Bruce, Thank you so much for your reply. You obviously know a TON about the Wigtown McDOWALL's and I'm so glad to be connected. I would be very interested in finding out what the minutes of the Kirk Session say. *Kirkmaiden Old Parish Records Connection* I received a copy of the Kirkmaiden Old Parish Records where Mary McDOWALL's name was listed from Ms. Meg Greenwood. I found Ms. Greenwood's information online {scotquester@bartnet.net} on one of the Wigtownshire pages as someone researching Kirkmaiden records and would share information on birth and marriage records she had access to. I emailed her and here was her response: "I too live in the US....am in northeastern Oklahoma near Tulsa. The FHC here has hundreds of films I use constantly for just what you are doing, requesting information. Here is the handwritten entry in Kirkmaiden Old Parish Records. Will send you the page this is written on, each surname is in the left hand column which is the margin of the page. Third name up from the bottom is Mary McDOWALL, she was illegitimate. The straight line you see left to right across this entry is not written on the page, its a scratch across the microfilm. Handwriting is bright and clear however abbreviations can be difficult to understand and the ampersand [&] is written a few different ways for this church clerk or minister. Page is darker towards the bottom and this entry is 3rd up from the bottom so the background paper is getting darkish. Still readable. Will send the image of this first, then look for the 1809 marriage as I am not sure I have Penninhame here at home, I do have Kirkmaiden as that's one of my main research parishes. MEG in OK" *Transcription of Mary D. McDOWALL from Meg Greenwood's records-* "1784, Kirkmaiden : Mary, illegit daur of Andrew McDowall, Esqr & Jean McWilliam born 10th Augt bapt 6th Septr. [end]" *Regarding Andrew McDowall…* * * The only Andrew McDouall/Andrew McDowall I could find online around the time of Mary's birth were: 1) Andrew McDOUALL (1685-1760), second son of Robert McDOUALL of Logan (d. c1729), was an advocate who became one of the senators of the College of Justice, under the style Lord Bankton"' 2) Andrew McDOUALL of Logan (1758-1834) was MP for Wigtownshire, 1802-1805. 3) Andrew Kenneth McDOUALL of Logan (1870-1945). #2 seemed the only Andrew that could be her father due to the dates each lived. *Other Thoughts*** I got very curious about Mary McDOWALL because of her birthplace: Kirkmaiden by Drummore, which seems pretty isolated-- especially since both of her parents were from Wigtown and her mother was a McDOWAL (Grizel McDOWAL 1719-1752 and Alexander McWILLIAM 1715-1752). I wondered why didn't she have the baby in Wigtown since Kirkmaiden didn't seem too easy to get to back then? Also, Mary's husband Charles PAUL was born in Wigtown too. Mary also died in Morristown, NJ (August 19, 1854) where my maternal grandmother was born and raised. Do you think Andrew and Jean were cousins and that's why the pregnancy could have been "sinful"? I was also curious about Jean McWILLIAM because she seemed to have Mary when she was 32 which seems really late in life during that time to have a child and I don't think she ever married which also seems odd…. Thanks so much for your information- it is really helpful- Jamieson On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 7:18 PM, Bruce McDowall <milldriggan@gmail.com>wrote: > Hi Jamieson, > > I'm not connected as far as I know, but as its my family name, I've been > researching the McDOWALLs (and variants) in Wigtownshire for 17 years. > > The mailing list is not able to send out attachments, so your image file > didn't make it to other subscribers. As an alternative, you may like to > post a transcription to the mailing list. I guess that it is an image of > the baptism records from the Kirkmaiden Old Parochial Register? > > In case you are unaware, couples who had illegitimate children were > normally brought before the Kirk Session and rebuked for their 'sin'. Many > of these were recorded in the minutes of the Kirk Session and a good number > of these minute books are held in National Archives of Scotland. (Actually > NAS and GROS have now been combined to the NRS - National Records of > Scotland, but the transition is not yet complete.) The catalogue indicates > that the Kirk Session Records for Kirkmaiden are not housed in Edinburgh, > but instead are in the Archive Centre at Dumfriess. Perhaps your best means > of searching those records would be to hire a professional researcher. The > mailing list does not allow advertising, so I can't recommend anyone here, > but would be happy to if you write to me privately. The Kirk Session > Records are being digitised with the view to making them available via > Scotlandspeople, but I don't know how long we will have to wait for this to > happen. There is no guarantee that your couple have been recorded there, > but I believe it is worth checking. I was lucky with a couple of mentions > of my family. > > If the father was the Andrew McDOWALL who was the MP for Wigtownshire, > perhaps he wasn't called before the Session. If the father did appear > before the Session, the minutes may well settle that question, as it was > usual to specify the residence of each party and sometimes occupation. The > amount of detail, just like that in the marriage and baptism registers, > depends on the Session Clerk at the time. > As for the question if he ever married, there is some debate about that > due to recorded legal battles over the legitimacy of his heirs. From your > wording, I suspect that you have read some of the same references to this > as me. > Do you have a particular reason for suspecting that this Andrew McDOWALL > was the father of your Mary D McDOWALL? > > Regards, > Bruce > > > Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:19:29 -0500 > From: Jamieson Haverkampf <jamiesonhaver@gmail.com> > Subject: [WIG LIST] Mary D McDowall/McDouall illegitimate daughter of > Andrew McDowall/McDouall > <SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE@rootsweb.com> > > > Hello. I have recently discovered that MARY D MCDOWALL/MCDOUALL is the > illegitimate daughter of ANDREW MCDOWALL/MCDOUALL and was born in > Kirkmaiden by Drummore, Scotland in 1784. > If anyone else has information on either MARY D., ANDREW or JEAN > MCWILLIAM, Mary's mother, I would love to connect and compare notes. I > think Andrew was MP of Wigtownshire and can't figure out if he ever > married. My tree is public on Ancestry.com "Cauble and Haverkampf > Tree"-with Kirkmaiden old Parish record documenting this new fact... > > > Warm Wishes, > Ms. Jamieson Haverkampf > Atlanta, GA USA > > <Kirkmaiden Parish Records. McDowall.JPG> > -- Warm Wishes, Ms. Jamieson Haverkampf Cell 404-964-5060 *For more information about my writing, illustrating and voiceover work check out my website*: https://sites.google.com/site/jamiesonhaverkampf/ *For more information about my award-winning caregiver book Mom Minus Dad: The Essential Resource Guide for Busy Adults with a Newly Widowed Parent, check out this website:*www.momminusdad.com.* For additional suggested caregiver books:* Find Mom Minus Dad and other Caregiver books in my Amazon store<http://astore.amazon.com/wwwtheparentl-20> * *