On 08/08/2013 00:16, Sharon wrote: > Hi folks > > I have been doing some research on a friend's family in Stirling - in > particular Bothkennar and Larbert. > > The other day I was looking at Bothkennar OPRs and found entries I have > never seen before. > > 1) There are pages of entries for parishioners getting "testimonials" from > the church. Some say "got" some say "bought". I am just wondering the > reason for these testimonials. I imagine the people concerned were intending to move to a different parish. If so, a favourable "testimonial" would get them off on the right foot with the Minister and Session in that parish. > > 2) The second thing I found very confusing. There are also pages of lair > transactions. I totally understand the purchase of lair/s, but there are > also folk selling their lairs (with headstones) to others. Does anyone know > about this practice? I've never heard of this. I have occasionally seen a gravestone where the initial inscription is followed (usually after a gap of years) by additional names which appear to have no connection with the earlier ones. I had always supposed this indicated a process of "unofficial colonisation" but it sounds as if, in some places, there was a regular trade in surplus lairs. Are there recorded Memorial Inscriptions for Bothkennar? And if so, is it possible to link any of the inscriptions to the lair transactions? Gavin Bell

Sharon It is not uncommon for the ownership of lairs to be transferred to a surviving member of the family when the original purchaser of the lair dies. In the burial book of Old Keith cemetery which lists the ownership of all the lairs there is frequent mention of the "transfer" of the lair to another person and frquently of a different family. What kind of transaction took place and whether there was payment involved is not clear and I would only be speculating! In many cases it would appear that the original purchaser of the lair did not have family and some of the lairs are substantial. Have a look at http://keith-heritage.webplus.net/1829%20Book.pdf and you will see what I mean. For anyone with ancestors from Keith this website is a treasure trove George George Brander Torre de la Horadada España On 8 August 2013 11:11, Gavin Bell <[email protected]> wrote: > On 08/08/2013 00:16, Sharon wrote: > > Hi folks > > > > I have been doing some research on a friend's family in Stirling - in > > particular Bothkennar and Larbert. > > > > The other day I was looking at Bothkennar OPRs and found entries I have > > never seen before. > > > > 1) There are pages of entries for parishioners getting "testimonials" > from > > the church. Some say "got" some say "bought". I am just wondering the > > reason for these testimonials. > > I imagine the people concerned were intending to move to a different > parish. If so, a favourable "testimonial" would get them off on the > right foot with the Minister and Session in that parish. > > > > > 2) The second thing I found very confusing. There are also pages of > lair > > transactions. I totally understand the purchase of lair/s, but there are > > also folk selling their lairs (with headstones) to others. Does anyone > know > > about this practice? > > I've never heard of this. I have occasionally seen a gravestone where > the initial inscription is followed (usually after a gap of years) by > additional names which appear to have no connection with the earlier > ones. I had always supposed this indicated a process of "unofficial > colonisation" but it sounds as if, in some places, there was a regular > trade in surplus lairs. > > Are there recorded Memorial Inscriptions for Bothkennar? And if so, is > it possible to link any of the inscriptions to the lair transactions? > > > Gavin Bell > > ------------------------------- > 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 08/08/2013 4:14 AM, George Brander wrote: > Sharon > It is not uncommon for the ownership of lairs to be transferred to a > surviving member of the family when the original purchaser of the lair dies. > In the burial book of Old Keith cemetery which lists the ownership of all > the lairs there is frequent mention of the "transfer" of the lair to > another person and frquently of a different family. What kind of > transaction took place and whether there was payment involved is not clear > and I would only be speculating! In many cases it would appear that the > original purchaser of the lair did not have family and some of the lairs > are substantial. I have only anecdotal information for this, in a 1960s letter from a relative who had visited my paternal grandfather's ancestral part of Stirlingshire, but she said she'd found a "change of occupants" in the cemetery there. Our ancestors were from the wife's first marriage. All seven of her children of that marriage emigrated to North America between 1790-1805. Her first husband (my 4xgt-grandfather) died and the widow, in late middle age, remarried to a widower with another large family. Since the rest of the lair was not going to be used by her own children now living (and eventually dying) in the New World, her second husband's family took over the space for their own descendants. I don't know if there was any formal transaction involved, or if they just gradually moved in. Margaret Gibbs

Gavin and George An extract from the Bothkennar re the sale of the lairs: ** I William Paterson freely sets and disponds to John Walker in the Parish of Bothkenr my Rights and Property of two headstones with the burying Places belonging to the said Stones in Bothkennar Churchyard, which I here sind over. Bothkenr 13th Nov 1761 John Walker Sailor [xx] hath taken out the two old headstones and put in new ones, to his Lairs which he hath in the Churchyard of Bothkenr. .... ** Gavin, I believe that the Society has the MI's for Bothkennar - I feel I may just have to purchase a copy. Sharon