Lookup for Kilgour or Pearson in Cupar deeds

[discovery]

Hi Rootschatters,

Does anyone have access to the Cupar deeds who could lookup any mentions of Kilgour or Pearson (and variations).

Thanks,

Sue

[Forfarian]

That's a very simple question but the answer is very complicated.

It depends what you mean by 'deeds' and what period of time you are talking about.

If you mean title deeds for property, the documents recording changes of ownership of land, buildings etc are called Sasines. Most of these are in the National Records of Scotland, and are indexed after a fashion. However some burghs kept their own Registers of Sasines, and I don't know if this applies to Cupar and if so where the Cupar Sasines are - though it wouldn't be hard to find out. Some older sasines have not survived at all. See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=26232.0 for more information about the sasines. What it boils down to is that if you are looking for (a) sasine(s) in the County of Fife, and assuming that the one(s) you want have survived and are in the NRS, it shouldn't take very long to find it/them.

See also https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/sasines

If, on the other hand, you are looking for some other sort of deed, the Registers of Deeds are in chronological order, and only some years are indexed (in paper volumes, not digitised). If, for example, you are looking for a deed in the early 18th century, and it's not in any of the years for which an index is available, it would be necessary to order all the relevant books of original documents and read through them page by page. That could be a very long job as each book can have hundreds of pages (and some of the handwriting can be difficult to decipher).

See also https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/deeds

There are lots of other wrinkles but those will do for a start.

So please expand on your original request - full names, how they are connected to one another, all associated dates, which parish you think they are associated with, and what sort of deed. The more detail you provide, the easier it will be to assess the likelihood or ease of finding what you want, and where to look for it.

[Margow]

I wonder if you are perhaps referring to "DEEDS 1809-1900 Registered with The Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar" published in 3 parts by the Fife Family History Society in 1999?    Part 2 (Hardie- Scotland) contains several index references to Kilgour between 1815 and 1866 and to Pearson between 1815 and 1897.

Providing names, dates, parishes, etc would help to narrow down these references.

[WMO]

Hello Sue,
There is also another listing of the Cupar Deeds 1809 - 1900 at
https://www.oldscottish.com/register-deeds.html OldScottish.
The https://fifefhs.org/ Fife Family History Society has, on their website, resources for members including
Cupar Deeds 1716-1862 (3 Pearson or Kilgour entries); and
Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar Deeds 1715-1809 (12 entries referring to Pearson and 22 entries referring to Kilgour).
Hope this helps.
Bill

[discovery]

Thank you all for your replies - they are very useful. I was referring to DEEDS 1809-1900 Registered with The Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar. My goal to is confirm or find the parentage of the two Roberts and I was hoping that deeds might give some clues. Earlier deeds (pre-1800) may be more useful in this case). Thank you for the information re Sasines. I think they were tenants so hopefully sasines may exist with some information. Unfortunately, I live on the other side of the world from Scotland so any research in archives will need to wait for a planned trip in a few years.
Robert Kilgour (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kilgour-265) was estimated to be born about 1767 and died between 1799 (when his youngest son was born) and 1851 (when his wife was described as a widow on the 1851 census (sadly the 1841 census for Cupar has been lost). Robert was living in Logie, Fife, when he married Lillas (or Lille) Pearson/Pierson (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pearson-5718) on the 24th of May 1751 in Dunfermline. His children were all baptised in Kinglassie, Fife. Robert was a farmer in Bowhouse of Pitlochie. Robert Kilgour's sons: James Robert and John all married daughters of Robert Pearson and Agnes Sibbald.

Robert Pearson (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pearson-5863) was possibly born on the 9th August 1774 in Dunfermline, the son of Robert Pearson and Margaret Begbie. I can't find Lillie/Lillias Pearsons baptism so do not know if they were related (although it seems likely). Robert married Agnes Sibbald on the 25th December 1796 in Cupar, Fife and was buried on the 6th of February 1829 in Cupar. Their children were all baptised in Cupar. Robert Pearson has variously been described as a farmer, baker, millmaster and corn dealer, possibly of Thomaston (https://fife-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/placename/?id=2711).

Thank you,

Hopefully, this extra information helps.

Sue
Aotearoa/New Zealand

[WMO]

Hello Sue,
Robert Kilgour -
I have another suggestion for Logie - there is a Logie farm and estate just west of Dunfermline
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16.5&lat=56.06164&lon=-3.48288&layers=6&right=ESRIWorld
and
https://maps.nls.uk/view/216390043 - in 1775 - just under the large DUN for Dunfermline.
At this time it was in a detached part of Inverkeithing parish surrounded by Dunfermline parish.
The wording of the OPR for his marriage is "[1791 May] 7th Robert Kilgour Tenant late in Logie and Lillie Pierson both in this Parish gave in their names for proclamation in order to marriage and being regularly proclaimed and no objections made they were married 24th May"  (OPR Marriages Dunfermline 424 / 1/ 250). (1791 not 1751 as you stated). I admit the OPR is capable of being read several ways, but I think that it would be more likely to refer to this Logie which is quite close (and probably assumed by most local people to be a part of Dunfermline parish) rather than Logie parish which is some distance away.
There are certainly a lot of Kilgours in the Dunfermline area (and especially in the non-Church of Scotland records) so this may be an area worth considering.
Good luck in your quest.
Regards,
Bill

[discovery]

Thanks Bill. I will follow up on the Dunfermline Logie for Kilgours. As you said it does make sense that it would be the Dunfermline.

Regards,

Sue