Duncan MacRae/McRae _Lost Birth.....

[frances]

I am currently researching my husband's side of the family. His great great grandfather Duncan MacRae was born C. 1850 in Invernessshire (possibly Petty) His parents were Donald/David MacRae and Sarah McPherson.

I can find no trace of his birth or his parent's marriage on either Scotlandspeople or the IGI.

Duncan married Margaret Morrison 27th May 1870 in Rosemarkie Ross & Cromarty. They had a large family of at least 14. I have managed to trace all of these births except two.

Anyone out there looking at the same family or any other suggestions as to where to look next would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

Frances

[Alcluith]

Hi Frances

Welcome to TalkingScot, I am sure some one will come along shortly with your Duncan McRae, there are two in Petty born 1854 to John McRae and Janet Macgillivray the other is later in 1862 to a Duncan McRae. but I am sure you will have already seen them.

I was interested in your Burns - I have a James Burns and Mary Ann May from County Down to Glasgow late 1800s.

[LesleyB]

Hi Frances
and welcome to Talking Scot.

I can find no trace of his birth or his parent's marriage on either Scotlandspeople or the IGI.

If your Duncan MacRae is neither of those found by Drew, it may well be that he was a member of the Free Church, and those records are not to be found on the IGI or Scotlands People web site. So if you still can't find him, or his parents' marriage, this might be something to consider. It took me a while to work out why some of my family seemed to disappear off the face of the earth around 1843 - the year of the split with the established church of Scotland, only to reappear in 1855 onwards once statutory registration was introduced.

Best wishes
Lesley

[nelmit]

I am currently researching my husband's side of the family. His great great grandfather Duncan MacRae was born C. 1850 in Invernessshire (possibly Petty) His parents were Donald/David MacRae and Sarah McPherson.

I can find no trace of his birth or his parent's marriage on either Scotlandspeople or the IGI.

Duncan married Margaret Morrison 27th May 1870 in Rosemarkie Ross & Cromarty. They had a large family of at least 14. I have managed to trace all of these births except two.

Anyone out there looking at the same family or any other suggestions as to where to look next would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

Frances

Hello Frances,

I know this doesn't help much but according to Duncan he was born in Inverness. What makes you think Petty?

Regards,
Annette M

[frances]

Thank you Drew , Lesley & Annette for replying to my query.

Duncan is a bit of a mystery- his marriage certificate shows his father as being Donald MacRae ,his Death Certificate gives his father's name as David . In the 1871 census his place of birth is given as Localsh, 1881 as Inverness and 1891 as Inverness Petty. Some years ago an old relative said that the family were from Petty. I have tried all of these areas without any success.

I think (as Lesley ) has suggested that they may have been Free Church.One of his son's (also Duncan) wsa certainly married in the Free Church.

I will keep looking -things can turn up when you least expect it .

Drew- I don't think that there is any link between our Kelly Family. This is actually my side of the family.My Great Great grandparents William Kelly & Sarah Burns were born in Ireland C 1831/51 They were married in Coatbridge in 1858 and their children were all born in the Old/New Monkland, Coatbridge, Hamilton area.Their son (my Great Grandfather William John Kelly married Agnes McFarlane 1888 in Airdrie. Their son my grandfather was born 1893 in New Monkland For some reason (another mystery ) he decided to go by his Grandmother's maiden name of Burns and subsequent generations have been Burns and not Kelly. There is a corrective entry on his death certificate which I have yet to look at.

I would love to be able to find out which part of Ireland The Kelly/ Kelly's came from. As with many other families the census only gives their place of birth as Ireland.


Thanks again

Frances

[LesleyB]

Hi Frances

One of his son's (also Duncan) wsa certainly married in the Free Church.

Might just have been that the girl he married was Free Church, though I've found with my lot that often "like married like".

But, if they are Free Church then there do appear to be some records for the area, though it would all depend on which church they were from:
e.g.
at GROS - http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/h ... r-cov.html
click on Appendix 3 - there you will see
10 INVERNESS EAST FREE CHURCH Baptisms 1843-1858 - OPR 98

and at NAS
http://www.dswebhosting.info/NAS/dserve ... =Index.tcl
then click on Search, put Inverness in the AnyText box and CH3 in the Ref. number box.
This should bring up all Free Chuch info for the area held at the National Archives of Scotland - quite a few churches to choose from! Though only some of these, if any, may relate to births.

Someone else may know a better way to query their catalogue...however, I note you are in Edinburgh! Easier by far to spend a morning or afternoon rummaging in the search room or print out the search page from the web site with the Ref nos. for the free churches in the area and ask to see any document(s) you think might be fruitful! Any time I'm there I always seem to get side-tracked and often find interesting things I wasn't looking for!

Best wishes
Lesley

[frances]

Hi Lesley

Thank you for the info.

I think another trip into the record office is required.

Kind Regards

Frances

[LMF]

I know these posts are a long time ago but I am researching my grandmother’s family. She was born Alexandrina Fraser in 1898 and died in 1972. Apparently she had a cousin Duncan Macrae who was a lawyer in Inverness. Assuming him to be a rough contemporary of my grandmother that would probably mean he started practising around 1920/30. I have a photograph but it’s undated and hard to age. Any clues? Thanks

[WilmaM]

Hi LMF and a very warm ,

I think your first step would be to ascertain where on your Grandmother's family the cousin could be from.
So have a look at census records for her parents before they married, and find their siblings [sisters in particular] and see who married a McCrae, then see if a Duncan with the appropriate mother's maiden name can be found.
If not you may have to hop back a generation, as 'cousinhood' can be a little elastic - I have a close 'cousin' but on paper it's our father's who are first cousins!!

I had a quick look on NLS post office directory search but had no hits at all.
Though there are variations on the spelling of the surname Mc or Mac and Crae or Crea - which doesn't help.

Happy Hunting!

[LMF]

Thanks