St.Fergus Church Banff

[Seghill Lass]

I am trying to find out the ages of my ancestors. They were married at St. Fergus Church Banff on 17th August 1837.  Would anyone know if their ages would be on the parish register.  Difficult to try and locate immediate family without a birth date.

Names are John Mennie and Margaret Mortimer, that is all I have. He was a Tailor.

Pat in Oz

[Little Nell]

It isn't usual for ages to appear in the parish register at that time.

The next best thing is to look for them in a census.  1841 is complete on FreeCen for Banff.  Only two named John Mennie in Banff and neither is a tailor!  There are only 19 records on 1841 CreeCen for a John Mennie.  1851 is not quite complete for Banff but now only one John Mennie - still not a tailor.

Do you know when they died?  After 1855?  ages will be shown on the death certificates as well as their parents' names, including mothers' maiden names.

Nell

[millerina]

Hi Pat,

I found this family on the 1841, the family are MINNIE, but could they have been mistranscribed??

Fetter An Gus,
Deer, Banffshire

John Minnie, 20 born Banffshire, a Tailor
Mary Minnie, 20 born Scotland
Mary Minnie, 3 born Banffshire
James Minnie, 1 born Scotland

I would guess that Fetter An Gus is what is now Fetterangus, now in Aberdeenshire, about 10km west of St Fergus, Aberdeenshire and about 15 Km northwest of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

Hope this helps!
millerina 

[Seghill Lass]

Thanks Nell.  It is quite possible that John Mennie took up tailoring later.  He was married in 1837. Do not know when he died but when his son Robert was married in 1873 he was shown as deceased.  I am checking lots of websites, but not having any age make it difficult. 

Have you got the website where I could look again.

Hi Millerina, thanks for the information However, John Mennie was married in 1837 to Margaret Mortimer, so wrong John.  It is possible he might have become a tailor later on.  Right area, wrong man.

Thank  you both

[Little Nell]

Hi Pat,

I was checking the census on FreeCen:

http://www.freecen.org.uk

I also looked at the IGI  on FamilySearch - no sign of your John and Margaret marriage, which has me puzzled.

You should also check out the ScotlandsPeople site:

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Pay per view but the official site for Scottish records.  Exhaust all the free sites first!

Nell

[Isles]

Hi Pat,

Just a thought.  As John and Margaret Mennie appear to have had only two children, with the younger of the two being born two years after the marriage, could it be that John died soon after ?
The St Fergus Deaths cover the period 1820 - 1854 and it might be worth checking.
I'm fairly sure that the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland FHS hold a copy of the OPR film.  Their website is www.anesfhs.org.uk and the e-mail address of their Moray/Banff Group is moray.banff@ anesfhs.org.uk

Isles.

[Forfarian]

Hi Millerina, thanks for the information However, John Mennie was married in 1837 to Margaret Mortimer, so wrong John.  It is possible he might have become a tailor later on.  Right area, wrong man.

But the children's names match the eldest of the four listed in the IGI
Mary Slicer, baptised 11 December 1837
James, baptised 19 February 1839

You need to get (someone to take) a look at the original and see if possibly she was recorded as Marg and transcribed as Mary. It can happen.

Just for the record the other children are

Robert, baptised 13 February 1848, Peterhead
Janet Allardyce, baptised 11 September 1849.

That is an odd gap in the middle. It's a bit early to be due to the Disruption of 1843, or I would have speculated that perhaps they were members of the Free Church.

You need to see the 1851 census, after they had moved to Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. That is online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

HTH

[Forfarian]

I also looked at the IGI  on FamilySearch - no sign of your John and Margaret marriage, which has me puzzled.

Must have been a glitsch with the IGI because when I looked, it was there, on 17 August 1837 in St Fergus.

BTW I see that the baptism of the first child is just four months after the marriage. It might be worth finding out whether there is anything in the Kirk Session minutes which might be useful. The Kirk Session minutes are in the National Archives of Scotland www.nas.gov.uk. They aren't indexed, and you'd need to get someone to go into Register House and look them up, unless you are willing to wait until the images go online.

HTH

[Seghill Lass]

Hi Nell, just been checking that information again.  Think it could be the correct family.,  Taken into account that the transcriptions can be difficult, I have details of a James  Mennie being born to John & Margaret Mennie 1840.  John was described as a Tailor, Old Deer.  Also the wife Mary, could easily have been Marg shortened.
As yet cannot find any indication of a daughter Mary aged 3, but everything else ties is.

Just realised I missed a couple of your messages, so will answer the others now.

First I do have a print out of their marriage from Family Search, so know that is OK.

As to the first child Mary, I have someone in Aberdeen also researching the Mennie clan so will ask her about the Kirk Sessions.

OnWed 12th you mentioned only two children, when in fact they had four.  Robert was born in 1847 and on the details of his first marriage in 1873 his father was listed as deceased. So I will see if I can find a date of death somewhere between  those two dates.  Thanks for all  your information you have no idea how much you have helped me.  I will get stuck into the stuff you have given and see what I can get from the other sites.  You are a darling, thanks again from Pat Down Under.