Hello again Scotresearcher,
The LDS Family History Centres are physical places. Go to FamilySearch at:
http://www.familysearch.organd read all about FamilySearch. There are also useful general tips on researching your family history. The home page has a facility to locate the FHC nearest to you.
Here on RootsChat the posts and links at the top of the Beginners Board, and at the top of the Scotland General section are useful.
A good general article is Roy Stockdill's Newbies Guide on GENUKI at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.htmlAnother site which could be of interest to you is the Fife Family History Society site at:
http://www.fifefhs.org/It has a site-wide search facility. I had a quick look for CURRIE and found, in an 1845 railway prospectus, a reference to John Currie & Sons, Builders, Elie.
Have you searched for Peter in all the England & Wales censuses just in case there is one where a more specific birthplace than simply Scotland appears? If it does, this would be a useful double-check. You might wish to make a request on the Warwickshire board here. I see on the 1881 census (available online on FamilySearch) that Peter and family were in Staffordshire, and Forest and family in Birmingham. Forest George CURRIE was born 1847 (Sep qtr 1847 from the FreeBMD site) in Birmingham so Peter must have been in England by then at least.
If you decide that the Elie people
are John's parents, then you can hope that they survived until 1855 (when Statutory Registration began in Scotland) in which case you should be able to get their death certificates on the pay-per-view site ScotlandsPeople at:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.ukScottish death certificates are very informative with (if known to the informant) the name and occupation of the deceased's father, and the name and maiden surname of the deceased's mother - so that would get you back another generation.
Death certificates for married women are indexed under both married and (if known) maiden surnames so, if you search for Ann*CURRIE and then for Ann* FOR*EST (probably a good idea to use wildcards), and find two entries in the same year with same reference number you will be pretty sure it is the right Ann(e).
If you are sure these are the right parents, it would also be worth searching the archives at:
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/SCT/SCT-FIFE.htmlA quick search for
currie and elie
came up with a reference (posted 2005) to a Memorial Inscription in the Elie Cemetery for John CURRIE and Ann FORREST (full inscription and photo available on request to the poster so it would be worth joining the list and posting a request - you'll presumably then find out when they died; you might want all the CURRIE stones in Elie).
There's also a gravestone for Thomas CURRIE and Helen OVERSTONE.
This is surely Thomas (1813), son of John and Ann. There's the marriage in the IGI in 1836 and the following children - Margaret 1836, John 1839, Walter Ovenstone 1841, Thomas 1843, James 1845, Ann Forrest 1853.
Also in those archives is a post from 2001 with extracts from the 1841 census which includes the family. Looking for CURRIE in Elie with the same address and reference number (they were at South Street, North Side, ref 3 10) produced (remember, in the 1841 census ages were rounded down to the nearest 5) the following all of whom were born in Fife:
John CURRIE, 60, Builder
Ann CURRIE, 55
Agnes CURRIE, 30
Ann CURRIE, 30
Margaret CURRIE, 25
And finally, if John and Ann followed tradition Scottish naming patterns (1st son after father's father, 2nd son after mother's father, 1st daughter after mother's mother, 2nd daughter after father's father) then John (given his age in the census)
might be (from the IGI):
John CURRIE, b 5 Nov bap 6 Nov 1780, parents David CURRIE and Anne ARCHIBALD
Their marriage and more children to them are in the IGI.
Good luck,
JAP
