Wha saw the 42nd?

Folk songs often have a lot more to them than meets the eye - a song of the Black Watch is "Wha Saw the 42nd?" ("Who saw the 42nd?"), but this was in fact a reworking of a Jacobite song called "Wha Wedna Fecht for Charlie?" ("Who wouldn't fight for Charlie?") - the Black Watch were very much an anti-Jacobite militia in origin! Here's my youngest son Jamie giving it lally....!



Thanks wee man! (He's been practising it for a Burns competition!)

Chris

Who's the wife?!

Here is an interesting newspaper story from the Edinburgh based Caledonian Mercury, Monday July 23rd 1849, concerning a man with two irregular wives - or is that two wives from irregular marriages?! You decide! Both women tried to claim that they were the wife of the same man at the Court of Session:

Both parties belong to Glasgow. Mr B-- , a young man of considerable property, resident in that city, eloped with a young girl of seventeen, E--, the daughter of an innkeeper there, named M--. The parties proceeded to Edinburgh by the railway, on the 21st July 1846, and went to the Albion Hotel, where they occupied separate apartments for the night. On the following day they waited upon a solicitor who prepared a formal contract of marriage, which was signed before witnesses, and B-- wrote to several of his relations announcing his marriage. There was no religious ceremony; but the parties proceeded to Kirkcaldy, and lived together at the George Hotel, for three days and three nights, during which they slept together.

Immediately thereafter, B-- deserted the young woman E-- M-- , and went off to live with another woman of the name of J- McD-, with whom it was alleged he had formerly cohabited. A declarator of marriage was then brought by E-- M-- against Mr B--, for establishing her rights as his wife. The proof led, consisted of the contract and correspondence, and the cohabitation of the parties for several days at Kirkcaldy, and Lord Wood found the marriage to be clearly established, by an interlocutor on the 5th June 1849.

The case came before the First Division of the court by a reclaiming note at B--’s instance, on Tuesday last (the 17th July). It was then stated by the counsel for B--, that J-- McD-- the daughter of a dyer in Glasgow, had raised a declarator of marriage against him, setting forth that they had been married, by mutual consent, in the end of May 1846; and that two children had been born of the marriage, one in March 1848, and the other in May 1849.; and he moved the court to delay giving judgement in the action at E-- M--’s instance till the claim put forward by J-- McD-- was disposed of.

The court overruled this motion, and adhered to Lord Wood’s interlocutor, finding the marriage between E-- M-- and B-- to be clearly established, and without giving any opinion on the claim of McD-- , which was not then regularly before them.

Here is an instance of two irregular and clandestine marriages said to have been contracted by parties belonging to Glasgow, and where two women are each laying claim to the same man. After about three years’ litigation, one of the women succeeds in getting a judgment declaring her marriage with B-, but in place of having her status conclusively fixed by this decision, she finds the whole case re-opened by her competitor, J-- McD--, who pretends to have a prior claim to B--, in respect of an alleged irregular marriage of an earlier date; and the position of wife and children is thus left in a state of lamentable uncertainty till another litigation has run its course.

You won't find every Scots marriage in the church records pre-1855. But you will find more about how to locate them in my forthcoming book, Discover Scottish Church Records, coming soon from Unlock the Past! (UPDATE: now available from www.unlockthepast.com.au or in ebook format from http://www.gen-ebooks.com)

Chris

How many Scottish church denominations?

If you are having problems trying to find a pre-1855 birth in Scottish parish records, here's a wee eye opener as to why that might be. The ScotlandsPeople website only hosts the registers of the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic churches. But there were plenty more!

The following is a list of church denominations, and the number of premises they had, as returned for the Religious Worship Census of 1851, taken alongside the main decennial census on March 30th-31st.

Established Church 904
Reformed Presbyterian Church 37
Original Secession Church 30
Relief Church 2
United Presbyterian Church 427
Free Church 824

Episcopal Church 112
Independents or Congregationalists 168
Baptists 100
Society of Friends 6
Unitarians 5
United Brethren, or Moravians 1

Wesleyan Methodists:
* Original Connexion 61
* Primitive Methodists 10
* Independent Methodists 1
* Wesleyan Reformers 1

Glassites, or Sandemanians 6
New Church 5
Campbellites 1
Evangelical Union 27

Isolated Congregations:
* Various 8
* Common 2
* Unsectarian 1
* City Mission 7
* Christians 7
* Christian Disciples 14
* Christian Reformation 1
* Reformed Christians 1
* Free Christian Brethren 1
* Primitive Christians 2
* Protestants 4
* Reformation 1
* Reformed Protestants 1
* Separatists 1
* Christian Chartists 1
* Denomination not stated 6

Roman Catholics 104
Catholic and Apostolic Church 3
Latter Day Saints, or Mormons 20
Jews 1

(Extracted from Table A: Summary of the Whole of Scotland, p.2-3, from Histpop at http://tinyurl.com/4aj2uw7)

So just a few more denominations to think about!

For more information on how to find the registers of those other denominations I have written a book entitled Discover Scottish Church Records for Australian based genie venture Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au). Available in paperback from www.gould.com.au/Discover-Scottish-Church-Records-p/utp0281.htm and in ebook format at www.gen-ebooks.com.

Chris

The Paton Pride

There's a bit of a joke in my family about a long running trait on the Paton side of the family. A few years ago I met one of my first cousins in London for the first time, and one of the first questions I asked him was whether his father shared a certain characteristic that my father did - the 'Paton Pride'? He instantly knew what I was referring to without me having to explain it - the answer was a resounding yes...!

Basically, my father won't do anything he doesn't want to do, and is more than happy to speak his mind. He'll listen to anyone making a fair argument, but for those talking just to hear the sound of their own voice, he won't listen for much longer! I share the trait to an extent, and by the way my youngest son is beginning to look at me, there is definitely a case forming of history about to repeat itself!

But how far back does the Paton Pride go, and how widespread is it amongst the 'clan'?! I had to laugh a few years ago when I found a record concerning my four times great grandfather, William Paton, a weaver in Perth who had been signed up to serve in Breadalbane's Fencibles. A Sergeant MacKay was doing the recruiting, and ran into a spot of bother, as the following letter he received from Edinburgh Castle, and held within the Breadalbane Muniments (GD 112) at the National Archives of Scotland, showed. The question - "Where are my troops?"!:

Perth, 24th March 1797

Sir,

I had the honour to receive your two letters and in answer to the first letter, I wrote the commanding officer mentioning that the most of my party were weavers by trade and some of them were committed to stay until they should find security to finish and work the webs they had in the looms at the time they were inlisted; and indeed the greatest part of them had webs incurring fines at that period, which they were obliged to finish, therefore I could not get them away until all these points were settled; but now I think it will be in my power to march 8 recruits from here on the 28th March to head quarters, and I expect they will arrive there in due time.

I have the honour to be

Sir, your humble servant

Robert McKay,
Sergeant 2nd Battalion, 4th Fencibles

Possibly the threat of a fine was holding him back, but I like to think that William had decided he wasn't going anywhere until he was good and ready!

In another example, when the First World War broke out, my great grandfather elected to remain in Brussels to look after his shoe shop. The decision costs him his life two years later during the occupation, and a family letter states after "what a pity he didn't leave when he could". I can imagine the conversation - "No bloody Bosch is going to make me give up my shop...!"

The Paton Pride seems to have been long established - but how widespread is it?!

Earlier today however, I received an email from someone containing a Daily Telegraph obituary from 1992 for the Reverend David MacDonald Paton, my father's second cousin. David was something of a high flyer within the Anglican Church, some said one of the greatest archbishops the church never had, but he never made it to such a high office, settling instead for a role as one of the present Queen's chaplains for eleven years. The reason for his apparent failure? Here's an extract:

"Yet after 10 years of fine service at Church House - which included acting as an adviser to Archbishop Michael Ramsey, a close personal friend - Paton was denied the senior appointment for which he was so admirably equipped...

"The Archbishops of Canterbury and York pleaded his cause with the Secretary of Appointments at Downing Street and with bishops who had patronage at their disposal. But all to no avail.

"The reason for Paton's failure to secure a cathedral canonry or even deanery is not clear. It was sometimes suggested that he spoke too freely and too frankly..."

Of course, being ex-BBC, I know only too well the dangers of single sources for stories. So, erm - here's the Guardian's take!

"Canon David Paton, who has died at the age of 78, was arguably the most far-sighted English Anglican this century and yet was denied any influential post, let alone a bishopric. Did his outspoken understanding of contemporary issues and his sharp insight into people make him a threat to people responsible for easing round pegs into round holes?"

A potentially definite pattern emerging there then?!

So the Patons of old and far may share the same Y-chromosome, but do we also share the same sense of individuality?

Haha - for my boys, I say "hopefully!" Even if you open your mouths and say something inconvenient to the listener but which you passionately believe in, go for it (just make sure it's legal! lol)

Be yourselves and listen to no man - and long live the Paton Pride!!!

Chris

Disclaimer - I can offer no scientific back up to this, but only the perspective of someone equally afflicted with the condition. Secondly, no animals were harmed in the making of this blog post. Thank you!

Haggis - the shocking truth...

I know it is Burns Night and all that, but there comes a time when one must reveal the horrors of our society in all their true manifestation. Personally I am a bit bah humbug about some of the stuff they'll have ye believe is a true representation of Scottish culture (they'll be inventing religion next!).

However, tolerable as one has to be amidst such nonsense, I ABSOLUTELTY DRAW THE LINE at what some will do to fulfil such traditions.

Ladies and gentlemen, the terrifying evidence...
Not from this wee shuggie actually... this is from Mr Paton the Butcher, who lives down the road from me in Largs...!
Mr Paton - haggi have human rights also!
(Incidentally, Mr Paton is a very lovely man, and I have researched his family tree for him, which can be seen on his website at www.patonbutchersayrshire.co.uk - and his haggis is nice!)

Chris

Away with the fairies

There are many ancient tales in Scotland and Ireland of the Daoine Sìth (pronounced "doonya shee", and known as the "aos sí" in Irish Gaelic), the mythical supernatural race of fairy folk said to live underground in fairymounds, who some believe to be descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Tribe of the Goddess Danu. To this day people who seem a little strange are often referred to as being "away with the fairies", and indeed there may well be some truth to it - the following photo shows me quite literally away with the fairies in Donegal about ten years ago...

Belief in the Sìth was extremely common in Highland Scotland, much to the disgust of the Kirk. The Kirk represented truth, as opposed to the paganism of such beliefs, and many ministers ranted against the nonsense of such tales.

Well, most of them did! The following is a recollection of an event in the Dumfriesshire parish of Kirkmichael from the First Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-1799 Vol xii. p.461), as recorded by the Reverend Dr. John Burgess M.A., and said to have happened half a century before:

"About fifty years ago, a clergyman in the neighbourhood, whose faith was more regulated by the scepticism of Philosophy than the credulity of Superstition, could not be prevailed upon to yield his assent to the opinion of the times. At length, however, he felt from experience, that he doubted what he ought to have believed. One night as he was returning home, at a late hour, from a presbytery, he was seized by the fairies, and carried aloft into the air. Through fields of aether and fleecy clouds he journeyed many a mile, descrying, like Sancho Panza on his Clavileno, the earth far distant below him, and no bigger than a nut-shell. Being thus sufficiently convinced of the reality of their existence, they let him down at the door of his own house, where he afterward often recited to the wondering circle the marvellous tale of his adventure."

(A fuller account can be found at http://tinyurl.com/64ot2m9)

So next time you feel like you're about to go away with the fairies, be assured the church has already confirmed their existence on your behalf!

Penny Weddings

The Scottish kirk had a very traditional outlook on things - if it was enjoyable, then the Calvinist medicine of "thou shalt not" should be applied. Wedding celebrations were most definitely a case in point.

According to George Penny's 1832 book "Traditions of Perth", there were three types of wedding prevalent in the 1830s in Perthshire - the free wedding, where only a few select friends were invited and the guests were not to be the cause of any expense; the dinner wedding, where a dinner was provided by the marriage party, and the penny wedding (also known as the penny bridal), where each guest contributed financially or by way of food towards the dinner and then paid for their own drink, and which by the end of the festivities (which could go on for several days) could yield a tidy profit for the newlyweds. The latter type of wedding was particularly common across rural Scotland, and virtually everyone in the parish was invited. Of course, the Kirk hated penny weddings, and there are plenty of scathing comments about them in the first Statistical Accounts recorded in the 1790s (online at http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sas.asp?action=public&passback=).

The Reverend Alexander Johnston, minister of Monquhitter in Aberdeenshire, noted in a supplement to his account that the "scene... which involved every amusement and every joy of an idle and illiterate age, was the Penny Bridal. When a pair were contracted they, for a stipulated consideration, bespoke the wedding dinner at a certain tavern, and then ranged the country in every direction to solicit guests. One, two, and even three hundred would convene on these occasions to make merry at their own expense for two or more days. This scene of feasting, drinking, dancing, wooing, fighting, was always enjoyed with the highest relish, and until obliterated by a similar scene, furnished ample materials for rural mirth and rural scandal. But now, the penny bridal is reprobated as an index of want and money and of want of taste."
The Kirk was never happy at the prospect of such fun at a wedding, and had for years been fighting to deter such activities. The following example of record of a marriage being contracted from Methel Hill in Fife on May 18th 1694 shows a good example from a century before (source: OPR M 459/00 0050 Wemyss 18 MAY 1694):

Patrick Dunsyre & Janet Lumbsdale

The whilk day was contracted in order to Marriage Patrick Dunsyre to Janet Lumbsdale both in ys paroch & pledged them [..] dolers & David Lambsdale in methel hill became caution yt yr sould not be promiseray dancing at yr wedding married 18 of may

In this case David Lambsdale was asked to be the 'cautioner' (pronounced 'kayshuner'), i.e. a 'guarantor' that there would be no 'promisary dancing' at the wedding!

There was also a great deal of superstition held onto at weddings. Some people refused to marry on the unlucky day of Friday, though in some parts this was a lucky day! Many also refused to marry in January or May, with May 14th in particular deemed to be particularly unlucky - many people noted the day of the week on which it fell and refused to marry on that same day when their ceremony took place later in the year. Conversely, for some, April and November were deemed to be extremely lucky months in which to marry! Many also refused to carry the proclamations of banns (which had to be called three times prior to a wedding) over into a new year, and for some even the nature of the moon or the tide was a factor in deciding when to perform the ceremony.

So when you find the date of your ancestors' weddings, there may be much more significance to the date chosen than at first may meet the 21st century eye, and the subsequent celebrations may have damned them for ever in the eyes of the very minister who performed the rites!!

UPDATE: My book Discover Scottish Church Records covers this and more - available from www.gould.com.au/Discover-Scottish-Church-Records-p/utp0281.htm

Chris