Johnstone Churchyard Renfrewshire.....

[marilyn morning]

Lavina Morning d. 25 March 1858 at the age of 5 and is buried in the Johnstone Churchyard. This is the first time a burial site has been listed on any of the bdm records I've found on SP, for the Morning family. Being inexperienced in this area, would anyone have any suggestions on how I go about finding more information on this Johnstone Churchyard?

Marilyn

[Guest]

Hello Marilyn,I've found this site useful:
http://www.findachurch.co.uk/area/ns/ns15.html
Good Luck
HK

[marilyn morning]

Very resourceful site.

Thanks HK

[Rosemary]

Hello, Marilyn,
I stay not too far from Johnstone....do you have any information about which church/churchyard the burial was in? Depending where it is, I could try to find it for you and send a picture. Graveyards in Johnstone are not always too safe, but if I can help, I will,
Rosemary

[marilyn morning]

Hi Rosemary
Thank you for your kind offer. The only information provided on her death record was Johnstone Churchyard, but on other records found on the "IGI" for siblings of Lavina Morning lists Abbey Paisley. Is there an Abbey Paisley Churchyard in Johnstone? Please contact me at mlaroche2@cox.net and I could scan you a copy of the death record.
Respectfully
Marilyn

[AndrewP]

Johnstone was a quoad sacra (church parish) divided from the main parish of Abbey Paisley (mostly the rural areas surrounding Paisley). In terms of OPR and Registration Districts, Johnstone came under:
559 Abbey (Paisley) (1670-1854) [OPRs]
559/3 Johnstone, Renfrewshire (1855-1878)
559/3 Johnstone & Elderslie, Renfrewshire (1879-1896)
559/a Johnstone & Elderslie, Renfrewshire (1897)
573/2 Johnstone & Elderslie, Renfrewshire (1897-1952)
573/2 Johnstone, Renfrewshire (1953-1969)
565 Johnstone, Renfrewshire (1970-1971)
644 Johnstone (1972-current)
Beware, there was also a Parish / RD Johnstone in Dumfriesshire.

To take up a point in your first post above, the burial place was only listed on (most) death certificates from 1855 to 1860.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[marilyn morning]

Hello Andrew
The information you have provided shall be very useful, when I order the film from "LDS" shortly. Again being unfamiliar with this area of research, may I ask If the parents names will be listed on the birth registrations in th OPR records?
Best Regards
Marilyn

[AndrewP]

... will be listed on the birth registrations in th OPR records?

In most cases, yes. You can have a good idea by looking up the online IGI first. If the record shows that it is from an OPR (or statutory record) rather than an LDS submission), see if it shows the parents' names. If they are on the IGI for an OPR record, then the parents' names should appear on that OPR.

One point to note is that in some parishes, the online version of the IGI does not list the male births. At your LDS Family History Centre, all OPR births should be on that version of the IGI.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... _form=true

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[Jack]

Hi Marilyn,

Was it the Johnstone High Church cemetery in 1858? I was trying to get info on Lairs there for someone who also had a child (McGowan) buried in that year. Here's my own experience of 18 months ago, but hopefully things have improved somewhat since.

I phoned the minister (a Mrs. McCool) to make an appointment, but she said she "didn't know where the Lair Books were". Alas, she didn't seem too inclined to find out where they could be, so i just dropped it. I've been told that the previous minister, a Rev Randolph Scott, knew where they were and was more than willing to help.
The records are, i believe, the "Extracts from Lair Book of Johnstone Parish Church". They're not indexed, written mostly chronologically, are rather fragile, and also a bit difficult to read.

I knew it wasn't an ernormous graveyard, so i eventually just went to the church with my cameras on the off-chance i could find the one i was looking for - but soon saw that there was very little hope. Whilst there are a good number of stones still upright (and tablets on the walls) still quite legible, very, very many MIs were on their backs. This meant that the grass was growing over most of them, and because they are lying flat are being more quickly eroded by the elements. I lifted the grass off many, and wondered why a lot of them had been scored and chipped at some time - 3 hours later i got the answer.

From the front i heard the sound of lawnmowers, intermingled with bangs & crunching noises - they were certainly cutting the grass, but in the process were taking chunks out of gravestones too! Those sit-on machines were going right over everything that was near ground level.
Got chatting to the men after one of them found a camera case i'd dropped. I thanked him, and felt i should explain what i was doing - so i did, and the expression of relief on his face was a picture. They'd had me down as a church spy checking up on their work with a camera! They then took a rather long break - but it was a scorcher, and they did look like they needed a rest.

I knew it was the possibility that there never ever was a gravestone - a lot of folk were buried in "common ground" in many cemeteries with nothing to mark their resting place. After 7 hours i still hadn't found the headstone, but at least i did get some pics of a lovely church and its grounds on a lovely sunny day to send on.

Jack

[marilyn morning]

Hello Jack
Thank you for this very informative reply. I'm unsure what the name of the churchyard is, the information on the death record states only "Johnstone Churchyard", but perhaps this information may narrow it down a bit; Lavina Morning's parents' John Morning - Elizabeth Nicol resided on McDowall Street at the time of her passing in 1858. Would Johnstone High Church cemetery be in the general area of McDowall Street? Lavina's younger brother, Matthew Morning b. 31 January 1856 states Abbey Paisley.
Regards
Marilyn