Marriage? Alexander Grant / Mary Rollins, Edinburgh and Moray, around 1790-1809

[Millmoor]

Just to say that the following are transcriptions of Alexander's birthplace from different sites: Ancestry has Cambeton PA, FindMyPast has Cambelton Craig while Freecen has Argyllshire, Cambeltown. Might it be worth posting a snip of his place of birth from the original on SP?

William

[Forfarian]

Just to say that the following are transcriptions of Alexander's birthplace from different sites: Ancestry has Cambeton PA, FindMyPast has Cambelton Craig while Freecen has Argyllshire, Cambeltown. Might it be worth posting a snip of his place of birth from the original on SP

Here it is. None of them is correct, but for once Ancestry is closer than the rest. I think it could be 'Campbeton In'.

I've asked SP for a re-scan, and also sent a message to FreeCEN pointing out that the original makes no mention of Argyllshire so the FreeCEN transcriber shouldn't assume it's Argyll without making a note to say that they have changed what it says.

[Forfarian]

at a quick glance I still don't find Ardersier suggested as an alternative when searching for Campbelltown there, or vice versa.

Well, it isn't an alternative. Campbelltown is only part of Ardersier, so they are not strictly alternatives. If you search for Campbelltown, then go to Inverness-shire OS Name Books, then to Volume 08, you will see that the page header says 'Parish of Ardersier'. Volume 55 is for the parish of Petty next door, and contains references to Campbelltown. The Name Books list names of places; they don't offer alternatives.

Also, your sound advice to confirm the Parish and County when searching place names gets me wondering - the birthplace of "my" Alexander Grant in the 1851 Census*  looks rather like "Campbeton pa", which I took to mean possibly "Campbelltown parish" - BUT from what you say, Campbelltown was the name of the village ONLY , it was not the parish name.   The parish was Ardersier.     Am I going mad?!

No, not at all.

I looked at the transcription on https://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl and note that it says Alexander Grant was born in Argyllshire, Campbelltown. I suspect some assumptions or guesswork by the transcriber, which is disappointing because normally I would expect FreeCen to transcribe what is there, not what the transcriber thinks ought to be there.

Having taken a look at the original, I am trying hard not to read the last part of it as 'In' rather than 'Pa'.

[Potterer]

Forfarian and Millmoor,
Ah, "Campbeton In"(verness, presumably...) would make a lot of sense, given our now rather extensive discussions !

I'm mightily relieved that you are seeing (most) of what I thought I was seeing - plus that crucial extra bit.
Madness temporarily averted...

It will be very interesting to see the results if SP is able to get a clearer scan - could you possibly let me know if so, please?   

Thanks very much for pursuing all this ( and those erroneous archive sites) to the nth degree!
I'm very grateful to you both.

Potterer

[Forfarian]

SP have got back to me with no fewer than two re-scans. Both attached. Neither makes it any clearer IMO.

[Potterer]

Well, thats a pretty impressive response by you and SP, Forfarian!

The "Campbeton" looks pretty clear now, which is the crucial bit, and good to have, but like you I have no idea what the last couple of letters are, or mean.

Thanks for all that!
Potterer.

[Potterer]

Forfarian,
Sorry to go on again about deciphering the suffix to "Campbeton" in Alexander's 1851 census entry, but I was wondering whether the good scan you kindly obtained from SP covered the whole page? And if so, could I view it ? ( - SP don't appear to have replaced their previous very unclear scan with it so far).

I have in mind examining the enumerator's writing on the rest of the page, to see if I can make sense of that infuriating last few letters.

Thanks!
Potterer.

[Forfarian]

I'll PM you