Ann Stewart c 1740 Dull Perthshire

[TropiConsul]

The parents of Ann Stewart appear to reside at Lagannacardoch but I am unable to locate a place with that name.

Is there an alternate spelling?  I suppose this is in or near the parish of Dull.

Thanks.

[arthurk]

I've come across what looks like the same place as "Laganaceardach" - this is the baptism in Dull of Robert son of William Kennedy and Margaret Scott, on 16 Jan 1761. Unfortunately I haven't been able to identify it either.

(For the record, I've been trying to find Robert who was father of James Kennedy who emigrated to Australia on board the David Clarke in 1839. DNA testing shows I have a connection to that James, but tying him to my ancestors in Dull is the difficult bit.)

Arthur

[still_looking]

Laggan Ceardach could mean Laggan Smithy.

Don't think there's a Laggan in Dull though.

S_L

[arthurk]

Thanks for that - I think it's the first suggestion I've had for this. From looking at a couple of sites I now gather the meaning may be "Hollow by the smithy", but I'm not sure if that helps in identifying the actual location.

Arthur

[TropiConsul]

I think we are looking too far south.  The christening in Dull is misleading.  Most of Ann's family are located north of Blair Atholl.  Her father, John Stewart, was born in Invervack.  Her mother, Katharine Robertson, was born in Kincraigie and resided in Cuiltaloskin at the time of her marriage.    It is 21.8 miles from Kincraigie to Blair Atholl.  That seems a long distance to travel from one's residence to have a child baptized.  The churches in Kinnaird and Dunkeld are much closer.  However, the OPR for Katharine's baptism clearly states "Alexr Robertson in Kincraigie & Janet Mcfarlane his wife had a child bap:  named Katharine."

Cuiltaloskin is east of Struan and Kindrochit on Erichd Water in Glen Errochty.  Near Loch Laggan we find Meall na Ceardaich and Carn na Ceardaich.  These summits are near Loch Caoldair and Aberarder.  Perhaps this is the area where "Lagan na Ceardoch" can be found. 

[arthurk]

I'm not too sure about the Loch Laggan area - from what I've seen of OPRs around that time, they were pretty consistent in mentioning if someone came from a different parish. And "Hollow by the Smithy" seems to me the sort of locality that might occur in almost any parish.

Arthur

[TropiConsul]

The OPR for 23 July 1757 in Dull has "Donald, natural son to Niel Forbes in Croft of Foss and Ann Stewart in Bohally was baptized."

Foss House and Bohally are both at the western end of Loch Tummel in Blair Atholl.  The baptism entry for Ann Stewart appears to be a later entry in the right margin of a previously completed page in the Dull OPR.  Is it possible she was baptized at some location other than the parish church in Dull and the record for this was added into the register? 

[arthurk]

The parish of Dull was large and included a number of places far from Dull itself. Over the years, though, the boundaries have shifted, so it helps to go back to contemporary maps if possible.

One source is James Stobie's map of Perthshire of 1783, which is online at the National Library of Scotland site (along with many others - I used this one because I'm familiar with it and it shows parish boundaries). I was about to write back and say that Foss, being south of the River Tummel, was actually in Dull, but this map has surprised me: it shows that in 1783 the parish of Dull also included a chunk of the north bank, taking in Bohally. So it would have been completely in order for people from Foss and Bohally to marry in Dull, without a parish being named in the register.

I think it probably would have been possible for baptisms to take place other than in the parish church, particularly if the child was ill and thought to be in danger of death; there was actually a church at Kirkton in Foss, but it was disused between 1580 and 1821. However, I think we can only speculate as to the reason for the entry being inserted later: did the baptism take place elsewhere, or did the minister or clerk simply forget to write it up at the proper time?

One more thing - if you're not familiar with it I recommend the Statistical Accounts of Scotland, written by parish ministers in the 19th century, and online at http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/  These include quite a bit on the geography of each parish and the history of the churches and congregations.

Arthur

[TropiConsul]

The statistical account of Scotland, edited by Sir John Sinclair(1793)-- PARISH OF DULL.  (PRESBYTERY OF DUNKELD, SYNOD OF PERTH AND STIRLING, COUNTY OF PERTH.)  By the Rev. Mr. Archibald Menzies. "DULL, or Duil, in the Celtic language, (which is uniformly spoken here), signifies a haugh or plain, and this name  appears to have been assumed to the parish from th« local situation of the haugh or plain of Appin, in which the  church stands. The extent of the parish is very considerable, and its form is very irregular. Indeed there is this  peculiarity in all the parishes in the braes of Perthshire, that they are intersected with one another in such a manner  that one cannot describe their exact form. The length of Dull, from S. to N. it 30 miles, and its breath 12. It would seem  that this parish was more populous about 50 years ago than it is at present. The return to Dr Webster, in 1755, was  4897 souls: the number of inhabitants, as appears from an exact list of them, recently taken, now amounts to 4676.  The reasons for the decrease appear to be, that some of the proprietors have extended their own farms, and that it  was considered more beneficial for the farmers, that there should be no farm less than a ploughgate. In this part of the  country it was usual to halve, and even to quarter a small farm, so that, perhaps, three or four families lived where only  one now lives. In the higher parts of the country, sheep farms have also been united.—The annual average of births,  for 10 years back, amounts to 80; but as many of the children, in the more remote parts of the parish, are baptised by  the itinerant ministers, there is reason to suspect that many names are never inserted in the parochial records. The  average number of marriages is 40: number of burials cannot be ascertained, as there is a burial place in each district;  no register of burials is kept. There is 1 surgeon, and 1 family of Roman Catholics in the parish."

Reverend Menzies indicates that it was quite common for children in the parish of Dull to receive baptism outside of the parish church.