Hello!
i am new to research in Scotland, but have already been to the Scotland's People site and looked in the parish records before that. the date and name I have above come from family records passed down by aunts, which have been pretty accurate. I can not find this Robert.
What I have found is a Robert who dies in 1821. I found his will on Scotland's People and downloaded it. This older Robert is a shipowner and owns shares in several ships, half share in a general store in Alloa, McFarlane and Sons, and a share in a rope making company. He is on his second wife, Janet, and his first wife appears to be Elizabeth Morrison. His sons are named James, from Elizabeth, John, Thomas, William and Alexander and a daughter, Janet, who marries Andrew Roy who is a brewer in Alloa. both James and Thomas have sons named Robert who are specifically mentioned in the will and receive small legacies. Alexander, the youngest son, is the executor. I think this may be because my Robert, the younger one born in 1807 ends up in New Brunswick, Canada and then Camden, Maine. Perhaps all the older brothers emigrated to Canada? The records in New Brunswick are terrible with census not starting until 1881 and almost lists of passenger ships and they were not goiing to a new country, were they? Scotland and Canada are both part of the UK. So, what if a child was born at sea? My Robert, born in 1807, claims Alloa, but he may have been born on one of his grandfather's ships or some other ship. And, I have read how registration of BMD was taxed from 1783-1793. The family seems well enough off based on the inventory in the will, but maybe his birth was not registered.
So, I am looking for evidence for an 1807 birth for Robert McFarlane whose father is probably Thomas and also for any evidence to connect the older Robert to the younger one. Naming patterns are suggestive in this case, but that is not conclusive, of course. Any help, online, by mail, etc, is welcome.
Julie Aagard
P.S. I have not found a headstone or death record for the older Robert. I know he dies in April of 1821, from the will. I have looked at memento-mori.co.uk and he does not seem to be in any of those indexes. I looked in Clackmannan and in Stirling.
