Ayton, Berwickshire.....

JosiahS · Post by **JosiahS** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:14 pm

My GGGGG grandparents Matthew Telford and Jean Flint married in Ayton Church on 8 Dec 1756. Both of them were marked as of the parish.

I can't find any reference to Ayton Parish records before 1743 (which is when the IGI starts) even on Scotland's People.

Does anyone know if the registers exist before that time? Were they destroyed? Was the town originally part of another parish?

Also, are there any non-conformist records in existence for the town and if so where?

Many thanks for your help!

JoS

Post by **AndrewP** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:10 pm

Hi JoS,

The answer (from the Church of Scotland anyway) is given in the Statistical Accounts for Scotland from the 1840s. From Ayton parish...

Parochial Registers. - The history of the Parochial Registers is very imperfect. Those of births and baptisms, the only ones formerly kept, go no farther back than 1743, and even after that period they seem not to have been regularly kept until about 1770. They are by no means voluminous even to this day. No other register has been regularly kept.

All the best,

AndrewP

JosiahS · Post by **JosiahS** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:17 pm

Thanks Andrew - so it looks like I won't get back much further on that branch short of a breakthrough on MIs.

Did that information come from a website? I need similar information for Duns/Dunse as well.

Cheers

JoS

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:57 pm

Testaments and sasines (property transfer) records are two other areas, but much les than 10% of the population have been involved in such records.

What was his occupation?

David

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:50 pm

Hi Josiah
GROS give a list of what registers are available for which parish here:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/h ... r-cov.html

And The statistical Accounts, which Andrew referred to above, which often mention something about the state of those registers can be found on the web at:
http://edina.ac.uk/statacc/
Click on the link for non-subscribers.

Best wishes
Lesley

JosiahS · Post by **JosiahS** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:38 am

Many thanks for that Lesley.

I'm afraid that I don't know what he did David - the Ayton register would make the term ,patchy, sound good. All the births, marriages, and the other parish business are pushed in together and everything has minimum of information.

JoS