David Adam & Elspet Conon family-Tough, Abderdeenshire

[spuddy]

Looking for the parents of Elspet Conon and David Adam's mother, his father is John Adam and John's father may have been William Adam.  If anybody has any knowledge of this Adam family, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

We were on a bus tour to Scotland and Ireland in late August and early September 2015 and the scenery was incredible.  We saw lots of sheep, mountains, lakes and castles.  They had to be a hearty lot to be able to exist in the Scottish Highlands.

Thank you.
Mary from Canada

Name:   David Adam
Gender:   Male
Christening Date:   17 Aug 1745
Christening Place:   TOUGH,ABERDEEN,SCOTLAND
Birth Date:   
Birthplace:   
Death Date:   
Name Note:   
Race:   
Father's Name:   John Adam
Father's Birthplace:   
Father's Age:   
Mother's Name:   
Mother's Birthplace:   
Mother's Age:   
Indexing Project (Batch) Number:   C11244-2
System Origin:   Scotland-ODM
GS Film number:   0993302, 0102543
Reference ID:   



Citing this Record:
"Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XYFV-NJ2 : accessed 13 October 2015), David Adam, 17 Aug 1745; citing TOUGH,ABERDEEN,SCOTLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 993,302, 102,543.
Elspet Conan
Name:   James Adam
Gender:   Male
Christening Date:   04 Apr 1765
Christening Place:   FOVERAN,ABERDEEN,SCOTLAND
Birth Date:   31 Mar 1765
Birthplace:   
Death Date:   
Name Note:   
Race:   
Father's Name:   David Adam
Father's Birthplace:   
Father's Age:   
Mother's Name:   Elspet Conon
Mother's Birthplace:   
Mother's Age:   

Indexing Project (Batch) Number:   C11195-2
System Origin:   Scotland-ODM
GS Film number:   993184
Reference ID:   

Citing this Record:
"Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XB78-FXF : accessed 13 October 2015), Elspet Conon in entry for James Adam, 31 Mar 1765; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 993,184.

Family Members
Spouses and Children

David Adam
Deceased • KZNS-BDM ​
Elspet Connon
Deceased • KZ8K-8RX ​
No Marriage Events
Children (4)
William Adam
1761-Deceased • MBMN-8QL ​
Margaret Adam
1763-Deceased • MBMF-F6K ​
James Adam
1765-Deceased • MBMJ-84S ​
Ann Adam
1767-Deceased • MBMV-9L2 ​

Parents and Siblings
Add Parent

Sources
Elspet Conon in entry for James Adam, "Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950"
 Elspet Connon in entry for Ann Adam, "Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950"
Elspet Conon in entry for William Adam, "Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950"

[Forfarian]

Hi Mary, glad you enjoyed your trip to Scotland.

I note that all your source references are to Family Search. These are in fact index entries, not actual records, and they point you to the original documents which you can view at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk at modest cost. Sadly, the index contains a good deal of information that is speculative or sometimes pure fantasy, so it is always necessary to check the actual records for anything you find there. Also, the originals often contain additional information, for example where the people lived or the names of witnesses to baptisms. Family Search is a wonderful finding aid, but it isn't perfect!

From Family Search, you have David Adam marrying Elspet Conon in Foveran, Aberdeenshire, on 5 August 1760, and then children William born 5 May 1761, Margaret 8 May 1763, James 31 March 1765 and Ann 1767.

Then you have David Adam, baptised 17 August 1745 in Tough, Aberdeenshire, father John Adam.

I have to ask what is your evidence that this David Adam is the one who married Elspet Conon in 1760?

Tough is quite a long way from Foveran in 18th century terms, and this David Adam would have been just 15 years old when David Adam married Elspet Conon. It was legally possible for a 15-year-old boy to marry, but pretty much unheard of, because quite apart from anything else 15-year-old boys were extremely unlikely to be able to support a wife, let alone a family.

Just because there is only one record of a David Adam baptised in Aberdeenshire and of an age to marry in 1760 does not mean that he is the right one. Records in the early 18th century can be very patchy, and I think that it is much more likely that the husband of Elspet Conon is one of the many whose baptism records, if they ever existed, have not survived.

See http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/old-parish-registers/list-of-old-parish-registers

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but we have all made the mistake of following a wrong family because we assumed that we had the right person, only to find out later that we didn't.

[Forfarian]

PS I just noticed that Family Search lists a baptism of James Adam, father David, in the baptismal register of Bairnie-Tillydesk Episcopal Church, Ellon, on 4 April 1765. This exactly matches the date of baptism it lists of James, son of David Adam and Elspet Conon, in the Foveran Church of Scotland register.

So it looks as if David and Elspet may have been among the many people in Aberdeenshire who stuck with the Episcopal Church after the (presbyterian) Church of Scotland was declared to be the national religious denomination in Scotland in 1690. The Church of Scotland was supposed to record all baptisms, regardless of which denomination the child was baptised into, but this mostly didn't happen.

Foveran isn't far from Ellon, so it is entirely plausible that David and Elspet attended the Episcopal Church there, and had their children baptised as Episcopalians in Ellon, but that for whatever reason the clerk to Foveran Church of Scotland only noted one of the four in the C of S records.

[spuddy]

Thank you very much for your very informative reply.  I don't have any evidence that this David was actually my ancestor, James Adam's father, but another family member did supply the David part and that he was from Scotland.  Therefore, it could be highly speculative that this isn't even the correct family.  However, by posting the query I have received a response (thanks so much for all your help) and sometimes it is a process of elimination trying to zero in on the correct person.  I thought I may be able to find more information on Elspet Conon, as this seems to be an uncommon name in my part of the world but probably more common in Aberdeenshire.  We travelled all over Scotland, the Isle of Sky, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and many other smaller places in between.  The Battle of Culloden site was very emotional as we could just picture the extreme violence and so many senseless deaths but then today the same sort of killing does go on.  Are there other name variations for Conon that I could search for.  Thank you for all your help.  Edna

PS I just noticed that Family Search lists a baptism of James Adam, father David, in the baptismal register of Bairnie-Tillydesk Episcopal Church, Ellon, on 4 April 1765. This exactly matches the date of baptism it lists of James, son of David Adam and Elspet Conon, in the Foveran Church of Scotland register.

So it looks as if David and Elspet may have been among the many people in Aberdeenshire who stuck with the Episcopal Church after the (presbyterian) Church of Scotland was declared to be the national religious denomination in Scotland in 1690. The Church of Scotland was supposed to record all baptisms, regardless of which denomination the child was baptised into, but this mostly didn't happen.

Foveran isn't far from Ellon, so it is entirely plausible that David and Elspet attended the Episcopal Church there, and had their children baptised as Episcopalians in Ellon, but that for whatever reason the clerk to Foveran Church of Scotland only noted one of the four in the C of S records.

[SeorasOg]

Dear Mary,
I have read with great interest your posting about David Adam and Elspet Conon (should be Connon).  I think they are my ancestors as well.  I live in Charlottetown, P.E.I.  Where are you?  I believe I have Elspet's ancestry worked out as far back as her grandparents (3 of them, anyway), but I have not been able to get beyond David Adam.  I notice that you found one in the Parish of Tough, but he would only have been 15 when he married Elspet, who was then 25.  Seems unlikely at that time to have such a spread in ages, especially with the woman being older.  But I'm at a loss to suggest another David as I have not found any others, at least in Aberdeenshire.  Do you know what became of David and Elspet?  I have found nothing about them after the birth of their four children in Foveran.  Maybe they had more children somewhere else??  I hope to hear from you!

[spuddy]

Hi Cousin George:  Edna Cudmore here, I go by my legal name, Mary Cudmore in a lot of posts. 
Yes, we share the same ancestors, but as I stated in an earlier message, a lot of what I found has been speculation.  Thank you for the correction of Elspeth's surname Coonon.  I would love to see what more you have dug up on them.  We just got back home from a one week vacation in Cuba, so I am just getting caught up on my emails, Facebook etc.   Hope all is well with you and your family.  Take care, Edna.

[SeorasOg]

Hi Edna,  Good to hear from you.  Elspet's name was Connon (not Coonon).  I'm curious as to what got you onto this Adam family in Aberdeenshire.  A helpful fellow in the Strictly Scottish Genealogy closed group on Facebook pointed them out to me as a possibility, and I think they look like they might be ours, but we we need some evidence.  I had always supposed our James was from the Kintyre area on the west coast because he first appears here on the Island living among settlers from there.  But of course, that doesn't prove anything, just a possible clue.  I never could find anything in that part of Scotland that looked like it might be a connection to our Adam family.  So I started looking elsewhere.  The like this Aberdeenshire family; they look like a real possibility.  And I have some ideas for additional research in Scotland to try to prove it.  Elspet Connon's parents were both Connons, William Connon and Margaret Connon.  William's father was another William; don't know who his mother was.  Margaret Connon was the daughter of George Connon and Elspet Morris.  They all lived and died in that part of Aberdeenshire, mostly the Parish of Belhelvie.  Anyway, please let me know how you got onto this Adam family.  I'd like to know if I missed a clue somewhere along the way.
Thanks, Cousin George 

[Forfarian]

Elspet Conon (should be Connon). 

Do not get hung up on spelling. In the 18th century and most of the 19th there was no such thing as 'correct' spelling of names. Names were spelled how the clerk writing them down thought they should be spelled, and it's very common to find the same person's name spelled in several different ways.

Connon is certainly the most common spelling, but Conon does occur. There are no fewer than 86 records in the OPR marriage index at Scotland's People that are spelled Conon, including your Elspet.

The best thing is to use wildcards when searching on Scotland's People, so look for C*n*n and you should pick up all variants.

[SeorasOg]

Thanks, Forfarian.  Yes, I know about spellings and wildcards for searching, but thank you for your reply and the reminder.  I usually consult George F. Black's "The Surnames of Scotland" to find the version that is today considered the usual spelling.  I had never encountered the surname Connon or Conon before; a totally new one for me.  Thanks again for your comments.