Dear listers Having found the Devon-L very useful, it was great to see there was also one for Aberdeen. I wonder if anyone might be able to help. My 3x Great Grandparents, Simon McKenzie and Christian Mitchell, were married in July 1835 in Tullynessle. Simon McKenzie was described on the church record as 'in the Parish of Tough, and Christian Mitchell, of this Parish, were married'. They had 2 children, Mary McKenzie, born 1835 (yes it would appear she was conceived out of wedlock) and a son, Simon McKenzie, born in 1837. However, by the time of the 1841 census, both children were living with their maternal Grandmother. On the 1851 census, they are living with their aunt and uncle. On their daughters marriage certificate in 1857, both parents were listed as deceased. I can only presume they both died between 1837 and 1857. I can find NO record of their death, nothing at all, and nor can another cousin who has been researching the family. Christian was born in 1807 in Tullynessle, we can find no birth for Simon. Would anyone know anything of this family or would anyone have any ideas as to why no death records can be found, and any ideas on where I might do next?? Looking forward in anticipation Thanks Andrew McKenzie in Devon.

Andrew McKenzie wrote: > Dear listers > > Having found the Devon-L very useful, it was great to see there was also one > for Aberdeen. I wonder if anyone might be able to help. My 3x Great > Grandparents, Simon McKenzie and Christian Mitchell, were married in July > 1835 in Tullynessle. Simon McKenzie was described on the church record as > 'in the Parish of Tough, and Christian Mitchell, of this Parish, were > married'. They had 2 children, Mary McKenzie, born 1835 (yes it would > appear she was conceived out of wedlock) and a son, Simon McKenzie, born in > 1837. However, by the time of the 1841 census, both children were living > with their maternal Grandmother. On the 1851 census, they are living with > their aunt and uncle. On their daughters marriage certificate in 1857, both > parents were listed as deceased. I can only presume they both died between > 1837 and 1857. > > I can find NO record of their death, nothing at all, and nor can another > cousin who has been researching the family. Christian was born in 1807 in > Tullynessle, we can find no birth for Simon. > > Would anyone know anything of this family or would anyone have any ideas as > to why no death records can be found, and any ideas on where I might do > next?? The Registrar General for Scotland, with whom, under the legislation setting up civil registration, all pre-1855 Registers were deposited, produced a detailed report on these which was published in 1872, and this can explain many of the gaps we find in the record. The notes for the parish of Tough suggest that, in general terms, the Registers of the parish were not very methodically kept, with many "irregular" entries being made some time after the events they record, and consequently being at the wrong place in the Register. It is also specifically stated that there were "only two entries Aug 1805- March 1807" which sounds as if it could well cover the time of Simon's birth. The same notes further make clear that there were never any death records for Tullynessle. This is a not unusual situation. The parishes of the Kirk of Scotland were under a theoretical (but not very efficiently-policed) obligation to keep Registers of Baptism and Marriage, but there was no equivalent obligation to record deaths. Some parishes maintained records of payments for the use of the Mortcloth, but the Registrar General was empowered to impound these also, so if he listed no kind of death records for Tullynessle, then we can be fairly sure they never existed. There are death records for Tough, with one sequence covering 1834-54. The Registrar notes that "Many of the entries in this Record contain information respecting the history and connections of the deceeased persons ..." so I should be inclined to check whether there is any mention of Simon's death there - people did sometimes "go home" to be buried. Incidentally, while I don't think it helps with the current question, you may, in tracing Christian's family, fall foul of the rather complicated history of Tullynessle as a parish. It was, in fact, one of a group of 4 parishes which seem to have played a kind of musical chairs, the other three being Auchindoir, Forbes and Kearn. Until the early 1800s, Forbes and Kearn formed a single parish, but at some date between 1808 and 1811 that union was dissolved, with Kearn joining Auchindoir, and Forbes joining Tullynessle. Most of the pre-1808/11 records from Forbes and Kearn seem to have ended up with Tullynessle, but it means that there are, within the "Tullynessle" records, overlapping Registers for (a) Tullynessle proper, (b) Forbes and Kearn and (c) Tullynessle and Forbes. Gavin Bell