Cindy: Janet is quite right, the abbreviation "Marg" may well be transcribed as "Mary". The Scotland's People website is generally very good at avoiding this error but it will depend on which sources you use and the quality of the record. Family Search uses transcribers across the globe and some of them don't have English as a first language so errors have crept in. FreeCEN has a fairly rigorous checking system but again errors like this may also arise. Given the period you are looking for Margaret's birth, it is quite possible that the record, even if there was one, no longer survives. Loss, damp and animal activity has destroyed many parish records, unfortunately. Bethany: Don't forget "Kitty". My wife had a cousin who had been Kitty all her life. We didn't know until we got her grandmother's death certificate on which she was the Informant, that Kitty's birth name was Christian not Katherine as we had assumed! We think she would have used her full name on official documents but other, not so official, references may have "Kitty" Regards Ray Hennessy www.whatsinaname.net On 1 October 2013 23:34, <[email protected]> wrote: > May was a very common nickname for Mary in the > past. Queen Mary, wife of King George V, was known > as May to her family. When I'm searching for > records of my gt-gt-grandmother Mary Willox > Clerihew, I search under both Mary and May, since > just asking for "name variants" doesn't pick it > up. Her name could have been given as either and > the person recording would accept it as given. > People were not as pedantic about name variations > and spellings in the past as they are now. (I have > another gt-gt-grandmother who appears as > Christian/Christina/Christine/Christiana/Chursty/Kirstie > throughout her life. None of these would be > considered an error, by her or anyone else.) > > Margaret Gibbs > > > > > On 01/10/2013 3:45 AM, Janet wrote: > > I dont see you have had a response; I dont think its wise to be > persuaded by any "tree" > > that cant provide source information. I have no conclusive answer but > you are part way > > there in having a burial record to enable you to trace backward, which > is what we do by > > default. Uncertainty is often the enduring situation. > > In 1851 I found one Joseph Ironside b abt 1793 who has Mary in his > household. The > > transcription states he was born in Old Deer, Banffshire and that Mary > Ironside is his > > spouse and her mother Margrat Wilson born 1769 who is also in the > household at South > > Street, Fetterangus, Aberdeenshire. In 1861 Joseph is aged 69 at Old > Deer with "May > > Ironside" (probably a mis transcriptin) You would now be able to > purchase his death > > certificate for them both to examine the evidence relating to them both; > hopefully it > > would give you the names of their parents and, possibly, a date of > marriage which may or > > may not be after. Of course, the information in the death certificate > is only as good as > > the Informant but it might help you reach a decision about what you > decide to do in your > > record keeping. > > Hope this helps. > > > > Janet > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Cindy Seibel" <[email protected]> > > > > > >> Hello listers. > >> > >> I'm wondering if someone might be able to help - either with > information or a path to > >> get it. > >> > >> I am looking for the Margaret Wilson that married Joseph Ironside 18 > Aug 1789 in Old > >> Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The name appears in two different family > trees using the > >> same birth record - b. 8 april 1759. The second tree marries her to > William Lillie 22 > >> Aug 1785 and d. 29 Sep 1820 (with record from New Deer cemetery > attesting). > >> > >> There is an 1851 census record showing Margaret living with her son > Joseph and his wife, > >> and her est. birth year is 1769 in Old Deer. Assuming this is actually > the correct birth > >> year, I still don't have a conclusive Old Deer birth record that > matches. There is an > >> Auchterless record in 1768 and 2 Old Deer records in 1765 and 1766. > >> > >> Is there a "best" way to match Margaret to her birth records, and > therefore her parents? > >> > >> Thanks for your help! > >> Cindy > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

On 02/10/2013 1:20 AM, Ray Hennessy wrote: > Cindy: Janet is quite right, the abbreviation "Marg" may well be > transcribed as "Mary". The Scotland's People website is generally very > good at avoiding this error but it will depend on which sources you use and > the quality of the record. I found "Mary" in an Ontario Genealogical Society transcription of a Canadian census for a great-grandmother really named Margaret. (Whether the work was done by OGS members or taken from another source, I don't know.) Looking at a copy of the microfilmed original, I probably would have transcribed the blurred handwriting of "Marg" as "Mary" myself had I not known her real name. > > Bethany: Don't forget "Kitty". My wife had a cousin who had been Kitty > all her life. We didn't know until we got her grandmother's death > certificate on which she was the Informant, that Kitty's birth name was > Christian not Katherine as we had assumed! We think she would have used > her full name on official documents but other, not so official, references > may have "Kitty" And there are other nicknames for Christian, which is what appears on my gt-gt-grandmother's christening record. I was just listing the variants I'd found for her in her christening, marriage, census, and death records. Her husband registered her death as "Christina", although my grandfather said he never heard him call his wife anything but "Kirsty" -- or "my love" -- and on her marriage certificate she signed her name quite clearly as "Christianna". The family joke was that she decided to "frilly up" her name to match her wedding gown :-) . Margaret Gibbs > > > On 1 October 2013 23:34, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> May was a very common nickname for Mary in the >> past. Queen Mary, wife of King George V, was known >> as May to her family. When I'm searching for >> records of my gt-gt-grandmother Mary Willox >> Clerihew, I search under both Mary and May, since >> just asking for "name variants" doesn't pick it >> up. Her name could have been given as either and >> the person recording would accept it as given. >> People were not as pedantic about name variations >> and spellings in the past as they are now. (I have >> another gt-gt-grandmother who appears as >> Christian/Christina/Christine/Christianna/Chursty/Kirstie >> throughout her life. None of these would be >> considered an error, by her or anyone else.) >> >> Margaret Gibbs >> >> >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >