Have I run out of options?

[didactylos]

Hi Annette

The bulk baptisms referred to are not a case of multiple children being baptised on the same day but of baptisms taking place over several years all written on the same page, usually in family groups. I think what Roger is saying is that the baptisms you list are all on the same Parish Register page. I have seen a variety of reasons for this suggested at different times, one of which is that the baptisms are not Church of Scotland which is certainly the case within my family. One possibility is that the C of S noted them somewhere else and, sometime shortly before the commencement of Civil Registration, wrote them up in the Parish Register.

Andy

Well this is what I am looking at:

[Forfarian]

Well this is what I am looking at:

Yes. That looks like a classic case of parents remedying earlier omissions. Notice that it only says they were born, whereas the usual thing is to give the date of baptism. But when you get bulk entries later, the parents can usually remember the birthdays, or may even have a record because they will have written them down in the family bible, but not the dates of baptism.

[didactylos]

[/quote]

I wonder what was happening between 1810 and 1818 - no children in that period.  I wonder if John was married twice, the second time in 1806/7.  Or if the first children were born to the same couple, but before marriage, it's possible that the church elders had something to say about that and there may be a record in the church minutes.

Ignore that bit - I had a logic and numeracy breakdown!  But I still wonder why there was an 8yr gap with no children in an otherwise very fertile couple.
[/quote]

Indeed my own conjecture is that maybe he was working elsewhere.... ended his days as a miner - maybe he had to locate elesehwere for a period to earn money?

Just a thought.

Or maybe they had a very long row.......

Roger

[Forfarian]

I still wonder why there was an 8yr gap with no children in an otherwise very fertile couple.

Speculation: there were children, but they died so there was no point in having their baptisms recorded posthumously.

[didactylos]

Hi didactylos, have you checked the Jane Rankin marrying Glasgow 1807 or the John Neilson, Glasgow 1806.

Neither of those match up

Roger