Which One?

[anne]

 ???How do i find the correct parents for my ancestor David Kennedy.All i have is a marriage date 1st April 1834 Mains and Strathmartin.There are 2 lots of parents that could be his,how can i find the right ones.I have asked for help on census searches for 1841 and 51 hopeing i would get an idea of his birth year but to no avail.I am nearly tearing my hair out with this one.His parents could be William Kennedy and Margaret Gowans or John Kennedy and Ann Burns.With regards to scottish nameing patterns,there are no Johns in the family as far as i know but thats not to say David could have had a brother named John as i dont know if he had any siblings.There is William and Margaret in the tree,but David had a daughter named Ann his first born.Its all very confusing and frustrating.Please can anyone help me solve this puzzle.Anne.

[JEANP]

Anne,

I have the same problem. Ogilvie is a very common name in Kirriemuir and the name of the day seems to be Alexander, every other child is called Alexander Ogilvie, I'm pulling my hair out too.

Scotlands people say that  the 1841 census should be on line winter 2004!

Here's hoping it won't be too long.

Jean
 

[Lady Macbeth]

Hi, sorry if I'm stating the obvious and you have already tried this but have you tried to find his death cert on ScotlandsPeople?  Assuming he died after 1855 and you have his wife's name from the marriage, you may have to trawl through quite a few certificates but it's worth a try.

I don't know if you have seen this site which gives the breakdown of records for Angus, so you can search by parish and year range, but I have attached a link which might be helpful if you get any further.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountyAngus.htm
Good luck
Lesley

[anne]

Hi Lesley and Jean,thankyou for your replys.I have done as you said Lesley and trawled through the births and marriages for Dundee and Mains,i found his marriage but no details of parents,so i am back at square one.I have come to the conclusion the only way now is to get his marriage certificate,i only hope it gives me his parents names as he would have been born around 1810 and i dont know what certificates in those days have on them.Thankyou again to both of you.Anne.

[Little Nell]

Hi anne,

Civil registration in Scotland began in 1855 so there are no certificates before then, only copies of entries in the parish registers just as in England and Wales.  But, as Lesley said, look for his death certificate.  If he died after 1855, you should find everything you want to know on that certificate: his parents' names and his mother's maiden surname is supposed to be included.  (I have one where its not, simply because it was not known by the informant and there I am stuck.)  So this should tell you which couple are his parents and when they married.  All is not lost if you can find the right one.

Nell

[Lady Macbeth]

Hi Anne, as Nell said, please don't expect much from the copy of the parish entry.  This is likely to be only an announcement of the banns not the actual marriage and, at best, likely to be something like..
John Smith, of Mains parish, and Jane Brown of this parish, announced intention to marriage, and sometimes an amount of money for the reading of the banns.
There will be no parents, ages and usually no occupations, though sometimes it will say something like, 'servant of Mr X of X estate'.

Try and concentrate on finding the death cert on SPeeps.  I would narrow the search to Angus, and give a likely age range.  On the cert, in the first col, it will give David's name and say either, married to Margaret Nicoll or widower of Margaret Nicoll so you will know you have found the right one.  Also, don't discount the possibility that he married fairly late so may be in his 30s.  You could also try to find him on the 1881 census in case he was still alive then as this will give his age and therefore an approx birth year.

Good luck
Lesley

[anne]

Lesley,thankyou so much for your help.I did find a census for 85 Cowgate Dundee with Margaret and 3 of her children,she was aged 74 and down as married so i presumed that David must have been away at the time of the census.Margaret died aged 79 at the same address.I am going to give Scotlands people a go,i just hope i dont waste the credits.Thankyou again Lesley for your help.Anne.