Hi Glen
Many thanks for photographs, we enjoyed looking at them and have filed them away for future use.
The register of baptisms in the parish of Tweedmouth give Francis Whitelaw's father as John Whitelaw of Tweedmouth, as a native of Simpran, Berwickshire. Do you think we should take this to mean that he was born in Simpran or that is where he lived before moving to Tweedmouth.
Peter and Margaret
It would seem that John was born either in the village (or within the old parish) of Simprim and at some point moved to Tweedmouth. It isn't that uncommon to find people from Berwickshire moving to Tweedmouth, Spittal and Berwick upon Tweed, despite the fact they are in England it isn't a great distance from large parts of Berwickshire. It also offered more oppurtunities for employment as there were more industries in the town than the country.
There were a couple of non conformist churches in Tweedmouth as well as the Parish Church dedicated to St Bartholomew and St. Boisil. It may sound slightly strange too when you discover that Berwick also boasted churches aligned to the Church of England as well as the Church of Scotland.
