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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Banffshire => Topic started by: RobbieL on Thursday 06 December 12 23:30 GMT (UK)
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Hi all,
I have my g-grandfather John Leslie born in Deskford in 1849. His father is John Leslie b. 1827 in Fyvie but I am struggling to find his mother. Think she might be Isabella Lorimer b. c. 1821 (probably in Banffshire). Any clues?
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When you say you 'have' him, what is your source for the information?
Because I haven't found him in either the IGI or the 1851 census on FreeCEN, which are the two most obvious places to look first.
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Hi,
John Leslie is on the '51 census - aged 2 living with his grandparents James and Elizabeth Leslie at 47 Gellymill Street Macduff.
The probable reason that you can't find him is that on the transcripted records that we can access for the Scottish censuses the family name is given as 'Sesler'! The '61 census has him 12 yrs old, a scholar, living with his grandparents in Gellymill Street. In '71 he is working as a "commercial clerk", still with his grandparents. On the '61 and '71 records the name is correctly given as Leslie.
The transcribing of census records by the powers that be in Scotland is a nightmare! For instance, John appears on the '91 census as John 'Lillie' in Duff Street, Macduff with his wife and family - come the 1901 census he is correctly named as Leslie.
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John's marriage and death certificates should give his mother's name.
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The transcribing of census records by the powers that be in Scotland is a nightmare!
Hi RobbieL ,
Scotlandspeople have the original Census records , any transcription(Ancestry ?) should be checked
against the original records.
FreeCEN has this transcripton-
1851 Gellymill Street , Gamrie , Banff
James Leslie 50 shoemaker born Huntly Aberdeenshire
Elizabeth Leslie 48 wife b. Aberdour Aberdeenshire
Elizabeth Leslie 10 daur. born Gamrie Banff
John Leslie 2 Son Gamrie Banff
Could that match up with your transcription ?
ev
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John Leslie is on the '51 census - aged 2 living with his grandparents James and Elizabeth Leslie at 47 Gellymill Street Macduff.
That does explain why I didn't find him - I was looking for a one-year-old born in Deskford with parents John and Isabella, not a two-year-old born in Gamrie with parents James and Elizabeth.
The probable reason that you can't find him is that on the transcripted records that we can access for the Scottish censuses the family name is given as 'Sesler'!
I don't know which transcription you are using, but you have the same access as I do to FreeCEN and to Scotland's People. John is correctly indexed on both of those.
The transcribing of census records by the powers that be in Scotland is a nightmare!
As stated above, John is correctly indexed on Scotland's People, which is the only source with which the 'powers that be in Scotland' have anything to do. This is also the only place where you can view, instantly, online digitised images of the original census documents to check the accuracy of whatever transcription you have looked at.
You must not try to blame 'the powers that be in Scotland' for the inaccuracy of transcriptions made by other organisations, some of which are notorious for the .... er .... let us say creativity of spelling in their transcriptions ;)
FreeCEN transcriptions are done by volunteers who know the areas they are transcribing. Every transcription is done twice and if the two do not coincide, the co-ordinator and transcribers will review the result before it is published.
If John was married or died in Scotland, his marriage and death certificates, available on Scotland's People at modest cost, ought to tell you the full names of both parents, including his mother's maiden surname.
I note that the SP baptism index has no likely candidate for John. It may be that he was illegitimate. If so, it is quite likely that the kirk session minutes of either Deskford or Gamrie might mention his parents. These are held in the National Archives Records of Scotland. They have been digitised but it has not yet been possible to put them online, so you would need to hire a searcher if you cannot travel to Edinburgh/Glasgow/Aberdeen etc yourself.