Help needed to read this please - COMPLETED WITH THANKS TO ALL

[JAP]

Hi again Maggie,

I guess Christopher of Cleughbrae, Mouswald (son of a Smith or of a mother named SMITH?) might be an older brother of John and William of Roucan, Torthorwald (sons of a Smith).

But, as you say, they might be two quite different families.

And there are certainly pointers in favour of this conclusion.

I see that the Mouswald IGI batch is also (like the Torthorwald one) one of those infuriating batches where only the females have been extracted into the online IGI!

Added to which it is anything but clear whether "Smith" in the Mouswald entry is the occupation of the father John NICHOLSON (Smith) or (as transcribed) the surname (SMITH) of his spouse Mary Ann?  It would be good to see some more of the OPR baptism entries.

Children (girls only online) of John NICHOLSON (Smith?) and Mary Ann (SMITH?) in Mouswald are:
Agnes NICKOLSON 1785
Janet NICKOLSON 1787
Mary Ann NICHOLSON 1791
which tends to lead one to the conclusion that this is a different family from the Roucan, Torthorwald one (John in Roucan, Torthorwald being 1787, and Janet in Cleughbrae, Mouswald also being 1787).

Some more OPR entries, and some Wills and MIs might help ...

JAP
PS: If you post on the Dumfries board, it would be a good idea to provide a link to this thread.

[Gadget]

Mousewald Kirk Sessions index :

http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/HistoricalIndexes/mwlkirksession.aspx

It might well ahve some of yours on it. Ifound quite a lot of useful info from the Dumfries one for my ancestors.

It makes a good read anyway 

Gadget

[Maggie.]

Sorry for the delay - only just returned to the PC.

Many thanks everybody - there is a lot to consider and read here, but very quickly - good idea Gadget and I will post on the Dumfries board.

But right now I am befuddled with Nicholsons and I haven't had my lunch yet   

Maggie - signing out 

[maidmarianoops]

oops here

[Maggie.]

Thanks for the map Oops - now I can visualise where Tinwald is 

[JAP]

Hi Maggie,

The map which maidmarianoops has copied is the link I gave you earlier as follows:

...
The Genuki Dumfriesshire Parish map at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/DFS/parish_map.html
shows the positions of the parishes of Tinwald (41), Torthorwald (38) and Mouswald (33).  ...

I am posting the link again in case the Copyright Editor should happen to have any concerns with reproduction of the actual map 

Regards,

JAP

[JAP]

Hi again Maggie,

You wrote re the Torthorwald page:

...

The register mentions place names and occupations but with no consistency.  It is also apparent that many of the fathers have two occupations listed.

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I had a look at the Torthorwald page.
I actually can't see anywhere where a father has two occupations listed    Are you sure of this?  The practice seems to be to list occupation and place OR just place.

Also, just to satisfy my own curiosity, I had a look at the Mouswald page where Christopher is recorded.  The practice there seems to be entirely consistent i.e. the full names of father and mother are recorded.  So it seems almost certain that the parents are John NICHOLSON & Mary Ann SMITH i.e. Smith is a name not an occupation.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

JAP

[Maggie.]

Hi Jap,

Thank you for your interest.

I have re-examined the Totherwald page and I now agree that I was wrong in thinking some fathers had 2 occupations listed.  My concentration is a bit hampered at the moment with a very heavy cold and this, coupled with the unfamiliarity of the place names and indistinct writing, is making reading these registers a bit of a challenge.

I would agree that from the search results I have printed off, it seems common practice to list the mother's name in full, making the mother of Christopher born 1781 Mary Ann Smith.  Regarding whether he is the correct Christopher Nicholson is another matter and perhaps a matter for the Dumfries board rather than here.

It is not easy to sort them all out as I am searching 'pay as you go' and can only be selective in whom I look at  .  Yesterday I found and bought the Will of the Christopher who I am fairly certain is my gt.x 3 grandfather - good to have but it is all too easy to spend the pennies 

Maggie

[Gatacre]

Perhaps the occurence of the mother's maiden name on the IGI is because a woman in Scotland NEVER loses her maiden name and can be found recorded twice.
.
It is convenient when researching a surname to find the mother's maiden name if the child is recorded with the father's surname.

Coming late to this thread I would say that the the word after Smith is Roucan? as the pen seems to have given out when the top part of the R was being written.