Morison or Nobleman

[Magian]

I'm tracing the Morison side of my family and I've come across a record in IGI that lists the father as William Morison or Nobleman. 1789, Alva, Stirling.

Does anyone know if this is a surname or was he a noble man? Excuse my ignorance.

Margaret

[LindsaySiam]

Hello Margaret,

I was so interested to see this post. I have wondered about this entry in the IGI also.

I think what it means is that the father of this child may have been a natural child of a Morison or a Nobleman (Nobleman as a name rather than an occupation) and either Morison or Nobleman could be his father's name and vice versa for his mother.
 
The entry that I have seen refers to a William Morison born 5th Jan 1767  in Alva, Stirling.  I haven't seen one in 1789???

The reason that I am interested in it is because having come to a complete standstill with my Andrew Morison married Margaret Baird, Falkirk 1800, I am now relying on the extremely scientific method  of good old Scottish Naming Patterns to try and find some way round my brickwall. 

The children's names of Andrew and Margaret suggest that his parents were William and Christian and there are not so many with this combination, although I haven't found that this particular couple - William Morison and Christian Dempster (sometimes Demperston according to LDS submission) had a son Andrew .......

Can I ask how he fits in your family? I think I had a email from someone once who was connected to this family, I'll have a look and ask her to have a look at your post also.

regards,

Lindsay

[Magian]

Hello Lindsay

Thanks for replying.

My GG Grandfather David Hunter was married to Christina Morrison on 12/2/1821 in Edinburgh. When I obtained Christina's death certificate I got details of her parents William Morrison and Margaret Morison m/s Morison. The rest is obtained from IGI.

I came to a standstill on the Hunter side so am currently keeping myself busy with the Morisons.

Any help is appreciated.

Margaret

[bambie]

hi all the people looking for morrison - I have a james laing who married a margaret hunter - abt 1823 in falkirk stirlingshire he was a weaver 1855 and shoolmaster.
their child was james laing b 12 dec 1831 muckart perthshire died 4 may 1912 kingseat
he married  a margaret morrison 31 dec 1855 dunfermline
margaret morrison born 10 sept 1836 in alload clackmananshire and died 18 jun 1908 in dunfermline
this might help one of you - if so would appreciate any help as well - bambie

[bambie]

oops - forgot to put in margaret morrison's parents on my last one - margaret morrison born 10 sept 1836 in alloa clackmannashire was the daughter of william morrison and margaret morrison - bambie

[A R Hill]

Sorry for butting in here - my interest is Clackmannanshire rather than Morrison, and I normally lurk rather than discuss on Rootschat.  However, you have successfully drawn me out!

Names with an "or" can indicate unmarried parents, but this sounds more like Nobleman is actually some sort of nickname - possibly as a means of dealing with the large number of Morrisons in the parish?

The reason I say this is that I also see a William Morrison in the IGI extracted records for Alva and who was born in 1726 with father "William Morrison or Nobleman" and mother Helen Harrower. 

Later in the century, there are records of Williams born to William Morrison or Nobleman with Christian Dempster (also listed as Demperston in 1775) (1767) and to William Morrison or Nobleman with Margaret Morrison (1781).  (There is also apparently a tombstone in Alva for the latter couple, dated 1759 - no children listed).

Comparing these to other Morrison records under the same IGI batch number, I see a "William Morrison or Cornwillie" a "James Morrison or Kirkhall" and a "Robert Morrison or Horner" and suspect this was a device for telling them all apart - and a fine one too, except that two generations later several cousins might all have identical names and nicknames (eg the two Williams)!

Potentially very handy - but as tends to be the way, I think the only way to take this forward has to be look at all of the actual records on microfilm or by ordering up extracts.

[elisabethroberts]

I have a copy of "Sidelights on Alva History" which has the following section:-
"Aliases-the early 18th century church records have some unusual notes added to personal names
1717- Alexander Morison alias Caps
1717-John Morison alias Titles(died after excessive drinking)
1718 William Morison alias Falconer
1718 John Morison alias Prince
1718 William Morison alias Nobleman
1719 Robert Morison alias Horner
1719 Robert Morison alias Valiant
1720 James Morison alias Plunkum
1725 James Morison alias Kirkhall
1736 William Morison alias Corn Willie, tenant in Bole"

Elisabeth

[Cruachan]

Having newly joined RootsChat I have just found this discussion about William Morison or Nobleman. William Morison was my gt gt gt gt grandfather who married Christian Demperston in 1761.

Their daughter Margaret Morison had a son, Alexander, by George Rennie but they did not marry. This Alexander Rennie was my gt gt grandfather.

I have no new information on the 'alias Nobleman' but I wonder if anyone else has made progress on this since this discussion started in 2006?