Question re OPR entry 1756

[Thistlealb]

While researching my 4Ggrandfather James Tait I had dates for three of his siblings. I had no name for the last sibling but did have a baptism date (wrong as it turned out). I did find the record (1756 OPR Births 584/00 0010 0092 Craigie) in the right parish in Ayrshire and with the correct father but the name of the child was blank. The entry started at "to Hugh Tait in Laigh caldrongill was baptized 21 March." To the left of the entry was the notation "Note".

Can someone explain the significance of the blank and the word Note and what it might mean. Thank you.

Stewart

[trish1]

It sounds to me as if the person who wrote the entry and/or performed the baptism didn't record the details in any legible form and wrote up as best he could. Others on TS who have more information on parish records may have a better explanation.

[Thistlealb]

Thanks Trish. I should have added that there was also a blank space in a 1753 page but no "Note" on the left side.

Stewart

[AndrewP]

Hi Stewart,

I took a look at the page and the page before and page after.

The page (page 28) with the "note" remark had two entries with no name - the one you are asking about, and the one two entries above. The following page (page 28a) had no baptismal records, only a single sentence - was that the note? The sentence says "No entries between July 1756 and Feb 1757; but see John Hunter, at July 1794". Sure enough, there is an entry on page 100 with the 1794 entries for a John Hunter, baptised in 1756. The note on page 28a is at pretty much the same height on the page as the word "note" on page 28. Could that be relevant?

An observation that I have is that the writing on page 28 looks like it was written at one time (the exact same style and ink thickness on the letters); probably copied from a jotter into the formal register at a later date. The writing on page 29 is in that same hand, and is of the same thickness until about 3-quarters of the way down the page, where the weight of writing becomes lighter - I will suggest a different day's work of copying into the register. In a few parishes, the jotters have survived an are online in the OPRs as well as the registers, so the same entry can be seen recorded twice.

I have no idea if there is any relevance, but the entry that you are asking about is out of date sequence on that page.

Food for thought,

AndrewP

[Thistlealb]

Thank you very much, Andrew. Your reply is appreciated. I hadn't thought of checking out the next page. When I got the other siblings entries (pages, 20, 22 and 24) I didn't pay too much attention to the writing but looking back the entries are all remarkably similar. I think I just happy to find the entries and put the similar handwriting down to the same minister being the writer. I still have much to learn.

Regards, Stewart