Baptism Record for George Mather/Mathers

[WolfeEye]

Hello,

I'm having some difficulty locating a birth or baptism record for George Mathers. He had two children with Elizabeth Hunter in the parish of Aberlady, East Lothian:

• Anne, baptised on 7 February 1730, witnessed by Andrew Hunter
• Andrew, baptised on 12 May 1734, witnessed by James Bane and Andrew Hunter

There doesn't appear to be an abundance of Mathers in Aberlady, so perhaps he moved from another parish. However, I've searched for his name on ScotlandsPeople and haven't found any results for East Lothian.

Thank you for any assistance.

[Forfarian]

If you have searched the records at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk using wildcards (for example m*t*r*s) and found nothing, the chances are that the record you are looking for has not survived.

Even if you do find a baptism in a different part of the country, it may not be possible to prove that it is the right person.

There are four baptisms of Ge*e* M*t*r*s in the old parish baptisms at SP. The one geographically nearest to Aberlady is the one baptised in Colinton in 1707.

[CaroleW]

Although the 2 children were born in East Lothian - George could have been born in an entirely different part of Scotland

[WolfeEye]

The distance between Colinton and the village of Ballencrieff, where George and his family lived, was quite far to travel in that time period. So you're probably right that his baptism record was destroyed or never noted.

Thank you both for your help.

[goldie61]

Have you traced the Hunter side?

It would seem Elizabeth Hunter was possibly a local girl
There is a baptism for an Elizabeth Hunter in 1705 at Aberlady, parents Andrew Hunter and Elizabeth Brokie.
Also with the same parents is an Andrew Hunter baptised 1710.
As an Andrew Hunter is a witness to the childrens' baptisms in 1730 and 1734, this may be Elizabeth's father and/or her brother.
By the way, the surname for Andrew in 1734 is given as 'Mathews' not Mathers - I expect you have also serched under this name. Also try Mather  as well as Mathers.

Andrew Hunter and Elizabeth Brokie were married 4.5.1700 at Aberlady.
(The father of this one in 1700 was evidently another Andrew - on familysearch.org transcript from the register).

There are several other later marriages for 'Andrew Hunters' at Aberlady -  in 1725;1726;1742.
One of them may have witnesses of his sister Elizabeth, or even her husband George.


I see the kirk records for Aberlady are on Scotlandspeople.
Have you looked through these?  - perhaps there may a mention of Banns, or a payment for a marriage.

Have you found George's death? Do you know how old he was and when he was born?

[WolfeEye]

Thank you for the detailed reply, Goldie.

You’re correct—Andrew is Elizabeth’s father. I was fortunate to be able to trace that particular Hunter line back to the late 16th century in Tranent.

On FreeReg (where I found the witnesses), the surname was transcribed as “Mathers” rather than “Mathews.” I’ll try searching under “Mathews” on Scotland's People and see if I have any luck. Thanks for the suggestion.

I haven’t looked at the kirk records yet. Hopefully, I’ll find some more information—perhaps mortcloth dues. I still don’t know when he was born.

Thank you again