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Topics - mcalpinehastings

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Angus (Forfarshire) / Information on Death Register that Needs Explaining
« on: Wednesday 28 June 17 22:20 BST (UK)  »
I'm looking at the death register of an ancestor who died in 1962.  On the margin of the page it says, "Reg of Corr. Ents." Vol 12 Page 218 18th Dec 1962"

Any idea what that might refer to?  I Googled the exact phrase just to see what came up but I didn't find much.

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Angus (Forfarshire) / How do I find pre-1855 ancestors if they weren't church members?
« on: Monday 26 June 17 18:05 BST (UK)  »
Hello Rootsnet!

So glad I found this place.  I've been pulling my hair out looking for ancestors using first Ancestry.com then National Records of Scotland after visiting them on Princes St. in Edinburgh and being told that Ancestry is worthless!

My problem is this: there is a middle name that has been handed down in my family for three generations ending with my father.  The name was, we thought, "MacAlpine" but turns out that's wrong it's actually "McAlpine" but was mis-recorded when the family came to America as these things are.  The woman whose maiden name gave this middle name to my family, Mary McAlpine (b. I think in 1839 d. 1919 but I've not been able to find birth certificate this info comes from census records) was never married to the father of her six children who whom as far as I can tell she lived with until he died.  That man's name was James Gow Hastings (1835-1887). 

I managed to find on Mary's death records that her parents names were Jane Ker McAlpine (but then it says "M.S. Walls" I assume that's her maiden name?) and father James McAlpine.  Because we're pre-1855 at this point there are no more civil records, only church records.  since Mary McAlpine and James Gow Hastings were never married, there are no church records.  I can find no birth info for Mary McAlpine, Jane Ker Wells McAlpine or James McAlpine, which leads me to believe that possibly Mary's parents weren't married either.

That was a very long lead up to my two questions.  1) How common was it for couples to live together, cohabitate and raise a family without being married? and 2) How do you research ancestors pre-1855 if there are no church records?

If I've posted in the wrong place please advise.  I'm new to Roots Chat and am happy to be redirected.  I hope very much that you can help!!

Sharon Castellanos Alamo, CA

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