Looking for info on the parents of ancestor Charles Gordon (1771 Arbroath)

[Ruskie]

Maybe hold off getting the sibling’s entries for the moment in case others can offer you some help or suggestions. 

[Rosinish]

It's a pity there's no info. on the occ. of Robert or witnesses sponsors.

This may be of no help?...

There's a place named Polgavie in Inchture (Perthshire) which had a port...
"Powgavie or Polgavie harbour forms the chief point of traffic"

Inchture borders the parish of Longforgan of which there's a few entries on SP although more in other areas of Perthshire & elsewhere.

There's an entry for Polgavie in Kettins 1599...https://www.ancestor.abel.co.uk/Angus/Kettins.html

As there's so many variants to the name coming down the yrs I chose Polgavie as it was the 1st recorded furthest back on your list or I'd be here for days as I've found many spellings of which may/may not be the same name 

Gaelic would have been the language at that time i.e. spellings fluid.

Annie

[Forfarian]

Gaelic would have been the language at that time i.e. spellings fluid.

Powgavie or Polgavie certainly has a feel of a Gaelic origin, but I am not sure how you would get from that to Begrie and variants, which is said in G F Black's Surnames of Scotland to be of territorial origin either from Balgray in Angus or Bagra near Banff.

I doubt that Gaelic was widely spoken in Arbroath in the 18th century.

[Rosinish]

I doubt that Gaelic was widely spoken in Arbroath in the 18th century.

Forfarian, I would have thought Perthshire to have been Gaelic spoken?

Annie

[Forfarian]

I doubt that Gaelic was widely spoken in Arbroath in the 18th century.

Forfarian, I would have thought Perthshire to have been Gaelic spoken?

Yes, Gaelic was spoken in at least the more mountainous parts of Perthshire. Just not in Arbroath - and probably not anywhere else along the Angus coast or Tay estuary at least as far west as Longforgan and Inchture in the 18th century.

In the Statistical Account of Scotland, the minister's first observation in the account of the parish of Dull (1793) is that 'the Celtic language [is] uniformly spoken here' but the minister of Inchture (1792) makes no reference to anyone speaking Celtic or Gaelic. He does mention the port of Polgovie.

[Ruskie]

If this were my family I would use some credits to view the sibling’s baptisms, though not really expecting to find any helpful information. However I would not like to suggest someone else use their credits to do so as the findings are not guaranteed. It may, or may not, help to check spelling interpretations of Isobel’s surname. 

A few thoughts:

Look for their deaths?  I don’t suppose you know who Agnes married and when she died? As she seems to be the youngest maybe she was long lived and made it to 1855. That might just confuse the issue with Isobel’s surname though as you might end up with another variant. This is unlikely to help with Robert and Isobel’s origins either.

As there does not seem to be a record of the marriage of Robert and Isobel, have you looked at other Gordons  or Balgivie families in Arbroath to see if these two fit in to any of them? 

Though there are not enough children to be useful have you considered the Scottish naming pattern?Third son is not Robert but the other two? 
 

[Rosinish]

In the Statistical Account of Scotland, the minister's first observation in the account of the parish of Dull (1793) is that 'the Celtic language [is] uniformly spoken here' but the minister of Inchture (1792) makes no reference to anyone speaking Celtic or Gaelic. He does mention the port of Polgovie.

Thanks Forfarian, that throws my theory/thought out the window, thinking the name may have derived from there initially somehow.

Sd, is it possible to take us back a few generations from 1900s with what you have with the info. on BMDs so we can see where the name morphs from Bal to Pol.

I've found so many variations of both spellings including vowel changes I'm sure I could shoe horn them in i.e. a slow path of change in spelling would be worth knowing?

Annie

[Ruskie]

I am guessing the Pol/Bal is more a variation of the same name than morphing? But who knows? 

It could be down to Isobel being from elsewhere hence the scribes not being familiar with the surname, or she not speaking clearly, and just different scribes interpretations ....

I thought that seeing the original baptismal entries might clarify spellings eg I thought in one baptism one of the Rs could be a V.

Just an idea. 

[Rosinish]

You are of course right Ruskie but I couldn't think of another way of putting things.

A B/P can sound very similar but I thought it might be worth exploring from earlier in case of a wrong route although hopefully not when we look at...

"Powgavie or Polgavie certainly has a feel of a Gaelic origin, but I am not sure how you would get from that to Begrie and variants, which is said in G F Black's Surnames of Scotland to be of territorial origin either from Balgray in Angus or Bagra near Banff."

Annie