Trying to find the parents of John Davidson born 1771 in Botriphine

[lynellen]

Hello again
I've spent some time now doing more research on George Davidson. Although his death cert states John Davidson and Janet Smollet were his parents, I still cannot find a birth record for him. He gave his age as 38 on his son Alexander's birth certificate in 1855, which would mean he was born in 1817 (later than we all had been thinking).
John Davidson and Jannet Smollet had 10 children including George. He was the last born after Helen who was born in 1811. They were all born in Boyndie and all except George's birth was recorded.
This is making me consider the possibility that he was born to other parents and taken on by John and Janet and never knew differntly.
I have found a record in the Fordyce kirk sessions for September 1816 where an Elizabeth Fordyce, from Fordyce was with child by Alexander Davidson, who was a servant for her father at Craigmills (?). Elizabeth would have been only 14 at the time. John and Janet's son Alexander would have been around 19/20.
I have hunted high and low but cannot find a birth record for this child, but thought it was may answer the question of George's birth in 1817. Can anyone help with this please ?

[Forfarian]

The simplest explanation is that for some reason George's baptism record has not survived. There can be lots of reasons for this. I have seen it estimated that a third of early 19th century baptisms are not in the surviving records.

But it is indeed possible that this child is your George. Proving it beyond all reasonable doubt may not be possible.

Assuming that your Alexander married Jane McGregor (that being the only marriage of an AD in Banffshire in 1855), subtracting 38 from 1855 probably gives you the wrong answer, because the marriage was only a month or so into the year, and he would probably not yet have had his birthday in 1855, so his year of birth (if his age is accurate) would probably have been 1816 not 1817.

Have you considered the questions in Reply #1 above?


 

[lynellen]

Forgive me for butting in to this thread, it was originally posted by my Brother and between us we are researching our Davidson ancestors from Banffshire.
We are currently struggling to find John Davidson born around 1764 to 1771, guessing on those dates because of the birth of his children with Jannet Smout (Smollet, Smart).
Jannet was born to Alexander Smout and Margaret Gairden in 1768 in Blairshinnoch, she married John Davidson in 1791 in Banff. Jannet was given as living in Banff and John was from Boyndie.
Their first child Ann was born 5 months later in Culbeuchly and the next child was Alexander born 5 years later in Bleachfield of Boyndie in 1796. They had 9 recorded children all born in Whyntie and Brangan, Boyndie and then the last one which we are trying to trace, George Davidson. No record of his birth, but his death cert gives John and Jannet as his parents and says he was 50 in 1863.
I've been exploring all the John Davidson's born in Banffshire between those dates and think I've narrowed the possible parents down to 6 sets.....of which I've ruled out 3 sets because your earlier comments Forfarian made sense .

1. James and Helen Roy
John born Botriphnie 1771
Think this is too far away from Boyndie/Banff etc and a bit late as John would have only been 20 when his first child was born

2, John Davidson and Elizabeth Philp
John born Rathven 20 Jan 1772
Think this is also too late

3. John and Helen Troup
John born Marnoch 1772
Again a bit too late

4. James and Margaret Taylor
John born Cullen 1763

5. Alexander and Mart  (?) Richie
John born Marnoch 1767

6. James and Anne White
John born Gamrie 1758

There's a couple of others but thought it better to rule these out first

The only other clues we've have is an Alexander Davidson from Portsoy witnessed the birth of 2 of John and Jannet's children along with Alexander Smollet from Blairshinnoch.

Thanks for your reply Forfarian.
As for George Davidson, he's a mystery still needing to be solved.
If we work on the date /age he gave on his son's birth certificate, he was born in 1817 ish
He married, firstly Elizabeth Duff in Gamrie in 1837, they had 3 children, she died in 1844, he then married Margaret Booth in Gamrie in 1845. They went on to have 9 more children all born in Gamrie. George died in Gamrie in 1863.
If 1817 is correct for his birth, then John and Jannet would have been in their early 50's when he was born, not impossible, but maybe George is the son of Alexander born in 1796 to John and Jannet and he was brought up by them.
This Alexander didn't marry until 1850 when he would have been 54 years old.He married an Elspet Milne in Tullynessle and had one child by her, but adopted (?) her 3 children by someone else.
Complicated families!