Robertson/ Saint marriage

[genjen]

Hello,

According to the death certificate of my 4 x great grandmother, Christian Robertson, her parents were James Robertson and Elizabeth Sanit. I have come to the conclusion that this is a mis-spelling of Saint.

Can anyone help me with the search for the marriage of these two people? Were there any more offspring?

Christian Robertson was born around 1784, Cruden. She married William Daniel in 1806 in Peterhead, died 13/1/1866 at Blackhill, Cruden. I have no dates for either James Robertson or Elizabeth S.

Any help would be most welcome.

Ta,

Jen

[Ann Baker]

Hi jen

I have found confirmation of the marriage in Scotland;s People

12/07/1806 ROBERTSON CHRISTIAN WILLIAM DANIEL/ F Peterhead /ABERDEEN 232/ 0020 0366

This is an OPR entry and parents names are not on it as this wasn't a requirement pre 1855. William is listed as living in Cruden but the marriage was in Peterhead which would have been the bride's parish.

If you have Christian's death cert her parents will be on it and you can use this to search for the parents marriage.

Christian's birth is not recorded on the OPR baptisms in Scotland. This is a common problem as unless anythimng other than Established Church of Scotland won't be there. Also have checked for sibling but nothing there cos sometimes they had all the children baptised at once.

If James or Elizabeth died after 1955 then their death certs would have their parents names on. There are no death records before that. Some churches do have records of the rent of the mort cloth but these are few and far between and you'd need to know the church.

Ann

[genjen]

Hi,

Thank you for the marriage confirmation. I had the year but not the exact date.

It was Christian's death certificate which gave me the names of James Robertson and Elizabeth S in the first place but the writing is too unclear to be able to make out whether it is Saint, Sanit, or even, at a push and with a vivid imagination, Smith.

Given that Christian was born in 1784, I think it is unlikely that her parents would have been alive when registration began in 1855 and if they were, I have certainly had no luck finding them. I have also had no success in finding any other offspring of James and Elizabeth whose death certificates may have been clearer to read than Christian's.

I think it is a case of searching for an OPR marriage record for James and Elizabeth. It must exist somewhere I guess.

Cheers,

Jen

[Ann Baker]

Hi gen

If you know which Parish they were married it's worth seeing if there is a Family History Society.

The alternative is to have a look on IGI and if the record was extracted you can order the film via your neasest LDA FHC then you can go and have a look. If the record is submitted has to be treated with caution because it's not a direct copy where an extraction is.

Cheers

Ann

[torrygirl]

I did find the date of birth or baptism for Christian Robertson in Cruden, Aberdeen, which is July 31, 1784.  Unfortunately the mother's name is not noted, father being James Robertson.  Film # 993178  I was really hoping the mother's name would be on it - sorry.

I found this info on www.scotsfind.org as my ancestors on my mother's side have the name Robertson and I happened to have it in my Favourites.  If you look at the website, scroll down the menu on the left hand side until you see Robertson Geneology - Births & Baptisms.

Torrygirl

[genjen]

Hi,

Thanks for this link. I have found a few of my Robertson family on the lists but nothing as yet to solve the mystery of Christian's mother. But I have sent a query direct to the person running the list so maybe something will come of it yet.

Regards,

Jen

[trishmac]

Hi Jen

I have a Barbara Robertson who was bap 19 Jun 1782 in Cruden, to James Robertson and Janet Daniel. I got this from her death certificate. She died Sept 1860 at Blakesmuir, Cruden.

I keep thinking there could be a connection but there is no way to be sure.

Some thoughts though:

Episcopalian OPRs for Cruden Parish exist. The Aberdeen and North-east Scotland Family History Society has a copy as does Cruden Library. I don't know whether they would do a look-up for you as the records are not indexed. I found some of 'mine' in there tho' I didn't think they were Episcopalian, particularly.

On freecen there is a Christian Daniel at Blackhills in 1851, aged 77 but her husband is William Daniel and she says she was born in Peterhead.

The ANESFHS hasn't got Cruden churchyard on their monumental inscription list yet. I did look at Slains, which is very near,  but no luck.

You are right that Saint would be an unusual surname in Cruden at the time. There were some around the 1850's. It couldn't have been Daniels, could it? You know how old cursive script could be very swirly and I wonder if the D with a heavy downstroke and the loop to the left before going up to the right could look like an S?  Just hoping your Christian is related to my Barbara!

Trish

[genjen]

Hi,

I can't tell you how much I should like to find that the name was something other than what it appears to be. Try as I might, I keep coming back to Sanith, which I then assume to be a mis-spelling of something else. The S at the beginning of the name is pretty much identical to that on "Senile Decay", the MS ( maiden surname) right next to the name and to the word "Single" on the entry above in the online record. I have tried to make the word say Daniel but it is nothing like the D of Daniel, her married name, in the first column. Also the second from last letter is definitely t, the cross bar also going over the last letter, which looks like h to me.

The other problem is that marriages to James Robertson at around the right time to be Christian's mother are to Mary Findley and Janet Daniel, whereas my woman was apparently an Elizabeth.

I have been round the churchyard outside Cruden and have found a few of my ancestors in there but I think it may be marginally too new to have James Robertson and whoever his wife was, in it.

Much as I love my Scottish ancestry, there are times when I wish registration had begun at the same time as in England. With the Scots method of naming parents, that would have solved a geat many more problem ancestors for me!

Here is silly thing which I have just considered. I don't have the full death certificate for Christian, just the image in the register, which I downloaded from Scotland's People.  If I stop being such a tight fisted Yorkshire/Scot and sent for the actual certificate, this whole problem could sort itself in seconds. It is entirely possible that a different person will have written that and even if they didn't it may be clearer.

Why didn't I think of that earlier?

Watch this space!

Jen

[genjen]

Cancel that thought - I have just had confirmation of what I suspected was the case, which is that a certifcate is simply a copy of the online image, so would offer nothing new.
It was a good thought whilst it lasted.

Jen