Author Topic: Marriage Contract 1652  (Read 916 times)

Offline Kiwicol

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Marriage Contract 1652
« on: Monday 16 July 18 03:51 BST (UK) »
Robert Bennet noted covenator of Chesters was married to Anna Douglas
One source I saw claimed she was a daughter of Archibald Douglas of Cavers and sited a marriage contract of 1652 being signed at `Yearlsyde' (i.e. Earlside)
A Hawick Word Book by Douglas Scott has wrongly it seems named her as Anne daughter of Archibald with Archibald's daughter Elizabeth being married to Sir John Murray of Philiphaugh, most souces have this last couple as John and Anne.? And later he has them correctly identified.
So How do I find a marriage contract from 1652 from Yearlsyde?
Regards Colin


Offline GR2

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Re: Marriage Contract 1652
« Reply #1 on: Monday 16 July 18 07:41 BST (UK) »
It might be recorded in the Register of Deeds held in the National Records of Scotland at Edinburgh. It might be referred to in a sasine recorded in the Register of Sasines, also in Edinburgh.

It might be worth looking at the on-line catalogue of the NRS to see if anything comes up. It does not provide an index to the sasines or deeds, but will show you if they are mentioned in any other document.

Offline goldie61

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Re: Marriage Contract 1652
« Reply #2 on: Monday 16 July 18 07:49 BST (UK) »
Not being terribly au fait with Scottish place names, which Scottish county would this be in Kiwicol?
Lane, Burgess: Cheshire. Finney, Rogers, Gilman:Derbys
Cochran, Nicol, Paton, Bruce:Scotland. Bertolle:London
Bainbridge, Christman, Jeffs: Staffs

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Marriage Contract 1652
« Reply #3 on: Monday 16 July 18 08:59 BST (UK) »
It isn't 'wrong' to name someone as Anna in one document and Anne in another.  But it would be an error to confuse Anna/e with Elizabeth.

Scotland's Places lists Earlsides in the counties of Dumfries, Lanark, Peebles and Roxburgh.

If you are looking for a marriage contract, unless you are very lucky it could be a long search. As GR2 says, you would have to go to the Historical Search Room in Edinburgh (or hire a professional searcher there). Marriage contracts are not usually in the Register of Deeds for the year of the marriage, because they may not be registered until something happens to make it necessary to register it, for example the death of one of the couple.

There are (mostly handwritten) indexes to the Registers of Deeds for some years, but I cannot tell you offhand which years in the 17th century have been indexed.

If you have checked all the available indexes and still not found the one you are looking for, you then have to look through all the deeds for the missing years. These are recorded chronologically by date of registration, and each clerk kept his own register so for many years there are two or even three volumes to go through.

There is always the possibility that the marriage contract was not registered at all, or that it has found its way to some other place than the National Records of Scotland, such as a local or a university archive.

(I have been looking sporadically, and so far unsuccessfully, for about 10 years for a deed which I know was dated 14 June 1725, because it is referred to in the testament of David Wyllie who died in 1757, and as an eik dated 1 June 1757 to the testament of his brother James Wyllie who died in 1744. Therefore the deed had not been registered by 1744, but it was registered by 1757. There are no indexes to the Registers of Deeds for most of these years, and there were three clerks at the time so there are three sets of volumes to plough through.)
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 DonM

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Re: Marriage Contract 1652
« Reply #4 on: Monday 16 July 18 22:22 BST (UK) »
Anne Douglas daughter of Archibald/Rachel Skene married Sir John Murray of Philipaugh
http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/families/douglas_of_cavers.htm

Robert Bennet may have married an Ann/Anna/Anne Douglas, but not the above.  Its a very common surname there are far too many references pointing to he above marriage as being the correct one.

The NAS http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/search.aspx have several entries for Robert Bennet of Chesters.  Enter his name; click phase and one it propagates hit "date" to sort by year.  If there is anything that catches your eye you can order a copy of the document. 

Earlside is in NE corner of Cavers Ph.
Chesters is N of Jedburgh in the tiny Ancrum Ph.
https://maps.nls.uk/atlas/thomson/479.html

Don

I have turned off all email notifications, thank you.

Offline Kiwicol

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Re: Marriage Contract 1652
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 21 July 18 07:15 BST (UK) »
Thanks All
 Since my querie I ahve found this

George Tancred in "The Annals of a Border Club-The Jedforest-and biographical notices of the families connected therewith." 1899. Page 118 (Foot note)
"Sir Archibald Douglas had a daughter Anna, who married Robert Bennett of Chesters, son of Ragwell Bennett (contract of marriage dated April 19th, 1652, at Yearlsyde. vide Edgerstoun Papers) "

 The footnote says that the information is from the Edgerston Papers.  That means the papers of Rutherford of Edgerston
Email from Douglas Scott author of "A Hawick Word Book" 20 July 2018.

Waiting on a response from National Archives of Scotland

Colin