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Author Topic: Kirk sessions records  (Read 1819 times)

Offline DeafDoggy488

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Kirk sessions records
« on: Tuesday 29 September 20 21:17 BST (UK) »
I’ve downloaded a copy of Kirk sessions records from West Linton parish as it contains a testimonial of my ancestors. However I’m unsure what the testimonial is actually about? I thought it was for their marriage but I’m unsure.

My ancestors are Cecelia Lowrie and John Ramsay. I’ve attached a copy of the downloaded record. Hopefully someone will explain the intricacies of the records!
Stewarts from Moffat and Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Twaddles and Wrights from County Longford, Ireland.
Weirs from Ayrshire, Scotland.

Offline Gadget

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 29 September 20 21:25 BST (UK) »
I think that it suggets that she had lived in the parish from infancy and he'd lived there for 15 years.
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Offline DeafDoggy488

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 29 September 20 21:32 BST (UK) »
Thanks Gadget.

Don’t suppose you know what were testimonials? What were the purpose of them in the Kirk sessions?
Stewarts from Moffat and Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Twaddles and Wrights from County Longford, Ireland.
Weirs from Ayrshire, Scotland.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 29 September 20 22:18 BST (UK) »
It's effectively a reference or a certificate of good behaviour. If you planned to move to a new parish, you got a testimonial from the minister/clerk/session in your old parish, which you then presented to the minister/clerk/session in your new parish to prove that you were free of 'scandal', in other words you had no unresolved sins hanging over you.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline hdw

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 30 September 20 10:09 BST (UK) »
My 3 x great-grandfather William Watson in Cellardyke (parish of Kilrenny) in the East Neuk of Fife had an "irregular marriage" in Edinburgh in the 1790s, and the Kilrenny kirk-session records show that the minister wrote to the minister of Burntisland for a testimonial to Mary Galloway's good character. That was very useful for my researches as it helped me to pinpoint the relevant Galloway family in west Fife.

Harry

Offline HelenVW

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #5 on: Monday 05 July 21 14:42 BST (UK) »
Curiously I was on the Wiston Kirk records and wondering the same thing myself.  I too am on the trail of the Lowrie / Ramsay families.  Cicilia Lowrie (or Cecil or Cicel Lowrie as she is recorded in Culter, Lanarkshire) is my 4th Great Grandmother. 

Offline DeafDoggy488

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 20 July 21 11:05 BST (UK) »
Hello HelenVW!

I suspect I may be descended from Cecila Lowrie as well. What information have you found on her so far?

Fiona
Stewarts from Moffat and Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Twaddles and Wrights from County Longford, Ireland.
Weirs from Ayrshire, Scotland.

Offline Rena

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 20 July 21 13:56 BST (UK) »
You'll know when a marriage has been blessed by the kirk.  Midlothian county had trouble getting couples to marry in the kirk,  probably because it was cheaper to have an irregular marriage with the proceedings noted by the local sheriff..

Here's an example of irregular marriage confessions by various couples.
Aberdeen: Findlay-Shirras,McCarthy: MidLothian: Mason,Telford,Darling,Cruikshanks,Bennett,Sime, Bell: Lanarks:Crum, Brown, MacKenzie,Cameron, Glen, Millar; Ross: Urray:Mackenzie:  Moray: Findlay; Marshall/Marischell: Perthshire: Brown Ferguson: Wales: McCarthy, Thomas: England: Almond, Askin, Dodson, Well(es). Harrison, Maw, McCarthy, Munford, Pye, Shearing, Smith, Smythe, Speight, Strike, Wallis/Wallace, Ward, Wells;Germany: Flamme,Ehlers, Bielstein, Germer, Mohlm, Reupke

Offline HelenVW

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Re: Kirk sessions records
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 20 July 21 18:23 BST (UK) »
Quote from: DeafDoggy488 on Tuesday 20 July 21 11:05 BST (UK)
Hello HelenVW!

I suspect I may be descended from Cecila Lowrie as well. What information have you found on her so far?

Fiona

I am fairly sure her parents were Thomas Lowrie and Jean Johnston (reflected in the names of their children though they are fairly common for the time).  Cecilia and John seem to have moved the short distances from Culter to Lamington and thence to Wiston and Roberton.   The name Ramsay has passed down from this day to the latest generation of children in our family, now spread across England, Scotland and Canada
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