Aberdeenshire help needed
I have searched on ScotlandsPeople in protestant and catholic marriages from 1820-1840, no county specified, but cannot find a record for my 2nd great grandparents marriage. Would appreciate any ideas of where to look. This is the information from my great grandfathers birth/baptism.
"George said by the mother Jane Alexander to be the son of James BROWN solicitor, in Huntly, both protestants, born in Cairney the 8 day of October 1837 was baptised by me the 22 day of the same month the sponsors were John Marchm and May Maunish. John MacLachlan
Catholic Registers Births and Baptisms Huntly, St Margarets"
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The phrase "said by the mother" strongly implies this was an out-of-wedlock birth, and the parents were not married. I suggest comparing the wording with other baptisms on the same page to confirm this.
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Interesting idea. Thank You.
On the page there are 4 baptisms. Three of them have "said by the mother". The fourth one is "Mary lawful daughter of John Crukshank and Ann Copland."
He was in the 1841 and 1851 census records with other people before coming to New Zealand in 1856.
His marriage certificate in 1866 gives his parents as George Brown solicitor and Jane Brown formerly Alexander. His death certificate has his father as George Brown, Lawyer, nothing for mother.
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ScotlandsPeople has said they will upload more Kirk Sessions in the future.
I agree with @ChiTownGal , that this the sort of matter that might be mentioned in the Kirk Sessions. The local Church of Scotland may have refused to baptise the child, and the reason would probably be due to the nature of the relationship between the parents and that sort of thing they would be disciplined for. Or if the parents deliberately had their child baptized Catholic, then the Kirk Session would have disciplined them very seriously or even expelled them from the congregation.
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I had a look at ScotlandsPeople but couldn't find a marriage.
This situation- a child of Protestant parents being baptized Catholic, sounds strange, as does 3/4 of the baptisms apparently being illegitimate. I wonder if perhaps they were married, but since they were not married in the Catholic Church they were treated by them as if they were unmarried.
If they came over in 1856 to New Zealand, then maybe they were involved with the Free Church of Scotland ?
Have you found Jane on the 1841 census and is she recorded by her maiden or married name?
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Cannot find the parents after the baptism. It was only George who came to NZ in 1856 as a gold miner.
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I suggest you check the Kirk Session Record for Huntly. The notation that the parents are Protestant, but the baptism is Catholic, suggests to me that the Kirk Session had something to say about the situation. The Huntly records do not appear to be on Scotland's People, but they may be in the FamilySearch catalog.
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Thank you for the suggestion. That will require a trip to National Archives, Edinburgh, Scotland. If I ever manage a trip there I shall check it out.
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On the marriage issue alone, I have given up hope of finding many of my Scottish ancestors' marriage records. The marriage conventions in Scotland were not the same as in England, with many "non-conformists" (in Scotland that meant those not belonging to the Church of Scotland) taking place in meeting houses, or even private residences.
The "established church" frowned on such marriages - not least as they lost income from not receiving payment for the accompanying "proclamations" - but they were considered legal, nevertheless. Of course, as suggested, some couples probably never undertook even an informal ceremony. A 4x great-grandmother of mine is shown as "the wife of" in the baptism record of her daughter, but as "single" (not a "widow") in a later census record, so I cannot ascertain if she really did marry the father of her daughter (who retained his surname until her own marriage).
Apart from this, the Church of Scotland registers themselves are often very patchy in their recording of events. In my experience, burials are the most difficult events to find, with marriages not far behind. Even births were sometimes recorded long after the event, with the births of siblings grouped together and no sign of where the details might have been recorded beforehand.
Whatever might be discovered regarding the circumstances relating to this family, I would not be surprised if you were never to be able to trace the marriage of James (or is that George?) Brown and Jane Alexander. I found the 1837 record for George's baptism in the Find My Past index (I do not have a subscription to FMP), which confirms his father to be JAMES Brown (as you initially suggest): but should that be GEORGE (which you say is found in George's marriage and death certificates)? Either way, I, too, found no ---- BROWN marriage to a Jane (or Jean) Alexander in Scotland for the 1820-40 period.
Finally, I believe I have identified George Brown in the 1841 & 1851 (and 1861) census - seems strange that (even at 4 years old) he was in a household that did not include his parents. (See https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_queries/61e2cc1b791e3bad3d93eb38?locale=en). I have not yet checked, but have you found his parents in census records?
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Further to my earlier comments, I see you have been unsuccessful in finding George's parents after his 1837 baptism. Also, if he went to New Zealand in 1856, the 1861 census entry I found in FreeCEN for a c1838 Cairney born George Brown cannot be for him.
There are possible matching census entries for Jane Alexander at https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_queries/61e2d57b791e3bad3d93ef6c?locale=en (including 1841-71 entries for an unmarried individual at Cairney).
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Thank you for your kind help. I shall follow through on that Jane Alexander and see if it is possible.
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