James Henderson Birth 1755ish, Help please

[coffieqween]

Hi 

I have gone back to researching my paternal line again and have managed to confirm the parents of my 3x Grt Grandfather, I am now trying to find out the DOB and POB of my 4x Grt Grandfather, his name is James Henderson born around 1755ish, this is currently assumed based on marriage date, I have his marriage to Janet Thomson as 27 June 1779 in Kelso, Roxburgh and have managed to confirm the names of 6 children (including 3xGG) all but one were born in Kelso. I have found four possibilities for his birth and was wondering if any one could advise on how is the best way to determine which is the right one. I searched on SP between 1745 and 1760 for any possible matches and this is what has come up.

James Henderson born 8 February 1747 in Cavers, fathers name Walter Henderson, no mothers name listed.
James Henderson born 28 June 1750 in Smailholm, parents are William Henderson and Margaret Tait. 
James Henderson born 31 August 1755 in Oxnam, fathers name George Henderson, mothers name not listed.
James Henderson born 23 May 1760 in Kirkton father name listed as James Henderson, no mothers name listed.

I am inclined to rule out the 1747 and 1755 births as the fathers names Walter and George have not shown up anywhere in the line, and they seem to have stuck with family names through out the generations right up till my father was born, however all his names were family surnames. The other two births seem more possible as both the fathers names appear through out the generations, any advice on how to go about confirming or getting best possible match would be greatly appreciated .

Thank you in advance

Marie

[JMStrachan]

Not an easy one. I would agree you about the names - it would be unusual for someone back then not to use their parents' names when naming their children, though not impossible. Smailholm is closer to Kelso than Kirkton so is perhaps the most likely, but not necessarily.

You also have to bear in mind that by no means all baptisms made it into the parish records then, so it's also possible that the baptism of your James Henderson went unrecorded.

One thing you could try is to look for marriages and subsequent births of children for all four of the James Hendersons and see whether that clearly rules any of them out.

According to FamilySearch, the children of your James Henderson and Janet Thompson were James 1780, Thomas 1781, Nancy 1782, Alison 1785 and Alison 1787. Both Nancy and Alison are unusual names for that time, although Nancy is a form of Ann. Would be worth seeing if you can find out where those two names came from.

[Br1gau]

Hi Marie,

Looking for sibling's names for your four James Hendersons.  I have widened the birth years to accommodate them:

15 children born in Rox with father Walter 1730-1800, only 1 in Cavers
17 children born in Rox 1730-1800, father George

Children of James Henderson Kirkton, mother not listed (2 separate families?)
Robert c. 24 Apr 1757 Kirkton
Thomas c. 21 May 1758 Kirkton
James c. 23 May 1760 Kirkton
Margaret c. 8 Feb 1762 Kirkton
Janet c. 22 Apr 1764 Kirkton
George c. 11 Aug 1765 Kirkton
Rebekah c. 27 Oct 1765 Kirkton

Children of William Henderson & Margaret Tait
Margaret c. 9 Nov 1746 Smailholm
Isobell c. 24 Jul 1748 Smailholm
James c. 28 June 1750 Smailholm

Also this James:

James Henderson c. 31 Aug 1753 Ashkirk, Roxburgh.  Parents Thomas Henderson & Elizabeth Smale.  Also a daughter, Betty, c. 2 Feb 1755 Ashkirk

[coffieqween]

Hi JMStrachan

Thank you for the advise, I will see what I can find out on Familysearch first, see if I can narrow it down a bit, you are right about the children of James Henderson and Janet Thomsom, I have looked at the baptisms to see if there are any clues with the witnesses, a John Aitchison is witness to three of the children, for Alison born 1785 one of the witnesses is a Robert Lillie, I have found a marriage for a James Henderson and Helen Lillie 1734 in Kelso, this is the only connection that I have found so far, with regards to the girls names of Nancy and Alison, if I am remembering it right, isn't the first daughter named after the fathers mother? so this another possible lead to search that I hadn't thought of looking for.

[coffieqween]

Hi Br1gau

Wow, thank you for looking up all these possible siblings for James, I will defiantly follow these up and see what I can find out, thank you so much for searching for me

[JMStrachan]

Scottish naming pattern is:
First son - named for father's father
First daughter - named for mother's mother
Second son - named for mother's father
Second daughter - named for father's mother
Third son - named for father
Third daughter - named for mother
Thereafter, named for siblings of father and mother.

By no means, though, did everyone follow it so although a helpful guide it can't be fully relied upon. Sometimes children were named for people who were important to the family but weren't close relatives. And sometimes it was used but in a different order.

If the person a child was being named for had the same surname as the child, there would be no middle name. If the person had a different surname then that name would be the child's middle name.

[coffieqween]

Thank you JMStrachan

The Scottish naming patter has always confused me, as I mentioned they do seem to have pretty much followed the naming pattern right down to my grandfather, my father's first name was the surname of my 2x G Grandmother, his middle name was the surname of his mother.

I have found some possible marriages for James but need to check these out properly on SP.

Thank you for all your help