Author Topic: Torpichen Parish in 1730  (Read 5525 times)

Offline ellecat

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Torpichen Parish in 1730
« on: Thursday 15 February 18 07:07 GMT (UK) »
 
  If one was to record a birth in Torpichen Parish in Linlithgowshire 1730 to 1740
  bearing in mind the counties have possibly changed sum what and the parish church was not constructed till 1756 were would one take there children for a baptism. I  am thinking possibly St Cuthberts Carnoge Edinburgh sum 25 miles away. Can anybody assist with local knowledge.
Ellecat

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Torphichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 15 February 18 08:38 GMT (UK) »

  If one was to record a birth in Torpichen Parish in Linlithgowshire 1730 to 1740
  bearing in mind the counties have possibly changed sum what and the parish church was not constructed till 1756 were would one take there children for a baptism. I  am thinking possibly St Cuthberts Carnoge Edinburgh sum 25 miles away. Can anybody assist with local knowledge.
Ellecat
There was no need to take a child for baptism all the way to Edinburgh.

First, there was the Preceptory church in Torphichen. A church was built there in the late 12th century, and remodelled in the 15th century. According to The Buildings of Scotland, "The choir and nave .... have disappeared almost completely, although the nave survived as the parish church until it was replaced in 1756 by the present building". So there was a kirk in the parish before 1756. (A Church of Scotland parish in the 18th century without some sort of kirk is quite unthinkable.)

There was also a Associate Presbytery kirk nearby at Craigmailling in the mid-18th century. The Associate Presbytery was one of the many splinter groups that split off from the Church of Scotland.

Second, baptisms did not necessarily take place in the kirk. It was quite common for a child to be baptised in its parents' home. I have several records from 18th century parish registers that actually state that this was the case. (The practice survived until the 20th century, and for all I know may still occur; I myself was baptised in my parents' house, not in the kirk.)

The counties, and any changes made to their boundaries, would have no bearing whatsoever on where a child was baptised. The parish was the basic and significant unit. I don't think there were any significant county boundary changes in the early 18th century, but in any case, Torphichen is adjacent to other parishes that were and are in West Lothian, and would not have been directly affected by any such change.

Even if there had not been a church in the parish of Torphichen at the time, and even if the parents had been determined to have their child baptised in a kirk building, there are plenty of kirks much closer than St Cuthberts or Canongate in Edinburgh. Bathgate and Linlithgow, for instance, are only a few miles away.

I recommend reading the Statistical Account at http://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/viewer/osa-vol4-Parish_record_for_Torphichen_in_the_county_of_Linlithgow_in_volume_4_of_account_1/ -this dates from the late 18th century, but does give some idea of what the parish was like then.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline ellecat

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Re: Torpichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 15 February 18 10:02 GMT (UK) »


  Thanks for the education, I  truly did not know, but as the ancestor was the son of a Pres Minister
 I think a kirk highly likely, I am trying to find birth in Torpichen Parish for an Alexander Anderson
 b c 1735 Parents Hugh and Elizabeth Anderson I Believe there is an additional four children to these parents . I  did a search for records of this parish  they are sparse could somebody verify. Would be
 good to get a second opinion.Ellecat

Offline goldie61

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Re: Torpichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 15 February 18 10:20 GMT (UK) »
familysearch has Alexander Anderson ch 31 August 1731 Torpichen. Father 'Heugh'. Mother 'Beatie Falconer'.
I guess this might be 'Betty' in a Scottish accent - Elizabeth.

Also Heugh 26 dec 1727 at Torpichen. Father Heugh. Mother Elizabeth Falconer.
Elizabeth 14 april 1729 of Heugh and Bethea Falconer.
Meuris 14 May 1730
William 16 Nov 1732
Catherine Keith 30 Oct 1733

Can't see a marriage for Heugh Anderson and Elizabeth Falconer.
Lane, Burgess: Cheshire. Finney, Rogers, Gilman:Derbys
Cochran, Nicol, Paton, Bruce:Scotland. Bertolle:London
Bainbridge, Christman, Jeffs: Staffs


Offline ellecat

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Re: Torpichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 15 February 18 10:38 GMT (UK) »

   Thanks Goldie 61 you have hit a cord with Cathrine  Keith Anderson in true Scottish tradition they named a later child the same name this is what I   am looking for maybe Alexander was born later, could I   ask you to  repeat Catherine Keith Anderson daughter to Hugh and Elizabeth------------
 and  additional children to Hugh and Elizabeth , I  am sure this is going in the right direction.
 Hope to hear back  many thanks Ellecat

Offline ellecat

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Re: Torpichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 15 February 18 10:51 GMT (UK) »


 On a closer look I  think they are variations of Elizabeth the Falconer is constant I  am sure this is the family. Scots often name another child the same name if they loose a child and I know this to be the case as I have a Cathrine Kieth born1743 .in another continent. Many many thanksEllecat

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Torphichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 15 February 18 17:19 GMT (UK) »
Betty, Beattie, Bethea etc are all variants of Elizabeth.

BTW the parish is Torphichen not Torpichen.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline goldie61

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Re: Torpichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 15 February 18 20:42 GMT (UK) »
Familysearch is free for anybody to use. It is often the first place to look when trying to find people.
www.familysearch.org

To see the Torphichen actual parish registers entries you would need to look on scotlandspeople -
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (pay to view).
Or you could look at the Torphichen microfilm on familysearch - film number 1066637. (free).
There MIGHT be further information such as the father's place of residence.

Lane, Burgess: Cheshire. Finney, Rogers, Gilman:Derbys
Cochran, Nicol, Paton, Bruce:Scotland. Bertolle:London
Bainbridge, Christman, Jeffs: Staffs

Offline goldie61

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Re: Torpichen Parish in 1730
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 15 February 18 22:26 GMT (UK) »
I wouldn't be too worried about the difference between the Alexander baptised 1731, and your estimated date of 1735. I don't know where you got the date of 1735 from, but many people didn't know exactly when they were born - there was no such thing as a birth certificate back then, and those with many children presumably found it quite difficult to keep track of all the years when they were all born as time went by.

Lane, Burgess: Cheshire. Finney, Rogers, Gilman:Derbys
Cochran, Nicol, Paton, Bruce:Scotland. Bertolle:London
Bainbridge, Christman, Jeffs: Staffs