Gordon Perhaps you can clarify something that has puzzled me for sometime: I have two marriage entries for William Blackstock and Mary Graham in different parishes but 6 years apart. I'm reasonably sure that both entries refer to the same couple. The first, recorded in the Stirling parish register in 1806 reads: William Blackstock, priv. Capt Hamilton's Co. R. L. Militia and Mary Graham of this par. The 2nd, in 1812 in the Dumfries parish register reads: William Blackstock and Mary Graham 2 I presume the '2' in the latter record may mean that it was the 2nd time the banns had been called. I've always assumed that the reason for the 6 year gap in the two records is that William was serving in the Militia and that they may have postponed their marriage until he returned to civilian life. Is this a likely explanation? Regards Doug Blackstock On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 8:45 AM, Gordon Johnson <gordon@kinhelp.co.uk>wrote: > To clarify the facts re OPRs, here are some basic points; > 1. Baptism was almost always done as infants, as to have a child die > unbaptised was a constant fear among families. > 2. Baptism REGISTERS do not always have the fact of a baptism recorded > at the time. If the minister forget to fill in the register, one can > sometimes find when another child is baptised, the earlier child (or > children) are listed as well, so the IGI/scotlandspeople date would be > THAT date, and not the (sometimes unknown)date when the baptism actually > occurred. There are many gaps in baptismal registers, partly > forgetfulness, partly people not wishing the baptism to be registered, > partly (for a few years) the tax payable on registrations. > 3.Baptisms and marriages were often long neglected in the registers - I > know of one parish with a 50-year gap in the marriage register. > 4. Marriages are NOT what was actually being recorded in the "marriage" > register. It was officially a record of the banns of marriage being > called in the parish church, as this was a Scottish legal requirement > before marriage. As a result, the date most often found is the date of > the banns being called; you may or may not find the marriage date also > recorded. > 5. Two marriage entries. One often in the indexes finds two marriage > entries, in different parishes. This is the banns being called in two > parishes, where bride and groom are resident in different parishes. > 6. Deaths and gravestones: Most parishes have defective death registers, > if any. Deaths were not regarded as necessary to be recorded, as there > was no legal, monetary, or religious aspect to deaths. In the whole of > Caithness (where I now live) only one parish register contains any death > record. Even where they exist, it may be merely names and dates of > either death, or burial, or perhaps a fee for the use of the mortcloth, > or coffin accounts. Don't expect much, certainly not parents of adults, > and often not even the parents of a child death. > These are a few thoughts, based on decades of experience... > Gordon Johnson > <www.kinhelp.co.uk> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >