I could use some help. I am trying to find the proper parents of Thomas McKenzie who married Catherine Idington/Edington in North Berwick, East Lothian 28 April 1814. No parents were listed in the OPR of their marriage from SP (I have a copy of their Bann). I do a search of FamilySearch.org for Thomas and Catherine, and I determine the children are Alexander (1815 North Berwick), Thomas (1816 North Berwick), Catherine (1825 North Berwick), Christian (1827 Direlton) and Margaret (1832 Direlton).
I search SP OPR Births and Baptisms for a Thomas McKenzie (traditional soundex) born 1790-1794 all parishes. I obtained the following (plus a bunch of bogus ones):
1 08/09/1793 MACKENZIE THOMAS ALEXANDER MACKENZIE/CHRISTIAN KNOX FR1094 M TRANENT /EAST LOTHIAN
9 13/10/1792 MCKENZIE THOMAS DONALD MCKENZIE/JANNET MCLEAN KIRKHILL /INVERNESS
10 15/10/1792 MCKENZIE THOMAS WILLIAM MC KENZIE MARGRAET GILCHRIST M CLYNE /SUTHERLAND
04/11/1792 MCKENZIE THOMAS WILLIAM MCKENZIE/JANET DOUGLAS FR9885 M EDINBURGH EDINBURGH CITY CITY/MIDLOTHIAN
07/03/1793 MCKENZIE THOMAS ARCHIBALD MCKENZIE/ M KILLEARN /STIRLING
12/04/1793 MCKENZIE THOMAS JAMES MCKENZIE/CHRISTIAN MCKENZIE FR1651 M GLASGOW GLASGOW CITY CITY/LANARK
20/09/1794 MCKENZIE THOMAS THOMAS MCKENZIE/AMELIA DOW FR125 M LITTLE DUNKELD /PERTH
01/10/1794 MCKENZIE THOMAS GEORGE MCKENZIE/AGNES DOW M LITTLE DUNKELD /PERTH
Of these records, I suspect that the first one, Alexander MacKenzie/Christian Knox in Tranent, East Lothian is the proper choice. My reasoning is because these were poor people, common laborers, and could not move around much. The marriage is in the same general region of East Lothian, as were many of the children of Thomas. They all tended to stay in the East Lothian county. However the name is spelled MAC instead of MC. I am not sure that is important, as the Surnaame was changed from MC to MAC around 1900 when my grandparents came from Scotland.
The other reason why I am thinking this could be the parents, are the names of the children. The girls names Catherine (possibly named after the mother Catherine Idington; and the second daughter is named after the grandmother. The sons are named after the father Alexander. There is also a Thomas MacKenzie, born 1770 also in Tranent East Lothian - possibly the brother of Alexander - but this is just speculation on my part.
Others in familysearch.org and other locations indicate WILLIAM MC KENZIE MARGRAET GILCHRIST M CLYNE /SUTHERLAND, but they have no documentation to indicate one way or another.
How is the best way to determine the parents of Thomas McKenzie/MacKenzie? Is there a way to search parisioners in North Berwick Parish or Preston Kirk (the bann was listed in both).
Is the marriage occuring in the bride's parish (North Berwick) or the Groom (Preston Kirk)?
I appreciate all the help you can provide.
Scott
