Thank you very much for that synopsis. I found it quite helpful. It hurt my brain a bit to piece it all together, check and re-check...get some in-house deciphering of place names etc. I know they (other sites) meant well but it's almost laughable the part where they say William and John are the same person and that he alternated his first names in various docs.
Anyhow it feels good to have some of these things worked out.
I never would have imagined there could be so many Margaret Sangsters in the area at the time...
I was re-reading the original deeproots write-up I first posted at the beginning of this thread. There are so many weird things in there. There's the stuff we already went through like the fact they leave off Marget Ramsay , say James D 1757 married Jean Taylor but we know he was a shoemaker ... etc, but there are others.
They say James D was born in 1757 and he died 1820 in Slains.
and died on January 5, 1845 in Slains, , Aberdeen, Scotland2 aged 87
There is no such death that I can find.
I forgot to check before but my grandfather James D (who married Sophia Cruikshanks) was born 1787 Old Deer and the James D listed on deeproots is last of 12 kids born 1813. 26 years is a large age difference!
They go on to say Margaret Sangster was born 1741 Peterhead and married in 1757 ...at age 16? Then comes the curious fact that John D and Margaret Sangster marry Jan 18 1757 and their son James is born nov 8 1757.
In short almost everything they have on there is wrong info for John Dalagrno.
I wonder why all the various sites chose James D 1757 over the one in 1759 who actually is from a William D and also a Margaret Sangster. You can see all that even without buying the document. I guess the biggest clue as you mentioned is "Source: ancestry"...
My problem is I am still not 100% sure that James D 1757 is my James D that married Margaret Ramsay. A lot of things point to it being right. I am DNA related to some folks with surname Sangster and DNA related common relatives have Sangster and Ramsay in their trees (not that being in trees is reliable).
I think I need a few more clues to confirm that John D is father of my James D blacksmith.
PS: They say that James D 1757 died in 1845 ...and so would be in the 1841 census. There is one entry with a James D that is 83 and a wool weaver. He lives with a Christian and a George age 43. Search that and it will return:
DALGARNO
GEORGE
JAMES DALGARNO/JANE TAYLOR
M
29/09/1794
218/
10 376
Longside
Which chronologically falls right below:
DALGARNO
GEORGE
JAMES DALGARNO/MARGARET RAMSAY FR378 (FR378)
M
20/06/1790
228/
20 203
Old Deer
Why would James have a second son named George when his first one George Ramsay Dalgarno was well and alive as a young lad?
Margaret Sangster gets listed as born:
Margaret was christened on July 27, 1741 in Peterhead, , Aberdeen, Scotland2 and died on January 9, 1820 in Peterhead, , Aberdeen, Scotland2 aged 78.
So presumably this is that Margaret Sangster:
SANGSTER
-----
JOHN SANGSTER
U
05/11/1820
232/
50 10
Peterhead
It's going to be very difficult to determine which Margaret Sangster is the correct one that married John D...
Margaret Sangster
JOHN SANGSTER/JANNET PIRIE 06/09/1737 Old Deer
There is also:
Margaret Sangster
WILLIAM SANGSTER/ELISABETH SINCLARI 07/06/1737 Old Deer
I lean towards Margaret Sangster from Clochan 1737 daughter of William S and Elisabeth Sinclair. I don't think Carincummer is very far so it could just as easily be the one born to John Sangster and Janet Pirie.
As I said, I'd be happy just confirm that John D and a Margaret S are James D blacksmith that married Margaret Ramsay.
I'll keep digging and eventually something will come up.
Thanks again!