For some years I've been trying to pin down the origin of my 4g-grandparents, George Fullerton and Margaret Pirie. Their memorial inscription suggests George was born in or about 1707 and Margaret about 1714. They first show up when their marriage was recorded in 1739 in the OPRs for Dunnichen and Dun, and they lived as the tenants of the Mains of Dun until 1758, after which they relocated with their large family to Benholm in Kincardine. Having gotten nowhere with solid documentation, I am now attempting to encircle the available data and methodically knock off the less-likely possibilities. I've already looked through the IGI (using familysearch.org) for all "George Fullertons" born in the early 1700s - there are only a couple, and only one born in 1707. Now I am searching for all Fullerton marriages in Scotland likely to produce a child in the 1707 time frame - basically from 1690 through 1710. Again there are surprisingly few - maybe 100 or so (including the marriage of the parents of the sole George born in 1707 and another Fullerton marriage in Dunnichen.) I'd be interested in any thoughts this forum might have regarding several questions: 1. Does this methodology have merit? 2. One weakness is that there are sometimes gaps in the data from the OPRs (Dun Parish is missing many years, for example). What else might affect my results? I know that the family was Protestant but what other religious groups might I be missing by relying on the IGI (which is extracted mostly from the OPRs?) 3. How far, geographically, should I be setting my boundaries. Initially I am looking at Fullerton marriages only in the northern portion of Angus and in Kincardine because that's where the known family lived and remained for nearly a century (although spreading considerably further in the third generation.) Was it common for a couple to meet and marry when their families were separated by more than perhaps 15 or 20 miles? The farthest apart I've found so far was a marriage between a Menmuir male and a Laurencekirk female, approximately 20 miles apart. 4. I'd appreciate any ideas on how I might refine this rather course approach. Thanks!

Hi Wallace Looking at all the available records is never going to help if your people happen not to be in the records. You can certainly form a hypothesis, and you can look for information which would confirm that hypothesis, but just because there is an obvious candidate doesn't mean that s/he is the right one. So 1. Yes, up to a poimt 2. Depends which denomination of Protestant they were. If they were C of S, the extant records are easily accessible, but if they were Episcopalian, or belonged to one of the dissenting Protestant denominations, you will have more of a problem. Also, in the early 18th century the RC records are very patchy, and there is no guarantee that a couple married in 1737 in the C of S didn't start out as RC or some other kind of Protestant. 3. Anywhere. It's fairly likely that your ancestors didn't move far, but on the other hand your one could be the one who moved from the south of England to the Mearns about 1700. Unlikely, I agree, but you can't exclude the possibility. 4. Do your searching/sorting of available data, then think about where to look to fill in the gaps. The archives of the Erskines of Dun, for example, are in the National Archives of Scotland and may contain references to your George. I found, for example, a letter from my umpteenth great-grandfather applying for the tenancy of a farm on Seafield Estates in 1771, and the Dun records might contain similar material. I also found an obituary of one Edward Sang (1805-1890) which recounted his descent from a farmer surnamed Sang in Aberdeenshire around 1700, via the gardener at the House of Dun and the Provost of Kirkcaldy. I have yet to trawl through the Dun records to see if they mention him, but I live in hope of one day having time to do so. Happy hunting! Anne

Anne Burgess wrote: 3. Anywhere. It's fairly likely that your ancestors didn't move far, but on the other hand your one could be the one who moved from the south of England to the Mearns about 1700. Unlikely, I agree, but you can't exclude the possibility. Anne, Where can I find more about this reference to moving to the Mearns? I still can't confirm that the George Nelson (b. about 1834) and Elizabeth Gibson (b. about 1829) in the Angus area are actually my gggrandparents, but on some of the earlier Canadian censuses, George was listed as born in England. Later ones say Scotland. The 1700 time frame is a bit early, but worth looking into. Sue Richart Washington State

Thanks, Anne. Yes, you state the obvious and you are absolutely right. That's part of the reason for my questions - I'm hoping to move beyond the obvious. I am still hoping, someday, to have the opportunity to delve into the records of the Erskine estate at Dun. I'm also hoping you have the same opportunity and, when that happens, you remember my interest! I was interested to see in some of the circa 1800 newspapers that the availability of tenancies was sometimes advertised widely. I don't know if that was also true 50 years earlier but it opened my eyes a bit. Regards, - Wally - On 7/12/2011 8:02 AM, Anne Burgess wrote: > Hi Wallace > > Looking at all the available records is never going to help if > your people happen not to be in the records. You can certainly > form a hypothesis, and you can look for information which would > confirm that hypothesis, but just because there is an obvious > candidate doesn't mean that s/he is the right one. > > So > > 1. Yes, up to a poimt > > 2. Depends which denomination of Protestant they were. If they > were C of S, the extant records are easily accessible, but if > they were Episcopalian, or belonged to one of the dissenting > Protestant denominations, you will have more of a problem. > > Also, in the early 18th century the RC records are very patchy, > and there is no guarantee that a couple married in 1737 in the C > of S didn't start out as RC or some other kind of Protestant. > > 3. Anywhere. It's fairly likely that your ancestors didn't move > far, but on the other hand your one could be the one who moved > from the south of England to the Mearns about 1700. Unlikely, I > agree, but you can't exclude the possibility. > > 4. Do your searching/sorting of available data, then think about > where to look to fill in the gaps. The archives of the Erskines > of Dun, for example, are in the National Archives of Scotland > and may contain references to your George. I found, for example, > a letter from my umpteenth great-grandfather applying for the > tenancy of a farm on Seafield Estates in 1771, and the Dun > records might contain similar material. > > I also found an obituary of one Edward Sang (1805-1890) which > recounted his descent from a farmer surnamed Sang in > Aberdeenshire around 1700, via the gardener at the House of Dun > and the Provost of Kirkcaldy. I have yet to trawl through the > Dun records to see if they mention him, but I live in hope of > one day having time to do so. > > Happy hunting! > > Anne > > > > ------------------------------- > 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 >