William Stephen b 1797 Forfar

[garryscotland]

Hi All 
        trying to find William Stephen born according to 1851 census as Forfar Angus 1797 ? his wife Isabella (Reid) Stephen and one son Robert who he stayed with in Newhills Aberdeenshire, cant find birth certificate but have death certificate died 1869 Newhills, on cert father James Stephen farm overseer would think Forfar area also but no mothers name. Can any of you skilled researchers help as i am only a rookie, just started but hit brick wall already.

     Regard Garryscotland

[bleckie]

Hi Garryscotland

On www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk  There is one record for a William Steven born 1797 in the county of Angus but not in the parish of Forfar.

Yours Aye
BruceL

[Gali]

Have you seen that there are two marriage certs on SP for William and Iso/abel from 1828?  One in January and the other in December - is there any more detail about William on these?

Did you also see a birth in 1829 to a William Stephen and Elisabeth Reid (Isabel and Elisabeth often used interchangeably) in Maryculter of a William Stephen, not far from the location of one of their marriage certs.  

Have you looked into the marriage of James Steven and Elspet Langlands in Forfar from 1796?  They are on the 1841 census, both 70, he is an Ag Lab, living in Dunnichen ... might be worth some investigation.  Birth registration not compulsory until 1855 so you may never know any more!    

[garryscotland]

Hi Garryscotland

On www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk There is one record for a William Steven born 1797 in the county of Angus but not in the parish of Forfar.

Yours Aye
BruceL

Hi BruceL

  Dont know if this is the right way to reply still a rookie ,  thanks very much for your time and effort but his dad on death cert is James the one for William Steven  on SP is George. Thanks Again

[Forfarian]

Have you seen that there are two marriage certs on SP for William and Iso/abel from 1828?

Sorry to be a wet blanket but there is no such thing as a marriage certificate before the start of civil registration in 1855. These 1828 records will be from the proclamations of banns in the old parish registers, and they won't contain anything like the same amount of detail as a proper post-1855 marriage certificate. If there are two, this tells you that the couple lived in two different parishes when they decided to get married, and the banns were called in both parishes. The records are very unlikely to tell you anything much about William.

[garryscotland]

Hi Everyone,
Last time I was on was 2011, how time passes ,but no more further , with the lockdown thought I would look at the tree again .

Found out that William was born 1791/2 not 1797 as worked out with the census ( one lady told me the people taking the census rounded up their age to the nearest five after the age of 15 ) .

Found his gravestone in Aberdeen Nellfield cemetery which read, died 1st May 1869 aged 78,so going on that looked up William Stephen born 1791/2 Angus , father James, and two came up which matched one of the Roots chat findings William Steven b 18 Feb 1792, c 24 Feb 1792 Arbroath Angus. And the other William Steven b 10 June 1791 Dundee Angus both fathers James .

Found his death in the Dundee Courier / Daily Argus and Aberdeen Press and Journal ( contacted the archive man in the Courier and he said that the deaths were in the two papers was so the person doing the will would cover family in Dundee Forfarshire Angus area ) . 
But now that as I am still a rookie, and still that brick wall . someday though     

[Forfarian]

( one lady told me the people taking the census rounded up their age to the nearest five after the age of 15 )

Adults' ages were supposed to be rounded **down** to the nearest 5 years in the 1841 census.