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Scotland / Re: Help needed finding parents of William McKain (d. 1867)
« on: Monday 15 April 24 19:07 BST (UK) »
Welcome to RootsChat
But I'm afraid it's not good news.
The first thing to understand is that civil registration only started in 1855, and before that there are no such things as birth, marriage or death certificates, so there is no possibility of finding a birth certificate for him or his wife, or a marriage certificate, irrespective of where they were born or married. The only records before then are the records kept by the churches, which are not comprehensive.
If he says in every census that he was born in Duddingston, and you can't find a baptism record there, then the chances are that the baptism record, if it ever existed, has not survived.
Another important thing is that spelling variations are meaningless until about the beginning of the 20th century. The your best plan, with a name like McKain, is to use the phonetic spelling when searching Scotland's People (and any other web sites enlightened enough to allow this).
I see that William McKean and Janet Wood had a son William in Duddingston in 1818. I take it that this your line?
But I'm afraid it's not good news.
The first thing to understand is that civil registration only started in 1855, and before that there are no such things as birth, marriage or death certificates, so there is no possibility of finding a birth certificate for him or his wife, or a marriage certificate, irrespective of where they were born or married. The only records before then are the records kept by the churches, which are not comprehensive.
If he says in every census that he was born in Duddingston, and you can't find a baptism record there, then the chances are that the baptism record, if it ever existed, has not survived.
Another important thing is that spelling variations are meaningless until about the beginning of the 20th century. The your best plan, with a name like McKain, is to use the phonetic spelling when searching Scotland's People (and any other web sites enlightened enough to allow this).
I see that William McKean and Janet Wood had a son William in Duddingston in 1818. I take it that this your line?