Alexander LAING Help Please!!

[MonicaL]

  As for why Alexander's birth is not showing, I don't know why. It should be there on the statutory registers, with official registration well in place by then.

Some reasons can sometimes be the way the name has been indexed, sometimes in error or simply with a different spelling variation. Also the possibility that he wasn't registered as Alexander but perhaps by a different first name.

I have tried searching on IGI with all kinds of combinations but so far not finding anything for him which is a pity.

Monica

[Thistle76]

The lack of a birth cert is very annoying. I'll do my best to try to hunt him down, its a shame there is no parental name choice when searching for birth certs on Scotland's People.
I'll also try and esablish a link between the Newlands and Taylors and see what I can come up with.

All in all I think there are to many coincidencies and that it is likely we have found the right Alexander, I can't thank you enough for all the work you put in on this, several older ladies around the world will be chuffed to find out Alexander didn't just fall from the heavens in Huntly in 1878!!

Gary

[MonicaL]

....Alexander didn't just fall from the heavens in Huntly in 1878!!

He may well have done until we prove otherwise 

A frustrating thing is that for this period of his birth circa 1857/8 going by his age in 1861/71, his entry should show on IGI. A useful seach that you can do for Scottish IGI records www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true is for possible illegitimate births where in later years the child went by the surname of the reputed father and you are not sure how the birth may have been registered.

On IGI, you simply put in first name and no surname and then mother's full name on the r/h side. Then British Isles/Scotland and a time period to search within. This should bring up all entries for a birth with a mother with a certain name (also a good search to do when the family name is open to many variations and the mother's surname more standard).

Also tried on the new pilot site, where the LDS are combining all their databases here www.familysearch.org/#form=advanced-records On this database you can search with even less info, eg just mother's name, and still nothing quite fitting. If you are doing these searches, for some reason IGI does not pick up on the first name variant of Jessie and Janet so you have to do different searches under each.

The only other possible sources to consider are:

Kirk Session minutes to see whether Jessie Legg was brought before the Kirk elders to be chastised/fined/told off etc....

A possible baptism for Alexander near or abouts New Elgin where the Taylors were living and also where we think we have Jessie living and working in 1841/51.

Neither of these searches can be done on line and would require checking of local resources at archives/family history centres in the area.

Monica