Help in Scotland

[castleshaw]

That's great, I do know the site but have only looked on the various census and BMD - I never thought of wills.  I'll send for this and hope it gives me more.

[andycand]

Hi

If she was a foundling then, depending upon how old she was when found, her birth may have been registered by her birth parent. I think the best option would be the Kirk Session to see if there is any reference as its most likely that the church would have been involved somewhere. You would need to start looking from April 1862 onwards as the 1871 census was on the 2nd April so an 8yo would have been born between 2nd April 1862 and 1st April 1863. There is also a possibility that the Kirk Session minutes has clues about a possible mother.

Another possibility is baptisms, the chances are that she would have been baptised after being found and there may be some additional information but you would need to locate baptisms from 1862 onwards. The IGI in Scotland from 1855-1875 is transcribed from the Statutory Birth Registers not the Parish Baptisms.

If nothing is found in the Kirk Session minutes then you may need to track down records from other churches such as the Free Church.

Andy

[castleshaw]

Hi Andy,

I've been at a deadend with my search for a while, so thank you for these leads.  I feel more hopeful now of finding details of my great grandmother.  I'll ring Stirling today and will search the baptism records too. 

[tailz03]

Did you have any luck in the end, i was really interested reading the posts and wondered if you had come to some conclusion?

[TaylorAnn91]

Hi I’m not too sure if you’re still around and able to see my post, but I thought I would just write this incase you are. I would love to get in touch - Rachel was 3x great-grandmother, through her son William Robertson who died in WW1 in France. I have a photo of Rachel and would love to share it with you if you haven’t already seen it

[ecksdochter]

     From the British Newspaper Archives. The following three newspaper snippets of information are from the index only. Sorry, some of the index is just unreadable gobbledegook, and I'm not able to bring up the full articles.
     "The Alloa Journal and Clackmannanshire Advertiser" Saturday, 31st Dec. 1864.
     ".....female child, apparently about 18 months old, was found neatly wrapped up in a shawl, at the.....to Kennet House. It was taken possession? of by.....the men on the estate.....and a? reward is offered? by....."

     "Alloa Advertiser" Saturday, 7th Jan. 1865.
     "The Kennet Fou.....? (foundling?). No trace has yet been found of the parentage of the infant left near Kennet House a few days ago. Meanwhile the interesting and intelligent child is under the guardianship of Janet Adams, Drysedale? Street....."

     "Stirling Observer" Thursday, 19th Jan. 1865.
     "A Foundling. A little girl about two years of age, was, a few days ago, left exposed near the mansionhouse of Kennet, and the Police has? as yet failed to discover the parents."

     Kirk Sessions likely to have some records, especially if Janet Adams, who had guardianship of 'Rachel' when first found, was paid by the Parish for her keep. ScotlandsPeople now have Kirk Sessions online, but are not easy to search.

               Regards,     Dod.