David Shanks/ Mary Scott 1862

[samalexander]

Is there a relationship to Jean mentioned regarding 'David Shanks, or Main'?

The use of 2 surnames may imply he was illegitimate?

Annie
[/quote]

No mention of a relationship to Jean but I’m almost certain it will be her nephew, given that the age and name matches with the nephew of her brother Thomas at Drumshangie. David’s disappearance from the census at Drumshangie and appearance at Blackridge also seems to confirm this. Her will and inventory just seem to say that the two resided together and that he was a farmer. No mention of illegitimacy either when he marries Mary Scott in 1862...

[Rosinish]

No mention of illegitimacy either when he marries Mary Scott in 1862...

Not every illegitimate child was recorded as such on marriage, it seems to depend on the Priest/Vicar, the parish, no set rule.

Many illegitimate children made up names for fathers on their marriage to hide the shame.

Annie

[samalexander]

1841 ?
David Shanks 40 Head
Civil Parish Rosneath
Address Manse Craigrowniee
Occupation Min Of Craigrownie

According to Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, David Shanks, Minister of Craigrownie, was born in Airdrie on 8 April 1828, son of Robert Shanks and Agnes Hay, and he became Minister there in 1854, so that census cannot be 1841 - must be 1871. He married Agnes Bowie and died in 1887. So he is a red herring as far as Jim's query is concerned.

This is the David listed with his mother Agnes, 50, and 5 siblings in Watston, New Monkland. In 1851 he is still in the same place (spelled Walston in the FreeCEN transcription), aged 20, and described as a student of divinity, with widowed mother Agnes, 60, and three siblings. So those two census sightings can also be discounted.

Where can I find the information relating to David Shanks from Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae? I have his birth date as 8 Apr 1830. He was the youngest brother of my 3x great grandfather Robert Shanks (1808-1888) but I can’t find him in the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae records on Ancestry.

[DonM]

https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiasco03scotuoft/page/n345/mode/2up?view=theater&q=Shanks

[Forfarian]

Where can I find the information relating to David Shanks from Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae?

Forget about Ancestry.

By far the best place to look up any Presbyterian minister is via https://www.ecclegen.com/ which started out as an index to Free Kirk ministers but now includes all references to ministers in Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae as well. It's much easier to find the one you want because they're all indexed with links to their articles in FES.

[DonM]

But mine is quicker to get to the same page 

[Forfarian]

But mine is quicker to get to the same page 

Yes, your link is quicker if you are just going for David Shanks, but in general it's far easier to access FES articles via the Ecclegen web site than via a digitised version of FES because it's indexed with links.

[samalexander]

For anyone interested in David Shanks and his wife Mary Scott I have found some more information on David and his parents.

It seems most likely that David Shanks was the son of William Main and Agnes Shanks.

His death record which was registered in 1892 by his son records him as 'David Main, known as David Shanks, son of William Main and Agnes Shanks'. This lines up with the name he gave his first born son of William Main Shanks in 1864.

His parents William Main & Agnes Shanks seem to have married in 1828 in New Monkland. There is also a 'Decreet of Declarator' record for William Main and Agnes Shanks from 1833, I have only come across the index for this on the Scottish Indexes website, I haven't been able to view the original record so I'm not sure what information it may contain.

David becomes the farmer at Blackrigg or Blackridge Farm (Clarkston, New Monkland) which was somewhere near Wester Moffat, sometime following the death of his unmarried aunt Jean Shanks in 1860. Prior to this he was at Drumshangie Farm with his uncle Thomas Shanks & family.
Thomas Shanks and Jean Shanks were both the children of David Shanks and Jean Thomson, so David's mother Agnes Shanks must also have been the child of David Shanks and Jean Thomson.

His aunt Jean Shanks worked as a servant at Wester Moffat and appears there in the 1841 and 1851 Censuses. Interestingly, in 1841 with Jean there is an Agnes Shanks also recorded at Wester Moffat. I presume this may have been David's mother (perhaps her husband William Main had died by this date?) but I haven't been able to trace her after 1841.

So it looks as though David was unsure of his true parentage when he married in 1862, hence why he states his parents names as 'David Shanks & Agnes Shanks' rather than William Main and Agnes Shanks. Perhaps he only found out his true parentage after marriage? This seems to be most likely as his children knew his parents as William Main and Agnes Shanks and he must've known this too by 1864 when he named his first son William Main Shanks.

[Forfarian]

David becomes the farmer at Blackrigg or Blackridge Farm (Clarkston, New Monkland) which was somewhere near Wester Moffat

David Shanks, farmer, 42, is in the 1871 census at Blackridge, New Monkland with wife Mary S Shanks and five children. In 1881 they are at Edin (i.e. Edinburgh) Road, Clarkston, New Monkland, and in 1891 at Blackridge Farm, New Monkland.

Blackrigg/Blackridge in the parish of New Monkland is much nearer to Wattston than to Clarkston. See https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15.6&lat=55.90629&lon=-3.96717&layers=257&b=1

There is also a Blackrig(g)/Blackridge in the parish of Shotts https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.3&lat=55.84591&lon=-3.90352&layers=257&b=1 which is marginally closer to Wester Moffat and could reasonably be described as 'near Wester Moffat'.

Neither could reasonably be described as on the Edinburgh Road, Clarkston.

See the attached map.

To work out which Blackrig(g)/Blackridge they were in it will be necessary to scroll through either the 1871 or 1891 census, note down the names of the places in the same enumeration district, and compare them with the old maps.