John Barrie (1685 - 1738)

[Rachel J]

Hi,

On joining Ancestry, I discovered that others had already completed trees for both sides of my family based on their research. As I’ve been exploring these for myself though, I have struggled to find evidence for the parentage of  John Barrie (born May 1685 in Dalziel, Lanarkshire, died September 1738).

The tree lists his father as John Barrie (1655 – 1685), but I have been unable to find any evidence for this, and saw one record of a John Barrie, christened in Lanarkshire on 17th May 1685, son of William Barrie and Agnes Baird. I am unsure how to check which of these is accurate. 
 
Thank you so much in advance for any help or information you can give.

[Forfarian]

The first and most important thing is never trust anything you find on Ancestry*, especially in an online tree, unless it's an image of an original certificate.

The second thing is that the only source of most original records of Scottish people is www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk - no matter where you found a piece of information, if it isn't matched by a record there, be suspicious, and very cautious.

Unfortunately the pre-1855 church records are far from comprehensive. Baptism and marriages can be, and often are, missing, for a variety of reasons ranging from the people involved failing to have the event recorded to the original registers not having survived, so it is never safe to assume that the only possible candidate is the right person.

*Or any of the other commercial web sites Like MyHeritage, FindMyPast and the like.

[ColC]

Church Records on SP Dalziel.

Births: 1648 – 1854 Marriages: 1654 – 1854 Deaths: 1697 – 1749

These records below are from 1648 – 1749, you can search for free, once signed up, small fee to view.

Birth/baptism
BARIE   JOHN   JOHN BARIE   16/03/1712   DALZIEL

Marriages
BARIE   JOHN   JEAN COCHRAN   15/01/1702   DALZIEL
BARRIE   JOHN   JEAN FORGIE   09/02/1710   DALZIEL

Deaths.
BARRIE   JOHN   20/09/1738   DALZIEL

BARRIE   JEAN   DYKS / WILLIAM BARRIE   27/07/1722   DALZIEL
BARRIE   JEAN   FORGIE / JOHN BARRIE   01/12/1725   DALZIEL

BARIE   WILLM   -----   04/08/1744   DALZIEL
BARRIE   ALEXANDER   JOHN BARRIE   15/03/1722   DALZIEL

In later years the name sometimes spelt as Barry.

Colin

[Rachel J]

Thank you both so much for your help. Yes, I'm very new to genealogy but I'm already learning that Ancestry trees aren't necessarily the most trustworthy!

Thank you so much for letting me know about Scotland's People. I hadn't heard of the site before. And thank you, Colin, for checking the church records for me. I'll keep exploring!