Hi BD,
You linked this from another thread; I've read it with interest plus some other information.
I take it you have proof from other sources that Elizabeth SIMPSON who married Thomas FAIRBAIRN in Edinburgh in 1856, parents James SIMPSON and Elizabeth ?WALLS did come from South Ronaldsay, Orkney?
If so, then I think that you can count yourself lucky indeed to have as much information as you do. Many of us tracing ancestors in the British Isles would love to have an 1821 census! As for having it online as it is at
http://www.southronaldsay.net/ Wow! Not to mention the informative entry for Elizabeth's baptism.
Before the introduction of civil registration in Scotland in 1855, many church registers (of whatever denomination) were very poorly kept, and many people did not marry with the benefit of clergy, and many people did not baptize their children (apart from anything else, they couldn't always afford to - or they were too far from a church which had a regular minister). Also, it is mainly (though not always) only the Parish Registers of the Established Presbyterian Church of Scotland which have been indexed into the IGI and into the (more complete) Scottish Church Records CD (available to consult at LDS FHCs) and into SP. Registers of other denominations may well not have survived and/or may not have been indexed.
However it seems likely that the wife of James SIMPSON, 19, servant in Widewall in 1821, was - also appearing in that census - 16yo Betty WALLS in Widewall with Elspit SUTHERLAND (this census is a situation where the Scots practice of maintaining women's maiden surnames is a mixed blessing; great to find Elspit's surname but there aren't many SIMPSONs around - however, if James's mother is there and is a widow, she'a probably under her maiden surname ...).
I wonder whether the baptism entry means only that James was a servant in Widewall at the time of the birth and Elizabeth also of Widewall at that time, or that James and Elizabeth are still there in 1837 ... And perhaps Elizabeth SIMPSON's description of her father as a Ship Builder is gilding the lily (as she did with her age).
As far as marriage in Scotland is concerned, a few comments.
Parental consent has never been needed in Scotland - and is still not.
Marriage in Scotland was regarded as a matter of mutual consent. Up until the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939 (which came into effect in July 1940) there were several forms of perfectly legal marriage.
(a) 'regular' marriage
This was what the clergy chose to call marriages which they celebrated - though, legally, they were just a form of declaration of mutual consent in front of witnesses.
(b) 'irregular' marriage
'Irregular' was, in my view, a cruel word imposed by the clergy to describe what were valid legal marriages but in which clergy were not involved. You will sometimes see reference in church registers to a couple producing 'lines of irregular marriage' and often being criticized by the clergy/kirk session. There were three sorts of 'irregular' marriage:
(i) by declaration (i.e. mutual consent) in front of witnesses.
(ii) by habit and repute i.e. living together as man and wife and being accepted by everyone as such
(iii) by a promise of marriage followed by consummation of the marriage.
But all were valid legal marriages and the children of those marriages were legitimate.
Declaration in front of witnesses developed over time into effectively a civil marriage prior to the formalizing of such by the 1939 Act. After 1855, people who had married e.g. by declaration and who felt the need to have their marriage entered into the civil registers could get a 'Warrant of Sheriff Substitute' (i.e. formal certification that the marriage by declaration had taken place) and could then get a marriage certificate issued by the Civil Registrar. This continued with vastly simpler procedures and ease until the 1939 Act made it unnecessary - but, up till then, the horrid and misleading word 'Irregular' still appeared on their marriage certificates! And all of this means that, even up until 1940, people could be quite validly and legally married without having a marriage certificate!
Well, you probably didn't want to know all that - but it does put a different slant on many things.
And given the way the baptism entry is worded, I would suspect that James and Elizabeth had been married with benefit of clergy - there's no mention of 'born in fornication' (a favourite phrase of Scots clergy of the time) or of 'irregular marriage'.
I take it that you have tried the 1841 census of South Ronaldsay without success? If and when the 1841 and 1851 censuses (indexed Scotland-wide) come online on SP, perhaps you will find Elizabeth SIMPSON, and also James SIMPSON and wife Elizabeth. This might help to locate where they are so you can trace their death certificates (hopefully they survived till 1855).
Have you tried for the death cert of Elizabeth (WALLS) SIMPSON on SP? Death certs for women are indexed by married and (if known) maiden surname. So, if you found on SP an Elizabeth SIMPSON and an Elizabeth WALLS dying in the same year and with the same GROS reference, it might well be yours. And Scottish death certificates list the parents of the deceased (if known) including name and occupation of father and name and maiden surname of mother.
Good luck!
JAP
