Hi, Norrie,
I'm looking for a headstone inscription for a Robert Paton (and wife Margaret Wallace) which, if it exists, would also as a bonus give his occupation!
This couple, who married in 1799, he from Markinch, she from Wemyss (I have the OPR entries, but no occupation is stated), are the parents, I hope, of a Janet Paton, who was born according to the census returns about 1812 in Markinch and died in Edinburgh 26 Feb 1863, aged 51 (so the stated age at death also fits in with the census ages), six months after her husband died. Her parents, according to the entry in the register of deaths were Robert Paton, cotton bleacher, deceased, and Margaret Paton, m.s. Paton, deceased. The death was registered by her son-in-law, who had just married into the family 18 months earlier and so probably didn't really know - probably never met - Janet's parents and so didn't know Margaret's maiden surname.
I see that there were two marriages of a Robert Paton in that area who were possible parents and I believe that Robert Paton/Margaret Wallace are the most likely, given that there were children born to them and christened in the right time frame (although Janet's birth/christening was not recorded, of course, just to make it difficult for us!): James (1800), Mary (1803), Elisabeth (1805) and Alexander (1808). I haven't actually looked at these records online, to see whether they give the occupation of the father (which I may still have to do, clearly) but the trail runs cold at this point, for any subsequent children were not recorded ...
There was one other marriage of a Robert Paton and a Margaret around that time (Robert Paton and Margaret Philp, both Markinch, 1803, and I have that OPR entry also, but again, no occupation), but an IGI parent search throws up no children born to this couple.
Her parents may, of course, have left the area at some stage, but a search for Janet Patons born Fife 1810-1816 produces 4, but none to a Robert, and a search for Janet Patons born to a Robert all Scotland 1799-1816 produces 3 (only one of which is a Robert and Margaret (but Margaret -Pollock-) but in Greenock, and he was a -slater-), or 4 if the surname is soundexed (Janet to a Robert Patten, but in Blantyre and mother not a Margaret).
