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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Stirlingshire => Topic started by: ladyk on Monday 07 April 14 01:20 BST (UK)
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Would like help breaking through this brick wall! Gain Robinson was born in 1682 in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire. He emigrated to the colonies and married there in 1719 at the age of 37, so he may have had a prior wife in Scotland. If anyone has any ideas as to where to look for Gain's parents, I'd appreciate the help!
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Family Search lists the christening of a daughter Isobell to Gain Robertson and Kathrine Mcildounie, on 2nd August 1702 at Kilmory, Bute.
See: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTJC-KHN
Perhaps Kathrine was his first wife and she died in childbirth?
Anne :)
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It could be, Anne, if they got the Robertson/Robinson mixed up. Gain is not a common name, is it? I know it's quite rare over here, I've never heard of it as a name. If it is as rare there, then that may indeed be a lead. If so, I wonder if his real name IS Robertson and it got changed to Robinson over here. A lot of settlers took the opportunity of their new life to change their name or the spelling of it. You see that a lot. Thanks for the tip, I always forget about that resource, I will check it more often now.
Katharine
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All the if's, maybe's and possibly's certainly keep us on our toes! ;D
I agree with you about the name Gain - it's not one I have ever heard before.
As for Robertson/Robinson - I have that name in my own family and it changes backwards and forwards over generations and not one of them stepped foot outside Lanarkshire let alone Scotland, so that's very much a possibility too. There was a few Rob(e)sons included for good measure as well!
Anne :)
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Hi there, I'm actually heading to Scotland next month and was hoping to track down Gain Robinson's parents. I have the same info you have. Do you think there would be a church or somewhere in Bannockburn I could stop into and see if they have a record?
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Hi! Wonderful that you'll be going to Scotland! The Bannockburn Community Website lists five churches in Bannockburn, three of them are on Main Street. I would contact them, perhaps via email if they have one, and ask if the church has been there since at least 1682 and if there would be records going back that far. Another possibility is to check the cemeteries for clues. His parents may be buried in one of those church yards. Here is the website link with the churches:
http://www.bannockburn.co.uk/category/churches/
Also don't forget what the ladies above have mentioned: that Robinson might be Robertson or even Robeson, as those names were frequently mis-spelled or mis-transcribed. I hope you're able to find something about him! Be sure to let me know!
Katharine
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None of the Bannockburn Churches have attached graveyards, so looking for stones there won't be an option!
The nearest 'old' Burial Ground' is at St. Ninians. There are 2 together - St. Ninian's 'New', which surrounds the present church and St. Ninians 'Old' which sits enclosed by a perimeter wall and houses the ruins of the 'Old' church and the clock--tower. They are almost side by side albeit separated by a wee road.
Just to add to confusion - there is Bannockburn Cemetery (in Bruce Street, Bannockburn), but this dates from much later than the times of your folk, the first burial being around 1880.
Anne
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Thank you both! I'll give it a shot :)
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Do you think there would be a church or somewhere in Bannockburn I could stop into and see if they have a record?
Quite honestly, no, I do not think so. Any records from the late 17th century are very unlikely still to be in the church, even if they have survived. I am willing to bet that stopping in to any existing church, anywhere, not just in Bannockburn, is almost certain to be a complete waste of time as far as seeing older baptism records is concerned.
There seem to be three main churches in Bannockburn.
One is the Allan Church of Scotland. All the registers of the Church of Scotland were transferred to the Registrar General for Scotland in 1855, and they are now indexed on Scotland's People. The Allan C of S web site says it started serving its community in 1838. Originally it was probably a chapel of ease or quoad sacra parish set up withing the parish of St Ninians.
Then there is Our Lady and St Ninian's, which is Roman Catholic. All the Roman Catholic registers are available through Scotland's People.
Lastly Ladywell Church of Scotland, which from its web site looks very new. In any case it too is part of the C of S so will not have any older registers.
Any church other than the Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic or Episcopal Church of Scotland, such as the Christadelphian Church (founded 1838) and United Free Church (formed in 1900 by the union of the Free Church of Scotland (founded 1843) and United Presbyterian Church (founded 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church (founded 1820) and the Relief Church (founded 1761))) did not exist in 1682.
If you want to see pre-1855 baptisms, the place to go is the Scotland's People Centre in Edinburgh.
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Well that's slightly less exciting..Ha, but thanks. I'll be in Edinburgh and have a few other names to check out, so that may be a great starting point. Thanks for the tip--I'm still checking out the cemeteries though!
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but facts are chiels that winna ding, and I'd hate you to go off on a wild goose chase when your time is likely to be limited.
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I wonder if "Gain" is a mistranscription or abbreviation for Gavin?
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That had crossed my mind too.
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So has anyone found more on Gain Robinson? We have Gain on our family tree on ancestry.com ... the museum of maritime & ships in boston says he could be the father of john robinson-of the robinson tea chest...on display now at the museum. John is my 5th or 6th great-grandfather. So i would like to know for sure on him also...I've tried attaching a couple.of things to share...but am not having luck.
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Lets see if i can get this.to upload...a pic from ancestry.com
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I realize it’s been a few years but I wanted to add a few items about Gain. First, I believe he may also have been called Gaius. Unfortunately, I don’t have any documents to back this up, but according to handwritten notes from my father (deceased), Gain/Gaius was the son of Hugh Robinson and the grandson of Robert Robertson. Robert, who may have been from Dumbarton, emmigrated to Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland in the mid-1600’s. This fits historically with the emmigration plan of protestant “lowlanders” to Northern Ireland encouraged by King James I (James VI). Both Robert and then Hugh were elders in the Presybeterian church (Glendermott Parish). I have no information on the spouses of Robert or Hugh. At some point Hugh must have ended up back in Scotland, as a couple of sources I’ve seen list Gain’s birth as Bannockburn. The link below to a Wiki tree post confirms most of what has been passed down in my family. (I’m descended from Gain’s daughter Elizabeth.) I also remember reading something about Gain being born in Ireland, so perhaps he was born there and then moved to Scotland as a child or young adult. Sadly, there do not seem to be much in the way of records from the 1600 & 1700s. (Not surprising based on limited resources and literacy, not to mention destruction of the parish by the Jacobites in 1689.)
I hope this helps. I wish I had actual documents to back up my information!
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Robinson-356