marriage OPR Edinburgh 1725, double entry??

[patval]

Hello,

I am researching my husbands Macdonald line and I have managed with confirmed evidence to get back to Hugh Macdonald c1700 through sasines and kirk sessions.

We have a confirmed marriage for Hugh to a Christian Kirk in Dornoch in 1738, previous to living in Dornoch Hugh is recorded as being a writer in Edinburgh (evidence gained from Kirk sessions). He had a daughter Margaret we estimate to have been born around 1730 prior to his marriage to Christian (they went on to have daughters Lilias 1739 and Isobel 1741.)

I have discovered two marriage entries for a Hugh Macdonald in two different Parishes of Edinburgh at the same time, one is quite legible, the other is not, can anyone help me to decipher these, I am thinking that the couple attended two different churches as I have seen banns placed in two different churches but not marriages.

The female is recorded as Ann(e) Morrisson, however this surname has different spelling as does Hugh Macdonald... Help and thoughts on this couple would be very much appreciated.

Regards Patricia

[patval]

This is the second record, I couldn't post both for some reason files too large..


Patricia

[djct59]

The Society of Writers to the Signet in Edinburgh has a fairly good archive, so you might like to contact them at the Signet Library to see what records they retain for Hugh MacDonald W.S.

[patval]

Hi,
I purchased an old book entitled "History of the Society of Writers to his Majesty's Signet" a few years ago it was printed in 1936, it has numerous names and some going back to the 1600's but Hugh isn't mentioned. However I will contact the Signet Library for some advice.. Thank you very much.

Patricia

[GR2]

The spelling differences don't matter as there was no consistency in spelling then.

Unless a "marriage" record in an OPR actually states that a couple were married and gives the date of the marriage, what you have recorded is the initial contract, i.e. when the session clerk wrote their names in the register as intending to marry. This, as you say, was done in both parishes when the couple did not come from the same one. The actual marriage only took place in one parish (usually the bride's one), but the banns were read in both, hence the two entries.

[patval]

So both these entries are for the same couple.  Thank you for your help.

Patricia,