nisbets.....

bernadine nisbet · Post by **bernadine nisbet** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:42 pm

hello list I am new to all of this and I would appreciate some advice please.I am trying to find out for my husband about his G/Grandparents. His Grandfather was named James Nisbet he was born in 1871at Coldingham(st Abbs) he was a fisherman ,he had 2 sons Jacob and Thomas(my fatherinlaw) also 2 daughters Catherine and Agnes.Its his father named Jacob also a fisherman that we are trying to find out about, could anyone give me some pointers as to where to start? Thank you for reading this Regards Bernadine Nisbet

Cathy · Post by **Cathy** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:00 pm

Hi Bernadine,
welcome to the board.
This looks like the family on the 1881 census:

Dwelling: No 2 Under Row
Census Place: Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Marr Age Sex Birthplace
Jacob NISBET W 48 M Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Fisherman
Agnes ANDERSON U 37 F Cockburnspath, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Housekeeper
Occ: Domestic Serv Housekeeper
Helen NISBET U 17 F Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Jacob NISBET 12 M Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Scholar
James NISBET 10 M Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Scholar
Elizabeth NISBET 8 F Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
John NISBET 6 M Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Scholar
Sarah NISBET 4 F Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Robert NISBET 2 M Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Son
Alexander NISBET 8 m M Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland
Rel: Son

Cathy · Post by **Cathy** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:12 pm

Here are the births for that area for 1891-1904:

1 1902 NISBET AGNES ANDERSON F COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0004
2 1893 NISBET AGNES SWAN ROBS F COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0040
3 1896 NISBET ALEXANDER M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0005
4 1902 NISBET CATHERINE WADDE F COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0002
5 1900 NISBET JACOB M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0034
6 1900 NISBET JACOB M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0023
7 1901 NISBET JACOB M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0048
8 1899 NISBET JESSIE DICKSON F COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0031
9 1891 NISBET JOHN M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0032
10 1903 NISBET JOHN COOPER M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0048
11 1899 NISBET MARY JOANNA MOA F COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0011
12 1901 NISBET ROBERT M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0020
13 1904 NISBET THOMAS MILLER M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0024
14 1903 NISBET WILHELMINA HUNT F COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0026
15 1899 NISBET WILLIAM SPARK R M COLDINGHAM /BERWICK 732/01 0019

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Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:28 pm

Hi Bernadine,

Welcome to TalkingScot.

The online IGI gives some likely children of Jacob (James) Nisbet.

to Jacob Nisbet & Elizabeth Anderson:

ALISON NISBET - Birth: 06 JAN 1859 Coldingham, Berwick
AGNES NISBET - Birth: 17 FEB 1861 Coldingham, Berwick
HELEN NISBET - Birth: 26 JUN 1863 Coldingham, Berwick

On www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk there is a death of an Elizabeth Nisbet / Anderson, aged 35 in 1866 in Coldingham that should be worth looking at.

to Jacob Nisbet & Elizabeth Colven:

ELIZABETH THORBURN NISBET - Birth: 09 JUL 1872 Coldingham, Berwick
ROBERT NISBET - Birth: 05 AUG 1874 Coldingham, Berwick

The online IGI stops at 1875 for extracted entries, so there may well be more younger children to follow.

There are more listed in the online IGI, but they are submitted entries rather than extracted entried from the records. As these are post-1855 (to 1875), I would have expected to find extracted records for them, so I am wary of taking the submitted entries as good.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:50 pm

Hi Bernandine

Welcome to TalkingScot! There are many ways you can tackle this. Thanks to Cathy you now have the census date for the family in 1881. From this you can estimate birth years and hopefully depend on the place of birth as being accurate. In order to work backwards if you happen to know a death date for Jacob or Agnes their DC will very likely list who their parents were. It's quite easy to search for the death of a married woman using all her surnames. If you're only interested in following the NISBET line though this won't help you with that but will help you determine a better window of when Jacob might have died. Scotland's People website is a pay per view so it's best to utilize the IGI as much as possible before spending credits like crazy!! A search of this however does reveal several births in Coldingham, Berwick to Jacob and Agnes but all of the records are submittals by an LDS member. The IGI also shows a marriage for Jacob and Agnes Hope ANDERSON abt. 1867. As you can see this is not a transcription from the actual registers or their would be a precise date stated. That is one of the drawbacks of submitted records...they give you an idea and they also indicate that probably there is someone else out there who has done some research on your family and may even be related....but they can also be open to some speculation.

A list of children from the IGI parent search follows:

1. Robert Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 23 NOV 1870 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

2. Elizabeth Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 28 JAN 1873 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

3. John Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 15 OCT 1874 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

4. Sarah Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: About 1877 Of, Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

5. Robert Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: About 1879 Of, Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

6. Alexander Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: About 1880 Of, Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

7. William Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 02 JAN 1867 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

8. Jacob Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 07 NOV 1868 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

9. James Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 20 NOV 1870 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

From any one of the children's BC you should be able to obtain a marriage date of Jacob and Agnes.....again this would need to be viewed on Scotland's People website.

(And just as I'm about to hit submit I notice that Andrew has beat me to the punch.....and also have some more interesting records!!) The appearance of an Elizabeth Anderson as mother should not be ignored!! It's very likely that Agnes was really an Elizabeth or vice versa. A death search should be performed not discounting either name!!

Please let us know how you get on with using the SP website...and if you need more tips please just shout!!!

Best wishes
Jean

CatrionaL · Post by **CatrionaL** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:07 pm

Hullo Bernadine and all

Good to have you with us on TS.

I would question that Agnes and Elizabeth Anderson are the same people. Elizabeth Anderson appears to have had children to Jacob, between 1859 and 1863. The IGI names Agnes as the mother of Jacob's children between 1867 and 1880. On the 1881 Census, Jacob is noted as a Widower, while Agnes Anderson is his Unmarried Housekeeper.

Enjoy your research.

Catriona

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:18 pm

Hmmmmm........

Looks like Jacob NISBET and Agnes ANDERSON never formally tied the knot in terms of a regular marriage, and may or may not have undergone an irregular marriage that then didn't result in an entry in the register of marriages .......

IGI gives -

Any Event, 1851 - 1891, Berwick, Scotland, British Isles
Father: Jacob Nisbet, Mother: Agnes

International Genealogical Index / British Isles - 9

William Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 02 JAN 1867 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Jacob Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 07 NOV 1868 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

James Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 20 NOV 1870 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Robert Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 23 NOV 1870 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Elizabeth Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 28 JAN 1873 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

John Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 15 OCT 1874 Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Sarah Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: About 1877 Of, Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Robert Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: About 1879 Of, Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

Alexander Nisbet - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: About 1880 Of, Coldingham, Berwick, Scotland

..but these are all submissions, as opposed to extracts.........

But then there are the 1868 birth record in Coldingham parish, - illegitimate, - to mother Agnes ANDERSON, of wee Jacob, informant Jacob NISBET, "Occupier"; and the twins Robert and James, again in Coldingham parish in 1870, - illegitimate again, - to mother Agnes ANDERSON........

The informant for the births of the 1870 twins is shown as "Jacob Nisbet Occupier" ..................

And that's in the context of a matching 1871 census entry in Coldingham for the family...........

David

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:18 pm

Hi Bernadine

Catriona is very right!!

I had to go peek for myself and Elizabeth Anderson NISBET died in 1866 age 35. Informant was her father in law Robert NISBET. Jacob NISBET died in 1901 and was married to Agnes Anderson NISBET at the time. His parents named Robert NISBET and Alison BROWN.

I have no idea if Elizabeth and Agnes could have been related.

If you want to spend some time I think there are quite a few NISBET's in Coldingham that could make your tree quite full of branches!!

Best wishes
Jean

JayPee · Post by **JayPee** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:52 pm

DavidWW wrote:Hmmmmm........

Looks like Jacob NISBET and Agnes ANDERSON never formally tied the knot in terms of a regular marriage, and may or may not have undergone an irregular marriage that then didn't result in an entry in the register of marriages .......

[...]

David

I thought it was odd (on the 1881 census) that Agnes Anderson (housekeeper) was listed immediately after the head of the household

and before the Nisbet children...
- JayPee

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:29 am

JayPee wrote:
DavidWW wrote:Hmmmmm........

Looks like Jacob NISBET and Agnes ANDERSON never formally tied the knot in terms of a regular marriage, and may or may not have undergone an irregular marriage that then didn't result in an entry in the register of marriages .......

[...]

David
I thought it was odd (on the 1881 census) that Agnes Anderson (housekeeper) was listed immediately after the head of the household and before the Nisbet children...
- JayPee

JayPee

It must have been a curious situation for the registrar, as, in a place the size of Coldingham, and his involvement in the censuses, he was bound to have known the real situation, but what can he say Jacob when pops in to his office to register the birth, but describing himself as occupier, and not putting his name forward as father

(In the case of such an illegitimate birth both the mother's and father's names could only appear on the register entry if both were present at the act of registration and both signed the register, - it'll be interesting to hear what is on the other birth register entries!)

David