RootsMagic: pros and cons

[Rab]

Rab
I started a spreadsheet ages ago for all the "strays" who appeared on certificates, people who might well be related but not quite sure. I have one column headed "Found" and it's been amazing the number on the list who now have an annotation"Cousin of so and so", "uncle of machin truc", "brother-in-law of A.N.Other". Without this spreadsheet I'm sure I would have a few more brick walls.

Catriona

It is well worth while. A couple of months back Annette (Nelmit) was kind enough to look up a poor law record for me at the Mitchell. The person in question had been submitted be his "nephew" David Reekie. I had no Reekies in my tree.

I then went on a search on SP. I couldn't find a marriage certificate but did finally find a death certificate for a David Reekie who's wife had apparently been Mary Marr. From what I can find it turns out they were never married but were common law and never in 1000 years of searching would I have found that out. One little phrase "nephew of" got me that goldmine. That same thing can be said for all the litle pieces of info on certificates which would eventually lead to something bigger whether they be a witness, informant or even a home address. Every bit of info is vital.

[DavidWW]

Rab
I started a spreadsheet ages ago for all the "strays" who appeared on certificates, people who might well be related but not quite sure. I have one column headed "Found" and it's been amazing the number on the list who now have an annotation"Cousin of so and so", "uncle of machin truc", "brother-in-law of A.N.Other". Without this spreadsheet I'm sure I would have a few more brick walls.

Catriona

It is well worth while. A couple of months back Annette (Nelmit) was kind enough to look up a poor law record for me at the Mitchell. The person in question had been submitted be his "nephew" David Reekie. I had no Reekies in my tree.

I then went on a search on SP. I couldn't find a marriage certificate but did finally find a death certificate for a David Reekie who's wife had apparently been Mary Marr. From what I can find it turns out they were never married but were common law and never in 1000 years of searching would I have found that out. One little phrase "nephew of" got me that goldmine. That same thing can be said for all the litle pieces of info on certificates which would eventually lead to something bigger whether they be a witness, informant or even a home address. Every bit of info is vital.

Let's see if we can knock this one on the head

Up to 1939, there were three forms of irregular marriage in Scotland which were perfectly legal, i.e. in the eyes of Scots law they were perfectly legally married. (Search on this for a full description of the various routes.)

One of these forms survives to the present day.

All that "irregular" means is that the marriage wasn't in accordance with the procedures of the Church of Scotland, and other presbyterian churches in Scotland. In other words "irregular" does not mean illegal.

Quite often, such a marriage was regularised by the Sheriff's Warrant or other similar routes so that an entry could then be made in the registrar's statutory register of marriages.

Without the Warrant the registrar couldn't do anything as he was bound by various parliamentary acts to following the procedure of otherwise only making an entry on the basis of the marriage schedule filled out by the minister who had carried out the marriage.

As far as I'm aware, - but there's others with better knowledge on this DG, - there is strictly speaking no such thing as "common law" in Scotland, that being an English concept.

David