Mothers name missing on birth record

[MonicaL]

Hi Karen

What information do you have to date? Where was John Cullen born? You could do a couple of searches. I would try first on IGI www.familysearch.org with the specific batch number for where John was born - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryScotland.htm

This lets you search with very little info, e.g. just father's name for example to see what else shows. I couldn't see any reference to John Cullen's birth in 1811 with a father James, but other siblings may show on IGI. You can also search on SP with just father's name with a year range and area.

Did John Cullen die in Scotland after 1855? If so, his death certificate should include details of his parents' names if known to the informant.

Another possible source of clues is to see the names in order that he gave his children to check whether he followed some form of Scottish naming pattern, not always followed in precise order but it is great how often it was! For this you would have to know the name of John's wife.

Monica 

[Maggie1895]

Karen, I'm sorry to go off on a tangent within your thread, but can I say a huge 'thanks' to Monica?
Monica, I just clicked on the link you gave Karen (above) and it's wonderful!  I find IGI quite cumbersome, but this is brilliant.
Thanks very much,
Maggie

[MonicaL]

IGI is such a fantastic tool but it does have its tricks as all these databases do.

A couple of other useful searches which work best in Scotland than England because mother's maiden names are included on Scottish records:

1. A parent search which lets you find all children born to that couple where records have been extracted from Statutory registers and the OPRs onto IGI.

2. With illegitimate births where the child is know by their reputed father's surname, you can search by just first name only and then mother's name including surname (this is also useful when family surname can be mistrancribed and is hard to find due to variants and the mother's surname is more straightforward).

Hope you find what you are looking for Maggie 

Monica

[karens925]

Sorry Ive got awfully confused with dates and names ...not surprising really theres far too many ancestors!!!

I am looking for the mother and father of John Cullen, he was born 1801 in Crimond Aberdeen, married 26-12-1822 to an Elizabeth Smith, on the 1851 Census and died 1859 Longside Aberdeenshire.

I thought (in my thought process which could be way off) that the John Cullen born at that time to a father by the name of James Cullen with the mothers name excluded.... I could be very wrong though...

Its still a puzzle (even if not related) as to why there was no mother mentioned.

Thankyou for the links I will go and check them out.

Karen

ps: my daughter was so impressed that we are related to the Cullens

[karens925]

OOOoooh he was actually born in 1796 and his father was James, who had a sister named Susanne and their father was another James. No mother mentioned on either record though!!!

[MonicaL]

There are these three christening entry showng in Crimond with father James:

1. SUSANN CULLEN Christening: 27 FEB 1770 Crimond
2. JAMES CULLEN  Christening: 10 FEB 1772 Crimond
3. JOHN CULLEN Christening: 14 SEP 1796 Crimond

Were there any parent details showing on John's 1859 death cert?

Aberdeenshire OPR birth entries are particularly bad at leaving off mother's details!

Monica

[MonicaL]

As mentioned earlier, do you have details of who Elizabeth Smith's parents were? These are some of the children showing on IGI to a John Cullen and Elizabeth Smith:

1. MARY CULLEN  Christening: 21 JUN 1823 Longside
2. ELSPET CULLEN Christening: 15 APR 1827 Longside
3. MARGARET STEPHEN CULLEN Christening: 18 NOV 1829 Longside
4. JOHN CULLENChristening: 20 DEC 1840 Longside

Monica

[karens925]

Thankyou, I was wondering if you knew why Margaret had the middle name Stephen would this have been a maiden name somewhere? I will have a another look on the death certificate. I dont know who Elizabeth Smiths parents were though.

Thanks again Monica

[MonicaL]

Hi Karen

Scottish parents liked to use family surnames as middle names for their children. Can often give clues as to names of grandparents etc.

There is a likely death for an Elizabeth Smith/Cullen b. 1798 in Longside in 1880.

Monica