Lilliesleaf - Dods

[bolttail]

Hi again 'terianne'. Here's a little bit of information which might be of some use. In May 1732 a petition of grievances was presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The petition contained, amongst many others, the names of 56 men under the heading "At Reperlaw in Lilliesleaf Parish, March 27". One of the names was William Dods. I would suggest that there's a reasonable chance that this man was the father or grandfather of William Dods the husband of Agnes White.

I'm puzzled by the fact that 56 names appeared under the Reperlaw heading. The Ordnance Survey map of 1863 shows Reperlaw (Raperlaw on the map) as an isolated farm with possibly only three buildings. Fifty six men an their dependants could not have resided there. Does your local knowledge provide any answer to this? Did the name Reperlaw encompass something greater than the farm itself?

[terianne]

I'll have a look,but not uncommon for farms to use men from the local surrounding area to work on the farm, but also the could have been bigger in the 1700s than in the 1800s - I have some old info on the area - I'll see what I can find

[terianne]

Had a quick look at the old map and reperlaw did cover a larger area in the 1700's which were was might explain the high no of men

I have found some of Helen's siblings

[bolttail]

Having done a quick search on Google, it looks like Reperlaw was a baronry, so much more than just a farm. What 'old map' are you looking at?

Helen's siblings, Isobel, William, and Andrew, have never been a problem, but thanks for the effort.

I've tried to find a family with a similar pattern of names but haven't found anything really convincing.

Having no marriage record for William and Agnes doesn't help. I don't think the parish records for the county of Roxburgh are complete enough to produce a credible answer.

[terianne]

The national library of Scotland gives free access to its old maps

Think I might have found Helen and her daughter Margaret living in Crailing in the 1841 census

[bolttail]

Well, that would be a problem for me. In 1841, I have a Helen Scott living with an Isabella Dodds (both aged 70) at Smiddyhaugh, Auchterarder, Perthshire. Both not born in Perthshire. My belief has been that these two women were the daughters of William Dods and Agnes White.

Helen Dods married William Scott and around 1800 they were living on the Kirklands estate near Ancrum where William was the steward. My belief was that the family moved to Newton Gorthy, Fowlis Wester, Perthshire, some time before 1813. The Fowlis Wester records have an 1813 baptism for Thomas the son of William Scott and Helen Dod.

However, I have no problem with being proved wrong on this point, so I am most interested in the Helen and Margaret who were living at Crailing. Could you let me have the details. I know the 1841 census is a bit sparse.

[terianne]

I'll have another look - uncommon here for different people with the same name to married each other - especially with the naming patterns

Have found any other children for Helen. & William

I checked the Maxwell ancestry site for the census 1841,1851,1861 local for free

And checked the igi / family seach site for hints on old records

[barbara13511]

Hi,

is it on family search where you are finding these baptism?  There is an error and Linton comes up all the time for hundreds of people who can't possibly all gone to Linton.  They have the person born in the Leaf and christened in Linton.  I can only think that Makerstoun is the same error. 

Barbara Johnston
Borders FHS

[bolttail]

Hi Barbara,

Many thanks for your input to this topic. Yes, my results are all coming from 'familysearch'.  Between 1693 and 1846 there are about 32 people with the surname 'Dods' who are recorded as being born in Lilliesleaf but baptised a little later in Makerstoun. I certainly haven't come across anything like this before.

To establish whether this is an error by 'familysearch' it would obviously be necessary to look at the original entries. I am registered with ScotlandsPeople, but currently have no credits. I have no desire at this time to purchase further credits since there are no records which I currently need to view. I have hit a very substantial 'brick wall' in Roxburghshire.

I did wonder whether the two parishes were connected in some way. e.g. A large landowner who had a dwelling in both parishes and who employed staff that moved from time to time between the two locations. An alternative thought was that there was some local tradition coming into play.