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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Banffshire => Topic started by: Deltafin on Thursday 23 February 12 11:18 GMT (UK)
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I am trying to find the birthplace & death date and place,also family details of Alexander McRae born 1795/6 who married Christian Gordon at Fordyce in 1815.Had sons Colin B1822 & William B1824. I am led to believe that he was born in Ross & Cromarty but I can find no trace,although there is an Alexander born in Avoch 1796 but his wife was Barbara and he died in Logie Coldstone .
I now believe that Alexander was born somewhere in Banffshire. I have found a family who may be related:- Colin Born 1771 Married 1793 at Fordyce to Elizabeth Black,Family:-James B 11/11/1794, Ann B3/7/1796,John B10/11/1799,William B 27/12/1801. There was also [1841 Census] Ann B1776 [Possibly in Petty Inverness] living with the family at Culbuchly and a Christian B1826 & William B 1830.
On checking another site it implied that Alexanders parents were Colin & Elizabeth, but I canna find his birth. NOTE:- These are his parents he was born in 1793 in Banff.!!!!!!!!!!!!
Colin was born in Fodderty in 1759 father Alexander mothe Isbel Mckenzie, am now trying to trace their parents .
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Hi Deltafin, have you looked at the two marriage entries in the OPRs for Christian and Alexr? One Fordyce, one Banff, which infers that one of them hailed from Banff and the other Fordyce.
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from baptism OPRS
18/01/1816 MCCRAE JAMES ALEXANDER MCCRAE/CHRISTAN GORDON FORDYCE
09/05/1822 MCRAE COLIN ALEXR. MCRAE/CHRISTIAN GORDON M BANFF
05/04/1824 MCRAE WILLIAM ALEXR. MCRAE/CHRISTIAN GORDON M BANFF
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In 1851 Colin McRae, widower, retired farmer, born Keith, Banffshire, aged 80, was living at Culbuchly with his son, John, farmer of 20 acres, born parish of Banff, aged 50, unmarried, also several grandchildren.
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Thanks for the information, Alexander had several bairns :-
James B1816,Colin B1823,William B1824,Helen B1828, Elizabeth B1831, Elspeth B1834, John B1838, Robert B1853.
Colin married Margaret Blair 10/12/1846 in Rathven and lived in Buckie, He is my Gt,Gt.Grandfather.
But I am still unable to find details of Alexander's parents though I have found details of a George McRae who married Elspeth Smith in 1780 [ I canna find their marriage or birth certs]and had a son James and the witness on Alexander's son James birth cert is called James Smith so there could be a connection.Also I found reference to an Alexander whose mother was Mary McKenzie but can find no fathers details and still am unable to find any details of Alexanders death though I have Christian Gordons details.
The Colin you refer to as born in Keith may well be a relation so i will check it out, but he was not Alexanders ,I found a Colin age 70 in 1841 living at Culbuchly with son John,sister Ann age 65 born in Petty Inverness in 1774.+ son William age 11& daughter Christian age 15.But I am not sure of any relationship to Alexander.
I have copies of both of Alexander and Christian Gordons marriage certs ,one from Banff & one from Fordyce neither show any parents details.
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http://archive.org/stream/historyofclanmac00macr/historyofclanmac00macr_djvu.txt
there are mentions of McRaes in Banff at the above link....including a couple of Colins
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Many thanks for the info I will check it out
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???Have looked through all the family history and can find no reference to Alexander or his family, and no reference to Macraes in Banffshire so once again it is a blank wall.
Is there anyone out there who has any information???? .
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do a control-F, search for "banff"....there were a few occurrences....
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Thanks again for the info, I have had another look and will investigate the three Banff deaths , Colin James and Jessie but I dont think that they are from my family.
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I am trying to find the gravestone details of Christian McRae[nee Gordon]who died at Deskford Street,Cullen on 27/11/1876 aged 82,[I have a copy of her death cert] to see if there is any reference to her husband Alexander McRae and to whom I am unable to find a death cert or date having checked in Scotlands People and Scots Origins sites with no success.
Is there anyone who can advise where I can obtain this information as I am still trying to confirm who Alexanders parents were due to the conflicting information on his birth date , is it 1795,1796 or 1793 and where exactly was he born. I have a cert for 1793 born in Banffshire which might be him but this may be incorrect as all census details point to him beig born aroun 1795/6.
Kind Regards
Deltafin
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I have looked on LIBINDX http://libindx.moray.gov.uk/mainmenu.asp and there is no reference to Christian Gordon or McRae. This means that when the MIs in (the present boundaries of) Moray, which includes Cullen and Deskford, were recorded in 1978/9, no gravestone was found.
If she was buried in Cullen or Deskford, the burial records should be in the care of Moray Council. Moray Local Heritage Centre has microfilms of most of the burial records. You could try contacting them - contact details are on the LIBINDX web site.
Was Christian a widow when she died?
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Many thanks for the information, I will check on the Moray Council Site. Christian was a widow on her death,and on the 1861 census she is shown as a widow so her husband Alexander died sometime between 1851 and 1860 but again I can find no record.There is a record of an Alexander McRae aged around 74 buried in Fordyce but I believe that this is not him due to the information on his death cert his wife was called Mary McKenzie and there is no evidence I can find that show him being married twice.
Regards
Deltafin
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Alexander died sometime between 1851 and 1860
If he died before 1854, there won't be a death certificate to find; statutory civil registration didn't start until 1855. I presume you have looked at the pre-1855 deaths on SP, but to be honest I'd be surprised if you found him there.
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Yes I have checked with Sp ,
Scots Origins,FamilySearch,AncestryResearch,Geneanet.Genealogy.com,Scottish Catholic Archives,Scottish Roots,Wikitree to see if there is information on other family trees,which there is but they have either found nothing or the information is incorrect so perhaps Moray Local Heritage can identify something from parish records. I have also tried to prove a link to an Alexander born in 1793 to Colen and Elizabeth as previously stated to see if this is him as the family names are the same right up to the present day, but I am unable to find proof of birth or death to link to his parents.
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Basically, if it's not on SP, the chances of you finding a death are small, and your chances of finding a death record that names his parents is nil. All those other sites you mention have either indexes to the information on SP, or information contributed by someone or other, and you have no way of knowing whether the information is accurate or pure fantasy without tracking down and looking at their sources. The only online source of original documents relating to births, marriages and deaths in Scotland's People, though some people who have obtained original documents from SP may be willing to share the information via one or other site, such as http://www.sctbdm.com/index.php and http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/national
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Many thanks again.I had a quick look on the Moray Libindx System and found some interesting info so I will try these other sites as well that you have mentioned.