Alexander McLean & Margaret Burden - Larbert

[khyber]

I am trying to identify the Alexander McLean & Margaret Burden who married in Larbert on 30 March 1792. Neither appear to have been born in Larbert.
I think there is a possibility that Margaret may have been the widow of Alexander Burden but do not have access to death or burial records for Larbert  to see if Alexander Burden died between January 1778 when he married Margaret Jameson (probably from Falkirk) and March 1792.
If anyone is able to help by looking up deaths/burials for Larbert it would be much appreciated as I am in Australia.
Thanks.
Judi

[Forfarian]

Hmmm.

Just because you can't find a baptism record in Larbert doesn't mean that they weren't born there. There are lots and lots of people whose baptism records, if the ever existed, have not survived.

It is extremely unlikely that Margaret Burden was the widow of a Mr Burden. Married women do not lose their maiden surnames on marriage in Scotland, and in the late 18th century a widow who remarried was recorded (if at all) under her own surname. Also I see that in the baptisms of their children her name is listed as Margaret Burden. It is unheard of for a baptism record to list the mother by the surname of a previous husband, so I think you can be confident that Burden was Margaret's own surname.

As for deaths and burials in Larbert, I have yet to find any records other than what is inscribed on the surviving headstones. Try http://www.memento-mori.co.uk/index.htm

[khyber]

Thank you, Forfarian.
I did realise I was clutching at straws.  I think I'll give that couple a rest for a while!
Thanks also for the Memento-mori website.

[Forfarian]

It did briefly cross my mind to wonder if the Alexander Burden who married Margaret Jameson in 1776 could perhaps have been a brother of the Margaret Burden who married Alexander McLean. Not that that is a lot of help, really.

[khyber]

Thanks, Forfarian.
I think if the Margaret Burden I am looking for was Alexander's brother she would have been too old to still be having children in 1806.   His parents (if I have the right people) were married in 1733 and he was born in 1736 after a sister, Agnes, born in 1734. Maybe she was another generation on - but she still can't be found!

[Forfarian]

His parents (if I have the right people) were married in 1733 and he was born in 1736

You are absolutely right to question whether these are the right parents. It is never safe to assume that, because there is only one possible candidate in the records, it has to be the right person. Especially when the name is as common as Alexander, you can't be sure without corroborating evidence.

If he was the one born in 1736, he was about 40 when he married in 1776, which is quite late. However a late marriage might account for the apparent absence of children to Alexander Burden and Margaret Jameson. It could even have been his second marriage, I suppose. Maybe your Margaret Burden was his daughter by an earlier marriage?