Transportation in Scotland

[EBrand]

Hey everyone,

Before the construction of the Forth Bridge in the 1880s, how easy would it have been for a lad looking for work to get from a place such as Culross or Torryburn to Edinburgh? I'm talking about very early 1800s, from about 1790-1810.

My ancestor David Brand married Janet Spittal in 1806. They were contracted in Culross and married in Edinburgh. On the parish record it says David was a servant in New Greyfriars and Janet was from Culross. They moved to Culross and had their children there.

I'm just trying to look at the likelihood of this lad being born in Culross or Torryburn and looking for work in Edinburgh as opposed to him being born in Edinburgh and moving to Culross once he's married.

I can't seem to pinpoint his birth, that's the issue.
Would someone be able to give me a bit of context around transportation in this era and possibly a judgement on how likely this scenario would have been?

Thanks!
EB.

[Craclyn]

A fairly short journey using the ferry or any other boat they may have had access to.

[Kloumann]

There was a Janet Spittal born in Culross in 1777 & David Brand's also born there in 1768 & 1770

[dowdstree]

To my knowledge there has been a boat crossing of some kind between North and South Queensferry dating back in time to at least the 11th century.

I think people back then were more mobile than we sometimes give them credit for. In the days before railways, cars and aeroplanes.

Dorrie

[EBrand]

Thanks for your responses everybody!
 I didn't realise there had been a boat crossing for that long! That's amazing. Honestly, I do need to give them more credit because I had been limiting my search to areas within a few kms of places of birth.
And thank you for that search! I'll look more closely at the details.

One other unrelated question: was it common for families to follow a naming pattern? Should I use the naming pattern to conduct research or not?

EB

[HughC]

Transportation means the shipping of criminals to the colonies.
Doesn't sound very appropriate here.

[RJ_Paton]

Transportation means the shipping of criminals to the colonies.
Doesn't sound very appropriate here.

Only in a very narrow interpretation of the word - it doea have other meanings

Definition of transportation

1 : an act, process, or instance of transporting or being transported
2a : means of conveyance or travel from one place to another
2b : public conveyance of passengers or goods especially as a commercial enterprise
3 : banishment to a penal colony

[Rena]

Thanks for your responses everybody!
 I didn't realise there had been a boat crossing for that long! That's amazing. Honestly, I do need to give them more credit because I had been limiting my search to areas within a few kms of places of birth.
And thank you for that search! I'll look more closely at the details.

One other unrelated question: was it common for families to follow a naming pattern? Should I use the naming pattern to conduct research or not?

EB

The further back in time you go, it's best to look for rivers, canals, a dovers trail, railway lines and ships if near a coastline.

As for naming patterns, I'm following ancestral lines of Scots, English, Welsh, Irish, Germanic back in time and prior to approx the mid 20th century they all followed the same standard naming pattern. I found this knowledge very handy when there was a gap in between births and knew I had to search for another child, e.g. couldn't find baptism record for a 2nd son named in favour of maternal g/father (my g.grandfather) in normal places, eventually found the announcement in a newspaper.

I have one of my OHs lines where there were 18 plus children, when the coup;le ran out of family names I noticed the mother named her daughters after her childhood friends (as seen on previous census) and one son was named after a sea captain that lived next door to her parents.   

There is one slight difference when following the Germanic line plus others,  and that is the child's given name is next to the surname and the first name or two given names are names of sponsors (godparents) e.g. Frank James Henry Fleming was my gt. grandfather - the first two given names were names of his sponsors, his grandfather Frank was a sponsor - his given name was Henry.  Very difficult to find a boy named Henry when the webpage only brings up people that have the first name of Henry.



 

[dowdstree]

Traditional naming patterns in Scotland -

1st son    after Father's Father.
2nd son   after Mother's Father.
3rd son    after Father.

1st daughter  after Mother's Mother.
2nd daughter after Father's Mother.
3rd daughter  after Mother.

This was never strictly adhered to but can be a guideline with your research. Another thing that frequently happened was a child was born and given a first name. This child died and a few years later a child of the same sex was born and was given the same first name. Very confusing to say the least.

Dorrie