Peter Elder of Cupar Fife .....

[LesleyB]

Hi Kathleen
I'm not quite sure what you mean, but am guessing you mean is there any way to prove the Peter who is mentioned as dying in 1850 is your Peter? Is such a pity the OPR didn't state "weaver", then we'd have him sorted... but that's life, and OPRs! He was clearly alive in 1847 at the time of his wife's death, but if there is no sign of him in the 1851, then it would appear the chances are high that your man died in that 4yr period.
I really don't think there would be many, if indeed any, other Peter Elders around the same age in Cupar given it is a small town. The fact that you mentioned the childen were staying with their aunt in 1861 would suggest too that both their parents were perhaps dead by that time.

There are no Elders in the published MIs for Cupar, which is odd, given that there were several families of them around, but thats just the way it goes sometimes.... lair records might be worth following up. Lair registers dating from 1868 are administered by Fife Council, Cemeteries Department, County Buildings, St Catherine Street, Cupar, KY15 4TA. Tel. 01334 412818. Fax 01334 412896. Although this is later than the period you are interested in, they would probably be able to advise you about the earlier records.

There does not appear to be a will on SP - that would be my next port of call, but that does not mean in itself that no will was written. I've certainly found several testaments now which are not indexed, but certainly exisit!!
However, there is one for David Elder, who you thougth might be a brother:
Elder David 04/11/1897 Mason, Newtown, Cupar, d. 13/09/1897 at Cupar, testate Cupar Sheriff Court SC20/50/75 (3 pages)

I looked up "Fife Shop Keepers and Traders 1820-1870" yesterday. Its one of David Dobson's hugely helpful series. However, no sign of your Peter, just Elders the Bakers.

There will be something somewhere, I'll keep thinking, but it could take a lot of time and good luck to track down...when were you planning to visit Scotland?? Otherwise it may be worth your time joining the Fife FHS, as they may be able to help with research and/or research sources. They have a lot of free info on their site too.
http://www.fifefhs.org/
Cupar Library are also very helpful and will usually help those from afar with specific research queries. They also have microfilms of the local papers which may yield something, maybe. Some of the obits are in book form, so I'll have a look at those next time I'm in.
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/FIF/li ... ar_lib.htm
Also worth maybe contacting NAS., as they have a LOT of archive material.
http://www.nas.gov.uk/
Also, if you PM me with your email address, I'll send on the photos of the houses. Oh duh, just noticed you have an email address button. Will send them to that address.

Best wishes
Lesley

[Kathleen Page]

Hi Kathleen
I'm not quite sure what you mean, but am guessing you mean is there any way to prove the Peter who is mentioned as dying in 1850 is your Peter? Is such a pity the OPR didn't state "weaver", then we'd have him sorted... but that's life, and OPRs! He was clearly alive in 1847 at the time of his wife's death, but if there is no sign of him in the 1851, then it would appear the chances are high that your man died in that 4yr period.

Sorry, I wasn't clearer but I did wonder if there was any way to prove he is the correct Peter. As you say there is no sign of him in 1851 so it is quite likely that he is the right man. If he is the right man, then it would appear that his father is David Elder and mother is Helen White of Cupar. That would be very exciting since he would take me back one more generation.

As far as the children staying with Aunt Euphemia in 1861, those children belonged to Alexander Elder (son of Peter) and Elizabeth Horsburgh. It appears that Elizabeth died shortly after my great grandfather Alfred was born in 1862 (?) and most of the children went to live with relatives. (I don't know where my grandfather went.) Alexander remarried Christina McGregor in 1865 but the children did not live with them.

There are no Elders in the published MIs for Cupar, which is odd, given that there were several families of them around, but thats just the way it goes sometimes.... lair records might be worth following up. Lair registers dating from 1868 are administered by Fife Council, Cemeteries Department, County Buildings, St Catherine Street, Cupar, KY15 4TA. Tel. 01334 412818. Fax 01334 412896. Although this is later than the period you are interested in, they would probably be able to advise you about the earlier records.

I will check with Fife Council. Thanks for the tip.

There does not appear to be a will on SP - that would be my next port of call, but that does not mean in itself that no will was written. I've certainly found several testaments now which are not indexed, but certainly exisit!!
However, there is one for David Elder, who you thougth might be a brother:
Elder David 04/11/1897 Mason, Newtown, Cupar, d. 13/09/1897 at Cupar, testate Cupar Sheriff Court SC20/50/75 (3 pages).

I will take a look at this will. I'm certain it belongs to Alexander's brother, David Elder, Mason.

I looked up "Fife Shop Keepers and Traders 1820-1870" yesterday. Its one of David Dobson's hugely helpful series. However, no sign of your Peter, just Elders the Bakers.

There will be something somewhere, I'll keep thinking, but it could take a lot of time and good luck to track down...when were you planning to visit Scotland?? Otherwise it may be worth your time joining the Fife FHS, as they may be able to help with research and/or research sources. They have a lot of free info on their site too

http://www.fifefhs.org/.

I think I will begin by joining the FHS before I fly to Scotland. As eager as I am to visit my roots, I am reluctant to leave my four legged babies ( an aging cat and a dog) with anyone else for any length of time. I will also check out the other resources that you have mentioned.

Thank you for all your help.

Kathleen

[LesleyB]

Hi Kathleen
Forgot to mention, if you are near a LDS family history centre it would be worthwhile ordering some films through them (they charge a small fee) . The Cupar OPRs might be worth seeing. Apart from being able to see the deaths and possible marriages & births it will give you a good feel for the area - who is who, what the frequent names are, what the people mostly did for a living etc. Same with the census data - again, it gives you a better idea of what is going on than just seeing the one page from SP.

There may also be Kirk Session records but I don't think at present that you would be able to order these on film. If your Peter played an active part in the church, if he was an elder of the kirk for example, then he may be mentioned in the minutes. Likewise, if anyone in the family got up to things the church thought they shouldn't have been up to, they may get a mention.

This page will give you some more info of what might be available:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/h ... r-cov.html

...and I see from NAS that some of the Cupar church records are held at St Andrews University Archives, not in Edinburgh:
CH2/82 Repository St. Andrew's University Library
Title Cupar, Presbytery of, Date 1642-1938
...but these are the sort of thing you really need to spend some time looking at yourself, and there is no guarantee that they would contain any relevant info.

Best wishes
Lesley