my gggg grandfather Rev Thomas Selkirk’s death details when I reached his name in google. He died in Feb 1834 at Bury, Lancashire. It was from Heywood Notes and Queries. There was another Rev Selkirk that was Joseph. Again thanks to Heywood Notes and Queries, Joseph and Thomas were brothers.

In the Heywood Notes and Queries, it showed that Joseph Selkirk’s father was Robert Selkirk and he was born in Beckermet, Cumberland. That’s mean Thomas must be same birth of place and father’s name.

So I found Joseph’s baptism in familysearch.org that it was in St John, Beckermet in 1797 and his parents were Robert and Ann Selkirk. However there are no records of Thomas Selkirk. His birth of year was around 1789. Only their siblings were Isaac in 1794 and Ann in 1801.

I wonder that baptism records of St John, Beckermet might be incomplete in the familysearch.org. If I order LSD film of St John, Beckermet, will Thomas’s baptism record be in a microfilm or is it still completed in the familysearch.org?

Any suggestions?

Regards, Steven from Australia.

Several possibilities why this baptism isn't on IGI -
The family may have moved so Thomas might have been baptised in another parish
If Thomas was the oldest child mum may have gone home to her parents for the birth and had him baptised in their local church
If Thomas WAS baptised in Beckermet the entry for Thomas's baptism may have been too difficult for the transcriber to read so it didn't reach the IGI
or the transcriber may have misread it so it is there, but under the wrong name
or the transcriber may have stopped for a comfort break and when he came back missed a page
or the parish started a new register about this time so the others are in a book which has been transcribed and Thomas in one which has not.

What I'm saying is that it is worth looking at the microfilm, but also searching registers for other parishes around the area

Hi Judith, many thanks for your reply. Now I understand.

That's why I could not find their parents, Robert and Ann's marriage record, too. So there must be a different parish that might not in the familysearch.org . I will try to keep looking.

Regards, Steven.

And yes, the transcribers do make mistakes with the names - Ive recently found quite a few with the names totally incorrect and therefore not available as a name search.

Good luck with your chap - Im sure he will turn up. As said previously widen the net a bit as mums often went home to gran for the first confinement.

Hi everyone, many thanks for your replies. It was interested. I have learnt some lessons.

I will try my best to find them.

Regards, Steven.