The John McArthurs of Lochwinnoch, ,

[Forfarian]

By any chance did it say the church where they were baptised?

I don't know - I didn't look at the original documents, and I suggested that you should do so.

But it may well be that they weren't actually baptised in the kirk building at all. It was quite common for the minister to go to the parents' home and baptise the baby there. If the date of baptism isn't a Sunday there is a good chance it was done at home, but if the witnesses to the baptism were 'the congregation' then you know it was in the kirk.

[Bertsbees]

Hello Forfarian, Thanks for the info about the in home baptisms, which was common in Scotland.  I checked on the day of the week, as you suggested, and the oldest son, George was baptised on a Sunday,(FYI, he became a deacon in his church in Newtown CT ) the other two were baptised on a Saturday and on a Monday.  Are those original records available on The Scottish government webpage?
    Apparently by 1841 the family had moved closer to the eastern side of Glasgow, Barony Lanarkshire.  Maybe the youngest two were baptised in that area?
    thanks so much,  Bert

[MonicaL]

Bert, all the records that have been discussed here are available to view as original images from the registers on Scotlands People.

The OPR entries can often be no more than a one liner on the register. There was no preset format at that time given this was all before the start of official registration in Scotland from 1855.

Monica

[Forfarian]

Hello Forfarian, Thanks for the info about the in home baptisms, which was common in Scotland.  I checked on the day of the week, as you suggested, and the oldest son, George was baptised on a Sunday,(FYI, he became a deacon in his church in Newtown CT ) the other two were baptised on a Saturday and on a Monday.  Are those original records available on The Scottish government webpage?

Yes.

Apparently by 1841 the family had moved closer to the eastern side of Glasgow, Barony Lanarkshire.  Maybe the youngest two were baptised in that area?

Very likely they were, but they are still not in the index at Scotland's People.
 

[Bertsbees]

Records on https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk a pay to view site for all records in Scotland.

Despite the date I think this might be John below.

MCARTHUR JOHN   GEORGE MCARTHUR/CHRISTIAN ORR    27/09/1809   Lochwinnoch

This is likely to be the marriage.
CAMPBEL   ISABELLA   JOHN MCAITKEN/   22/11/1833   Lochwinnoch

A special thankyou to Colin, who figured out that John McAitken might actually be John McArthur. I downloaded the image from the OPR and low and bold, the McAitken was actually McArthur , my relative!     Thanks for the tip Colin
    My next question  to you all, on the OPR image, it doesnt name the actual church that the marriage took place, is there any way to find out which church they attended?   The parish is Lochwinnoch, #570, but there were several churches in the village.......any ideas any one?
  Bert
 

[Forfarian]

I recommend reading the Statistical Accounts of Lochwinnoch, which will give you some useful background information about the parish and what life was like there in the 1790s and in the 1840s. See http://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/parish/Renfrew/Lochwinnoch

In particular, according to the 1845 account, the majority of the parishioners attended the Church of Scotland (referred to as the 'established church') but about a sixth belonged to one or other Dissenting denomination. Apart from the parish kirk there was only one other place of worship in 1845, a United Secession chapel. So there may be lots of churches there now, but when your John McArthur and Isabella Campbell were married, there were only two.

(Your McArthur/Campbell marriage was in 1833, which was 10 years before the Great Disruption when the Free Church broke away from the  Church of Scotland, so they could not have belonged to the Free Church. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruption_of_1843)

So the probability is that they were adherents of the Church of Scotland.

However it is almost certain that the wedding ceremony was not held in the church itself. The normal place for a wedding was the bride's home, or, if she had no parents or was married a long way from home, in the parish manse. Sometimes a servant might get married in her employer's house.

[Bertsbees]

thank you to Forfarian for your info....The report on the parish of Lochwinnoch was very interesting.
The McArthurs were involved in the cotton industry and it said that cotton mill workers worked 12 hour days , five days a week, and 9 hours on Saturday.    wow, that is a long work week.  It certainly was a different time they lived  in.            Bert