Looking for any connections backward or better information on John McFarlane of Rutherglen and Janet Taylor, married November 1843; I find notices in Barony for the 5 of November and in Rutherglen the 24 of November, I presume the earlier is banns.
No. Both are banns. What this means is that one of the couple lived in Barony and the other in Rutherglen at the time of the marriage, so the banns had to be called in both parishes, resulting in two records of the same marriage. Theyt may or may not give the date and place of the actual marriage ceremony.
You need to look at both records to see who lived in which parish, and then try to find them in the 1841 census.
Also, what were the names of all their children, in order of birth? This can be useful when trying to work out who their parents were, because there was a naming tradition:
First daughter after mother's mother
First son after father's father
Second daughter after father's mother
Second son after mother's father
Third daughter after mother
Third son after father
It's not infallible because not every couple followed it, but it can help.
