Margaret Youngson (1812-97)- a loose brick at last?

[Anneatki]

Hi everyone,
I've posted about Margaret before, trying to find her parents. No mention on her death cert in 1897. A friend suggested searching the Fyvie area, which was Margaret's Parish when she married Peter Morison in May 1834.
Catharine Youngson (Rannie) turned up - she died in 1856, and the informant was Margaret Morison, who was living at New Deer at the time. She is described as 'sister' to Catharine, but I wonder if she was Catharine's illegitimate daughter.
Catharine's parents were James Youngson & Catharine Forbes (haven't found a marriage for them, or birth for Catharine (abt.1793).
The only marriage I found for Catharine Youngson(of Old Deer) is to Sergeant Rannie at Marnoch, Banff in 1820. He's not on the '41, or '51 census with Catharine, at Fyvie.
Any ideas on how to proceed with this? Would the Kirk Session minutes mention an illegitimate child - if so, how do I find out (from Australia). How do I find out about 'Sergeant Rannie'?
Cheers, Anne 

[Forfarian]

Any ideas on how to proceed with this? Would the Kirk Session minutes mention an illegitimate child - if so, how do I find out (from Australia).

It's very likely that the KS would mention an illegitimate birth. The KS minutes are in the National Archives Records of Scotland www.nas.gov.uk in Edinburgh. They have been digitised but can only be viewed in General Register House and a few other archives or family history centres including Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. You would need either to hire a researcher, or find someone willing to go and take a look on your behalf.

How do I find out about 'Sergeant Rannie'?

If 'Sergeant' is a military rank rather than a given name, it might explain the absence from the 1841 and 1851 censuses. If he was in the army, you might find something on him in the army records at the National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/. If you do, I believe that some soldiers' records are available on Find My Past http://www.findmypast.co.uk/ though I have no experience of looking for them there.

I would check Rennie, Rainnie, Ranny, Renny, Rainy etc as well as Rannie.

[Anneatki]

Many thanks for your reply, Forfarian, I haven't been able to do much as we've had internet problems since Monday.
Have you ever seen "Sergeant" as a given name, or were ranks commonly used in OPR's?
Now the Net's back on, I'll start searching! cheers, Anne