Need help reading OPR baptismal record

[LesleySutherland]

It is the first record on the page. About the only things I can make out are:
Patrick Jack in _____ had a child baptized called Robert ____ ....

Any help reading this would be appreciated.

Here is a link to the record:

http://i.imgur.com/qd7pTko.jpg

[AndrewP]

Hi Lesley,



You have set quite a challenge. Here is my first shot at it:

Patrick Jack in Widdle had a child
Baptised called Robert. Witnesses Joseph
Mouat in Widdle and Alex^r Manson
Kirk Officer in Thurso

On looking at some old maps, Widdle could be the place nowadays known as Weydale in the parish of Thurso.

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74491058
http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400135

All the best,

AndrewP

[Russell]

Hi Lesley

I agree with Andrew's interpretation.
Russell

[LesleySutherland]

Thank you, Andrew and Russell, I never would have figured out that "Widdle" was Weydale!

This is consistent with Robert Jack having a daughter Isabella Jack born in Halkirk in 1766, since Halkirk is nearby to Weydale.
I think Robert Jack is my 5x Great grandfather. I was able to trace things back because his daughter Isabella Jack lived to be 90, dying in 1858
when there were statutory records. She is also in the 1851 census, though in 1851 she
is listed as Isabella MacDonald, the mother of the head of the household James Campbell (blacksmith) in Reay. (her birthplace is given as Halkirk in the census).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134549236 ... ed-public/

On her death certificate she goes back to being called Isabella Jack, and is described as being single. Her son James Campbell of Reay and her father Robert Jack are both
mentioned in death record.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134549236 ... ed-public/


I also have James Campbell's baptismal record
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134549236 ... ed-public/

He is described as "a child begot in Fornication by Kenneth Campbell in Dalemore and Isabel Jack" and I think
"Robert Jack and Barbara McKay in Shartly(?) " are witnesses. I wonder if Barbara Mckay is Isabella's mother.

I found Dalemore farm in Halkirk. http://www.caithnesian.co.uk/dalemore-farm/
I'm not sure if Dalemore is where the birth took place or where the "fornication" took place


I wonder why Isabella went by the name Isabella MacDonald in the 1851 census. I'm fairly certain it is the same person, since both are the same age, and have a son James Campbell in Reay. Maybe she was at some point a common law relationship with a MacDonald. All this seems a bit strange because James Campbell's daughter Mary Campbell (my great grandmother) was apparently a very straight-laced and devout member of the Free Church of Scotland.

[Russell]

Hi Lesley
Just a comment on pronunciation in Caihness. Halkirk is pronounced as "Hukirk" My Oman family were from Halkirk parish but we found out that they actually were from a tiny hamlet called Assery some miles from the town itself. Many OPR entries reflect local pronunciation in their spelling. It makes it difficult, sometimes problematic figuring out place names unless you have some idea of the local dialect.

Russell

[LesleySutherland]

Thanks Russell. I don't have any idea how the names are pronounced. My grandparents from Caithness came to Canada before WW1. My grandfather died before I was born but I knew my grandmother. I don't remember her having a Scots accent, but maybe children don't notice that sort of thing. Or maybe she had acquired a Canadian accent by that time.

I came across this recording of a man from Reay who knew my great uncle Hugh Campbell (1834 - 1916), who he describes as "an orator in English or in Gaelic". My grandfather Hugh Campbell Sutherland apprenticed as a blacksmith with his uncle Hugh Campbell. I remember my father telling me that his uncle had a reputation as an orator, so it was amazing to me to find this on the Internet.

http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fu ... 4D79814B90

To me the speaker sounds almost like a Norwegian person speaking English as a second language.