Anne Evans wrote: > Hello all On a very indistinctly copy of the hand written > certificate of marriage my George Thompson Morrison states he was > born in Aberdeen, Scotland. States his father George Thompson > Morrison and mother Margaret formerly Henderson. Geo. would have > been born about 1820-22. Also indistinct. I have not been able to > find any family with the right combination of names and dates. He was > married in Victoria, Australia in 1857 to Sarah Willis. They came to > NZ and I have problems there too but not on this list. !!!! Any > direction as to where next would be most welcome. Do you know when he came to Australia? It might be worth checking whether you can find him in the 1851 Census in Scotland. This is available via transcriptions of variable quality (and cost to access) but I would try www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, the online arm of the Registrar General, who holds the original records, and offers images of them online. One cautionary thought - do you know what the Australian registrar asked concerning "Place of Birth"? In Scotland, this is always given in terms of parish, which narrows things down quite well - but "Aberdeen" is not the name of a parish. My suspicion is that on his Marriage Certificate, "Aberdeen" might mean, in effect "the nearest large town that was near your birthplace and that a non-Scot might have heard." Regarding the names themselves - did George (b 1820-22) have exactly the same name as his father? And did they both have ThomPson (with a "P" as a the middle name? Middle names were not common in Scotland in the early 19th century, and "Thomson" is much more commonly found in Scotland without the intrusive "P". So when searching, I would look for "George Thomson" (although, of course, that was a relatively common name). Gavin Bell

Hi Gavin, I have just read your reply regarding parishes and names where born, My great x 3 grandfather William Grant was listed as born in Aberdeen on the 1851 England census, and he stated that he was 55, I know I can't assume that he was born in Aberdeen, but do you think its worth a try? Also on his son Edwin's birth certificate it was noted that his occupation was a sawyer previously with the Merchant Service. Regards Marion Sydney Australia On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 7:51 PM, Gavin Bell <g.bell@which.net> wrote: > Anne Evans wrote: > > Hello all On a very indistinctly copy of the hand written > > certificate of marriage my George Thompson Morrison states he was > > born in Aberdeen, Scotland. States his father George Thompson > > Morrison and mother Margaret formerly Henderson. Geo. would have > > been born about 1820-22. Also indistinct. I have not been able to > > find any family with the right combination of names and dates. He was > > married in Victoria, Australia in 1857 to Sarah Willis. They came to > > NZ and I have problems there too but not on this list. !!!! Any > > direction as to where next would be most welcome. > > > Do you know when he came to Australia? It might be worth checking > whether you can find him in the 1851 Census in Scotland. This is > available via transcriptions of variable quality (and cost to access) > but I would try www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, the online arm of the > Registrar General, who holds the original records, and offers images of > them online. > > One cautionary thought - do you know what the Australian registrar asked > concerning "Place of Birth"? In Scotland, this is always given in > terms of parish, which narrows things down quite well - but "Aberdeen" > is not the name of a parish. My suspicion is that on his Marriage > Certificate, "Aberdeen" might mean, in effect "the nearest large town > that was near your birthplace and that a non-Scot might have heard." > > Regarding the names themselves - did George (b 1820-22) have exactly the > same name as his father? And did they both have ThomPson (with a "P" as > a the middle name? Middle names were not common in Scotland in the > early 19th century, and "Thomson" is much more commonly found in > Scotland without the intrusive "P". So when searching, I would look for > "George Thomson" (although, of course, that was a relatively common name). > > > Gavin Bell > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Marion