Fornicators.....

[Davie]

I am now becoming fascinated by these OPR on SP.
Please keep uploading them.
The records appear to be in a haphazard order.
And I think some of them were recorded into a notepad format like the one I have put in the Gallery under fornicators.
It gives the birth of
Margaret: the said day John McNaught and Margaret McFarlane fornicators had a child baptised called Janet.
Now, that is the first time I have come across a name change like that.
(Have got to find the Kirk Session records, but will Buchanan be in Perth or Stirling in 1813?)
There is no sign of a marriage between John and Margaret, but all the other 8 children are “lawful” .
On the profitable front, I popped (SP 5 credits) Christian McNaughton’s birth by the above parents and got another six siblings on the same page.
A much better deal than the two for one offers we get in the supermarkets here in Glasgow.
Davie

[Russell]

Hi Davie

You get a real buzz when a page comes up with multiple entries like that.
We had one recently where we discovered a set of triplets none of whom survived very long so their names didn't appear anywhere else.
My wife was starting to feel guilty at the three for one offer then decided to do a wee dance instead.



Russell

[DavidWW]

the said day John McNaught and Margaret McFarlane .....

The lack of "and his spouse" immediately point to their not being married in the eyes of the kirk, although they could well have been irregularly married!

In other words the normal "lawful child" phraseology is "John McNaught [occupation, possibly location] and his spouse Margaret McFarlane ......."

In this case, it looks like they either married later, or had an irregular marriage recognised by the kirk session, after due penance, of course

David

[Davie]

Hi David and Russell,
I have added another record to the Gallery.
“Aberfoyle Births” http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1135
This is interesting in the fact that it lists seven members of the family in a row.
If nothing else I got a geography lesson, as I had know idea where Frenich was.
At the top of Loch Chon as it happens.
The ministers in Arrochar, Calendar and Aberfoyle were all Established Church.
Why are these seven McNaughtons all together in the records?
From 1817 to 1834 with the same spelling, and considering at this time there was an average of 13 births a year in the parish.
For those Colonials thinking of coming home to live, once Scotland gets her Independence, you can buy a wee hoose in the area.
http://www.sequencehome.co.uk/detail.asp?id=STI103084

Davie

Gallery URL added - AndrewP

[DavidWW]

What's the date of this OPR extract?

Several possible reasons.

John was a shepherd, so the family may have lived a considerable distance from a church, and never quite got around to the baptisms until they had accummulated 7 wains.

The wains were previously baptized in a secession church and this is the "regularisation" of the wains in an Auld Kirk congegation's OPR. (You can test this by seeing if the names of the ministers are those of Established church ministers, as shown in Fasti Ecclessiae Scotticanae.)

Depending on the date of this OPR it could be batch baptism in late 1854.

David

[Davie]

Hi David,
I have 2 pages of the M*C*NAUGHT* births from Aberfoyle Parish on SP.
I popped “Christian McNaughton b. 1831” and that was what came up.
Finlay McNaughton, born 1837 to the same parents, still in Frenich, appears on another page (this time numbered 21).
Very fortunate on the dates wey the Family here. as they coincide wey the Statistical Account
http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sa ... ion=public&

I will see if the Brother has any copies of the Fasti Ecclesiae Thingy left.

On a separate subject awthegither David.
I got this week, an audio book of Christopher Brookmyre’s “A Big boy did it and ran away”
Am hoping it will be a much easier listen than a read.
Davie