Missing births certificates .....

momat · Post by **momat** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:41 am

Is it unusual not to find the Birth Certificates for 5 children (one Family)
all born in the Glasgow area between 1830 -1840 .
All appear on the 1851 Census but nothing on OPRS for them.

Any reason for this.

Post by **AndrewP** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:03 am

Hi Maureen,

Sadly, it is not uncommon for whole families to be missing from the birth OPRs. The reasons can be many, such as:

(1) The children were not baptized (OPR births are usually of baptisms rather than births).
(2) The records for that church were not made, or have not survived.
(3) The family belonged to a church other than the (Established) Church of Scotland. (other churches were supposed to have their baptisms recorded in the OPRs, but this did not often happen).
(4) Some parishes have only the female births shown on the online IGI. (male and female births are on the IGI, but for some parishes, the male births are not on the online version).

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

momat · Post by **momat** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:25 am

Andrew ,
Thank you for reply. I wll keep that in mind.
Cheers.