Marriage John Suttie and Ann

[goldie61]

Is there any kind person who can view the OPR of St Cuthbert's Edinburgh?
I'm after the marriage of John Suttie and Ann Baird on 7th July 1781 in the vain hope there may be there may be anything else written there.
Many thanks

[Stob Ban]

This kind person has arrived.........I presume you wish the whole passage adhering to the Banns of the OPR.  If so, here goes.   
SUTTIE  John Merch! Pres! Residenter in West Kirk Parish  and Ann Baird Residenter  there, and Lawful daughter of the Deceased Thomas Baird, Carrier in the Parish of Liberton gave up their names for proclamation of Banns Matrimonial.

They are a Merchant family and Ann is gifting herself to increase the merchants to that family, probably gladly, considering their wealth means she wont ever need an apron..................Ron.

Ps.  I have copied the OPR to the letter, the grammar is atrocious!  Ach well, it is 1781.

[goldie61]

Thanks Ron for replying to this - if you look at the date of it, it was 9 years ago!

I did finally pay to see it on Scotlandspeople about 4 years ago, so I have he actual entry.
As you say, John Suttie was a merchant (I think the letter at the end of the word in the register is a 't' - they have used it as an abbreviation for the whole word. The same with the next word - 'present').
He was more like a shopkeeper/merchant than an wealthy trading merchant.
I have managed to find out quite a lot more about him since then. He actually came from Auchtermuchty, Perth, and drowned on the rocks at Leven in 1837 - they only found his body after 2 weeks, and only identified him because he had screws and other things, presumably as a 'merchant', in his pockets! One supposes he must have been reported as missing before they found him.

Thank for your interest and replying. 

[Stob Ban]

Hi Goldie,
I read your blog with interest, but did expect John to be of wealth simply with him marrying the daughter of a Law Officer, i.e. Carrier in the Parish of Liberton.  This is a serious position within the Scottish Law.  A second thing was, there were two deaths for a John Suttie in Scoonie, your one which was on 15th March, 1837. and another John Suttie on 25th April 1837.  Lastly, Auchtermuchty is not in Perth, it is in Fife.  A few loose nails in the pocket of a man does not indicate he's a shop-keeper, he could have been fixing his pigeon loft.

I thought it only right to let you know what I knew, with no offence, but I do like to see, as myself too, getting our ancestry right.

[Stob Ban]

I'd thought you'd like to know that Ann's brother, Thomas Walker Baird Esq. was an Advocate, in Edinburgh, as his father was.  He was aged 20years at the time of Ann's wedding to John Suttie and more probable than not, he would have attended.  He died on the 13th. April 1846 aged 85 and is interred at Canongate Cemetery, Edinburgh.  The last serving son was Robert Bruce Baird Esq. who died 1882 aged 76 and is interred with his father.

[goldie61]

Gosh, you have given me food for thought here.

First, yes, sorry, Auchtermuchty is in Fife.
It's about 12 miles from Perth I think, and in the account book for a John Sutherland of Perth, who 'commissions goods from Rotterdam, London, Newcastle etc', he sells to 'John Suttie, Merchant in Auchtermuchty' 'lump sugar', 'powder sugar', loaf sugar, 'pearl-ashes', and  'hogsheads of lintseed (sic)'.
Pearl ashes was evidently potash.

The assumption that the burial in April 1837 was of a merchant is not mine. There is a report in the Fife Herald 30 MArch 1837 that says 'the body of John Suttie, late merchant'........  would scarcely have been recognised had it not been for a screw and some other articles in his pockets, having lain in the water for twelve weeks'
(My typing on my previous post  seem to have missed the '1' off the number of weeks he'd been in the water - 12, not 2).
I can't see a burial on the Fife death index a John Suttie buried 25th April 1837 as you say in your post.
'John Suttie merchant' died 'Dec 1836, buried 24th MArch 1837' IS on the index.

Can you give me some links to the fact that a 'Carrier' was an officer of the law please.
I haven't heard this term before, and have looked briefly on Google to no avail.
You seem to know quite a lot about the Baird family. Have you done some research into them?
I was not aware that Ann, who married John Suttie, was the sister of Thomas Walker Baird.
Where did you find this information?

Thanks for your interest

[Stob Ban]

Hi Goldie,
Thank you for your reply, it's pleasant to read the effort you have put into your research..  Yea, 'Carriers' in Scotland 1800's etc. in the Judiciary 'business' Lawyers, Advocates, etc.  I have searched in this field in prior days, and found it difficult to trace persons, even on the periphery.  Canongate cemetery in Edinburgh, up market, is their place for interment, difficult to trace though as many of the grave-stones are badly weather worn, even on paper their names are scarce.  Definitely, not on 'account books', pity! as they are a godsend on many occasion.

If you enter Carriers in Scotland 1751 into Address Bar; 1751 In Scotland- Wikipedia.......Judiciary  appears.

[Stob Ban]

You asked about the John Suttie I have reads:  Heading;  Leven.........John Suttie interred. Mort Cloth.  Cost. 2 pounds 6 shillings..........That's all folks.  Amen!

[Forfarian]

I've never come across 'carrier' meaning a law officer before. Neither have Chambers Dictionary, Chambers Scots Dictionary, various online glossaries of Scottish legal terms, the Oxford English Dictionary, or Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language Online.

What is your source for that information?