Help with handwriting - Aberdeenshire OPR.....

TonyMJ · Post by **TonyMJ** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:37 pm

Hi,
could anyone help me decipher some place names in an OPR christening entry at http://www.jantony.co.uk/images/wm.png. It's from the Parish of Turriff.
I think is says

On the twenty-fifth day of March eighteen hundred and fifty five James Mitchell Farm Servant ????? and ??? lawful spouse Mary Chalmers had a daughter born, babtized the tenth day of May and name Williamina Raeburn. ????? Alexander Mac???? at Burn????????? and James Mitchell at ??????? ?????? on/in the ????????? of ??????????

.
Any suggestions gratefully received.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:15 pm

Hi TonyMJ

Welcome to TS - I am sure you will get lots of suggestions for your quest here. I am pretty sure that it says 'Witnessed, Alexander Mackinon, at Burntsandrig (or something close to that) - still working on the rest for now - any chance you could scan the document again using higher resolutions - when I try to sharpen the image it distorts a lot.

Best regards

Ted

alex19canteen · Post by **alex19canteen** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:22 pm

Hi, I think the first witness is Alexander Raeburn and the last five words are, "in the parish of Alvah"

I tried to look around the local area to fill in the other blanks to no avail.

You can have a go yourself here: http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=57.53613 ... =0&src=msl

TonyMJ · Post by **TonyMJ** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:45 pm

Many thanks for your help. Raeburn sounds plausible, as this is Williamina's second name. Alvah is also a good possibility for the place as it's not far from Turriff. Here's a scan at higher resolution in the original colour - http://www.jantony.co.uk/images/wm3.jpg - it can be improved with a bit of sharpening etc.
Tony

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:18 pm

Here is my interpretation of it (or most of it anyway).

On the twenty-fifth day of March eighteen hundred and fifty four James Mitchell Farm Servant at Tawie and his lawful spouse Mary Chalmers had a daughter born, baptized the tenth day of May and name Williamina Raeburn. Witnesses Alexander Raeburn at Burn????????? and James Mitchell at Cross-side in the Parish of Alvah.

One important change is the year - 1854, not 1855. See the list below from a parent search using the online IGI. In case it was 1855. I tried a search on ScotlandsPeople, but with no useful result for 1855.

WILLIAMINA RAEBURN MITCHELL - Christening: 10 MAY 1854 Turriff, Aberdeenshire
JESSIE MITCHELL - Birth: 30 MAY 1856 Alves, Moray
LOUISA ALMERIA GORDON MITCHELL - Birth: 30 AUG 1859 Alves, Moray
JAMES MITCHELL - Birth: 10 MAY 1862 New Deer, Aberdeenshire
MARY MITCHELL - Birth: 10 MAY 1862 New Deer, Aberdeenshire
ALEXANDER CHALMERS MITCHELL - Birth: 08 JUN 1864 New Deer, Aberdeenshire

All the best,

AndrewP

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:28 pm

Hi

My take on the placename is Burnt ?mathey,

It looks such good writing too, at first glance.

Russell

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:20 pm

Towie is a parish in its own right, but a long way from Turiff.

David

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:37 pm

DavidWW wrote:Towie is a parish in its own right, but a long way from Turiff.

There are a number of Towies - even within Aberdeenshire, not just the one that gave its name to the parish. The one I was looking at in this case was Tawie, or at least Mains of Tawie on the map, in the southernmost point of Turriff parish.

Go to http://www.nls.uk/maps/early/os_scotlan ... _list.html
Click on sheet 86 - Huntly.

Turriff is the pink coloured parish in the north east of the map. Click on the sounthernmost point of that parish. Keep clicking on it until you can read the place names. At the southenmost point of the parish, just below Auchterless Station is Mains of Tawie. That is my suggestion for the Tawie that I read in the OPR in this post.

All the best,

Andrew

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:16 am

"Mains of" says it all !!

The "Mains" was originally the home farm of an estate, farmed by the owner himself, or on his behalf, as opposed to being leased to tenants; but latterly more widely used as no more than just a farm name, i.e. not necessarily meaning an estate's home farm.

Along with the farm name, it can still mean the name of the farmer himself, as in "Mains of Balshagray" meaning both the farm, as well as the farmer. (Except that Balshagray is now urbanised !)

The likely origin is fascinating, - deriving from domain, that from the Old French demesne, which in turn derived from the Latin dominium, itself from the Latin dominus. A neat example of what is termed aphesis, - the loss of an initial, usually unstressed vowel or syllable, as in cute from acute, or squire from esquire.

David

TonyMJ · Post by **TonyMJ** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:18 pm

Thanks for your further efforts. I'm working on the assumption that James Mitchell, the witness, was the father of James Mitchell, the bridegroom, so knowing he came from the parish of Alvah is helpful. I haven't found anywhere called Cross-side yet, but unfortunately that sheet is missing from the 2nd ed OS maps.
Tony.