Morrison,Stonehaven blacksmith

[jim1]

Earlier I came up with John Morrison b.1764 and Mary Ritchie b.1761, but that was from someone else on Ancestry

There's a member submit on IGI for this couple having a son Peter in Auchterless in 1803.There's no reason to believe it's not true at the moment.
SP has him;23/1/1803.
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/search/oprbirth/index.aspx

You might find this helpful:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,413464.0.html
jim
PS
By a process of elimination these are the siblings of Peter,all born Auchterless:
Mary/1794
Ann/1797
Elisabeth/1801.
John Morrison married Mary Ritchie/18/12/1788/Auchterless.

jim

[Anneatki]

Brilliant! Printed out the OP records for Peter 1803, and his parents m. 18 Dec 1788.
Have started looking for Johns birth, haven't found one in 1764 yet, but got one for 1755, 18 Dec. was it common then for people to get married on their birthday, or on the other hand, was 33 a bit old to get married?
Thanks for the links, I'm learning so much from browsing RootsChat  :DAnne

[jim1]

Unfortunately there are a few John Mor(r)isons born Auchterless & surrounding area who fit the bill.There seems to be a general opinion that most people married around their mid 20's so someone born 1764ish would be the most likely candidate.
It's not a theory I subscribe to however because circumstances were so varied.
There do seem to be certain times of the year which were favoured for marriages & christenings mainly around religious festivals,Christmas etc.
Because of high mortality rates people married at all ages with 2nd. & 3rd. marriages.
You need something a bit more specific which is difficult with the dearth of information at this time.
I haven't seen the actual marriage entry,does it give witnesses or Parish of birth?
jim

[Anneatki]

No, just their names,not even ages or occupation.

[jim1]

I think you've come to the end of the road with this family.Anything else would be guesswork.Even if you could go further back all you'll have are a load of names & nothing else.
In Mary Ritchie's case you can say she was born between 1758 (as her last child was born 1803 making her 45 & unlikely to have children if she was any older) & 1770 (as she married in 1788 when she would have been 18 & unlikely to have married younger).
There's 2 on IGI & SP,one born 1758 Methlick about 10mls. from Auchterless,father William which is probably her,there's another in (New) Aberdour same year but that's about 25 miles away.

jim

[Anneatki]

I think you're right, Jim. I'm amazed at how much I've found out in the month since my first ever post on RootsChat ! Back in 2004, another Jim (in Canada) told me about a family in the 1881 census living in Stonehaven who might be my gt. grandparents. Until now, that's all I knew.
Some of the info I got from Ancestry (members trees) went back another couple of generations, Alexander 1727-1801, Theodore 1691-1766, George 1636-99. Will keep the names in case anything turns up, but as you say,just a list of names is not important .
I will now work on Alexander's later life and hopefully turn up the trip to Australia. Lots of research ahead! Many thanks for all your help, Anne