Trying to find a marriage and death record
I am reposting this from a message from @catherinemurray
Hi everyone @JBPurdie @maureenmarydawson1 @Gordon Hunter1
I did some research and wasn't finding much, so I am passing it on to see if any of you can help Catherine.
"Scratch my head trying to find a marriage and death certificate for a Susanna Marquis married name McArthur
Christening Aug 16 1792 Kilbrandon And Kilchattan, Argyll, Scotland - church records in Scotland People
Father Niel Marquis -Mother Sarah
Susanna Married Duncan McArthur but we cannot find a marraige certificate in Scotlands people all her children were born in Kilbrandon & Kilchattan, Argyll, Scotland and she is not listed in scotland 1841 census with her husband & children - we are assuming she may have died in childbirth 1841"
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Sorry I tried everything I could think of and could not find a marriage nor death certificate for a Susanna (Susan) Marquis married name McArthur.
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When I was first advised that the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) for Scotland had been thoroughly indexed I naively thought that would mean I would be able to easily locate CMB records for my Scottish ancestors. How wrong I was!
With regards to marriages, many events took place at people's homes, rather than in church. This was probably to avoid fees imposed by the Church (of Scotland) and the fact that the practice was perfectly legal. Even where I have discovered a "marriage" pre-1855 (when civil registration began), the record is often just for a "proclamation" (of intent), so dated prior to what would have been the date of the actual ceremony.
With deaths / burials, there has been even more difficulty - the church seeming to be more interested in recording the fee received for the burial arrangements rather than the event in itself. So, if the parish register does not list these (financial) accounts, burial registers (as such) seem rarely to have been kept.
The result of this is that I have lots of blank data fields against the records of my Scottish ancestors / relatives - none of which I ever expect to be in a position to complete.
I must emphasise that my research relates largely to the border counties of Roxburghshire and Berwickshire, but - from what I have read - the problems described appear to be quite widespread throughout Scotland.
Finally, there were a number of schisms that took place within the Church of Scotland, with breakaway groups setting up their own Presbyterian groups, which often met privately and for which registers have not survived. Another reason that, sadly, many researchers will never be able to discover the vital records of their ancestors.
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Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland
On the Agriculture of the County of Argyll
"The large tenement of Achadunan, at the head of the loch and on the Cowal side, has long been famed for its stock of cattle and sheep. It is at present possessed by Mr Duncan M'Arthur at a rent of £950. He keeps a mixed stock of blackfaced sheep."
A Niel Marquis farmed fairly adjacent to this. Probably not any help but a little bit of the history of the area.
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