Hello Liz If Michael married after 1855 his age will be on the certificate which would give you his year of birth. Have you seen the OPR entry for William's birth in 1775? If not, I will look it up for you on my next visit to New Register House. There is a remote possibility that it will give more info - but this is not always the case. It very much depends on who wrote the entry and how meticulous they were. On one of my lots marriage entry in 1820, the occupations and addresses were given - if only they were all like that! It is interesting that there are Johnstons and Thomsons in your line a well. I have found in a number of families that sisters and brothers married into the same families, so there may well be a link - all we need to do is break down a few brick walls!! ----- Original Message ----- From: Liz Darby To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:03 PM Subject: [SCT-EDINBURGH] Johnston/Thomson Doreen I too have some elusive Johnston/Johnsons from St.Cuthberts, Edinburgh. My William Johnston was born in the late 1700's, but I can't find a record. he may have had a brothet Thomas . He married Elizabeth Black in 1810 in Edinburgh and they had one son, Michael Thomas, and two daughters, Ruth and Mary. Apart from not having Michael's birth (only his late marriage and death), there must have been other children. They were mostly baptised in St.Cuthbert's and Michael was married there later ( his bride's father, a crofter from north of Inverness apparently died there too, although this again is elusive ) But what I have been trying to get more infromation on is the birth of a William to William Johnston and Ann Thomson on 6 June 1775 in Edinburgh parish - any possible link ? Like you I am confused by all the Johnsons ect in one parish at about the same time. ------------------------------- 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

Mention of the 1855 Registrations brings me to remind all this List that the FHC where I volunteer has all of the 1855 Registrations for Edinburgh. All Births, Marriages and Deaths entered into the 1855 books are on film only 8 minutes from my house. I can look up any you might wish, Births and Marriages are reliable given in the IGI but not all the information was used, there is a lot more in the Registration than what's in the IGI, 1855 was a magical year for details on Registrations. 1856 and later the questions were lessened by about half. Deaths are a problem as they aren't in the IGI from the Registers, only Patron Submissions. If you have a ScotlandsPeople Index entry for 1855, I can get the details. These are the very same ones you'd get from ScotlandsPeople. If you know a PARISH in Edinburgh, I can check for a name in the Deaths, but only Deaths please. Births and Marriages are sufficiently covered in the IGI to figure out if a name is there. Very late entries in 1854 might be in the 1855 register. First few entries in every year's books for January usually were very late December events. Write personally and I'll send the details in the Registration, the handwritten entries used 2 pages in a Registration book beginning on the left, horizontally across the binding to the right side of the page but only about 5 lines were used vertically. So the entry was very short and very wide. Make your Subject line "Edinburgh Civil Registrations" even if you are asking about another county. It helps me keep track of where it came from since I have an agressive spam filter. Meg Greenwood / Oklahoma USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm by no means an expert on the Edinburgh parishes, but maybe this is a good time to point out to people just how confusing "St Cuthberts" can be. St Cuthberts was a parish like no other I have ever found in the UK. It grew 'like topsy' during the 19thc and included a population way beyond the numbers that could have been accommodated in any of the churches built on the site. I think one figure I had was a population of 40,000 and most churches in Edinburgh seated around 800 at the time. I did a quick google and found this map - no date- but just provides a flavour http://mowbray.homestead.com/files/edinparishes133kb.jpg As you can see. St Cuthberts sweeps round the city. Edinburgh grew with the creation of the New Town but also with massive population influxes and expansion. The growth was in fits and starts as you can see today from the dates of the residential buildings. At some point it created a 'new royalty' which I think included extra parishes but I am afraid I don't know when that was - mid 19thc at a guess. On top of all this, there were at least 20 to 30% of people in Edinburgh who were obliged to call banns at the local parish church but actually attended the many breakaway chapels. Many of these appear as 'marriages' at St Cuthberts via the LDS online indices but the ceremony took place elsewhere and the family would not have baptised their children at the church. In conclusion, in terms of the numbers included in its official remit St Cuthberts was perhaps 20 times the size of a typical Scottish parish and its area was way bigger than its Edinburgh neighbours. Judy On 16 Apr 2007, at 22:01, Doreen Baxter wrote: > Hello Liz > > If Michael married after 1855 his age will be on the certificate > which would give you his year of birth. > > Have you seen the OPR entry for William's birth in 1775? If not, I > will look it up for you on my next visit to New Register House. > There is a remote possibility that it will give more info - but > this is not always the case. It very much depends on who wrote the > entry and how meticulous they were. On one of my lots marriage > entry in 1820, the occupations and addresses were given - if only > they were all like that! > > It is interesting that there are Johnstons and Thomsons in your > line a well. I have found in a number of families that sisters and > brothers married into the same families, so there may well be a > link - all we need to do is break down a few brick walls!! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Liz Darby > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:03 PM > Subject: [SCT-EDINBURGH] Johnston/Thomson > > > Doreen > > I too have some elusive Johnston/Johnsons from St.Cuthberts, > Edinburgh. My William Johnston was born in the late 1700's, but I > can't find a record. he may have had a brothet Thomas . He married > Elizabeth Black in 1810 in Edinburgh and they had one son, Michael > Thomas, and two daughters, Ruth and Mary. Apart from not having > Michael's birth (only his late marriage and death), there must have > been other children. They were mostly baptised in St.Cuthbert's and > Michael was married there later ( his bride's father, a crofter > from north of Inverness apparently died there too, although this > again is elusive ) > But what I have been trying to get more infromation on is the > birth of a William to William Johnston and Ann Thomson on 6 June > 1775 in Edinburgh parish - any possible link ? > Like you I am confused by all the Johnsons ect in one parish at > about the same time. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCT- > [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 SCT-EDINBURGH- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message