This problem has been niggling me a bit ... if a person is definitely known to have been christened in St. Cuthbert's Church in Edinburgh on an unknown date, but around the 1840s, will that record definitely exist - and will I be able to look it up for confirmation?
innjess
Christenings
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AndrewP
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Hi Innjess,
What information do you have that this person was baptised in St Cuthbert's Parish Church? If the baptism was in St Cuthbert's and was recorded and the record has survived, then the digital image of it should be found on ScotlandsPeople. It should also show up on the IGI and an image of the record on the OPR microfilms.
Another possibility to consider is that the baptism took place in one of the many smaller churches in St Cuthbert's Parish. St Cuthbert's parish was a large parish that pretty much surrounded Edinburgh City Parish and Canongate Parish. Originally it was a semi-rural parish, surrounding the two built-up parishes. By the 1840s there was a lot of building going on in St Cuthbert's Parish. As the city of Edinburgh expanded, it was outwards across St Cuthbert's Parish that became built-up, out towards the village parishes that now form the city's outer areas - Leith, Duddingston, Liberton, Colinton, Corstorphine and Cramond. As St Cuthbert's became built up, many smaller churches were built. The new churches were mostly answerable to St Cuthbert's so operated as sort of sub-churches. These Quoad Sacra parish churches, chapels of ease and the like should have submitted their birth (usually baptism), marriage (usually banns) and death (usually burial) records to St Cuthbert's for entering into the Parochial Registers (those books which later became known as the Old Parochial Registers, the OPRs). Many of these records did end out ion the care of St Cuthbert's, but there is nothing to say that they all did. In time, some of these smaller churches became parish churches in their own rights and were disjoined from St Cuthbert's Parish.
Also, the 1840s was a very turbulent time in the Established Church of Scotland. The biggest single event of unrest was The Disruption in 1843 when large numbers of ministers and their parishioners broke away from the Established Church and became part of the Free Church. As the Free Church was independent of the Established Church, and to some extent was a rival church, few of its records were ever submitted to the parish church. Records remain from many of the Free Churches, but not amongst the OPRs. They are mostly within the Kirk Session records held in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). These are accessible if you can visit NAS in General Register House (GRH) in Edinburgh, and one day should be online like the OPRs. Don't be in a hurry for these going online as they could be quite a few years away yet. Even visiting NAS in GRH, these records are not usually indexed by name, so you need to have a good idea which individual church's records you expect to find the person in and what time frame, and then get reading. These are being digitised now, so many (most?) of them are read onscreen. Some are on microfilm, and some are still in the original books. So finding people in the records of churches other than the Established Church of Scotland is a lot harder work, and in the meantime can only be done by going to NAS.
What names do you have for the child and the parents that you are asking about?
All the best,
AndrewP
What information do you have that this person was baptised in St Cuthbert's Parish Church? If the baptism was in St Cuthbert's and was recorded and the record has survived, then the digital image of it should be found on ScotlandsPeople. It should also show up on the IGI and an image of the record on the OPR microfilms.
Another possibility to consider is that the baptism took place in one of the many smaller churches in St Cuthbert's Parish. St Cuthbert's parish was a large parish that pretty much surrounded Edinburgh City Parish and Canongate Parish. Originally it was a semi-rural parish, surrounding the two built-up parishes. By the 1840s there was a lot of building going on in St Cuthbert's Parish. As the city of Edinburgh expanded, it was outwards across St Cuthbert's Parish that became built-up, out towards the village parishes that now form the city's outer areas - Leith, Duddingston, Liberton, Colinton, Corstorphine and Cramond. As St Cuthbert's became built up, many smaller churches were built. The new churches were mostly answerable to St Cuthbert's so operated as sort of sub-churches. These Quoad Sacra parish churches, chapels of ease and the like should have submitted their birth (usually baptism), marriage (usually banns) and death (usually burial) records to St Cuthbert's for entering into the Parochial Registers (those books which later became known as the Old Parochial Registers, the OPRs). Many of these records did end out ion the care of St Cuthbert's, but there is nothing to say that they all did. In time, some of these smaller churches became parish churches in their own rights and were disjoined from St Cuthbert's Parish.
Also, the 1840s was a very turbulent time in the Established Church of Scotland. The biggest single event of unrest was The Disruption in 1843 when large numbers of ministers and their parishioners broke away from the Established Church and became part of the Free Church. As the Free Church was independent of the Established Church, and to some extent was a rival church, few of its records were ever submitted to the parish church. Records remain from many of the Free Churches, but not amongst the OPRs. They are mostly within the Kirk Session records held in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). These are accessible if you can visit NAS in General Register House (GRH) in Edinburgh, and one day should be online like the OPRs. Don't be in a hurry for these going online as they could be quite a few years away yet. Even visiting NAS in GRH, these records are not usually indexed by name, so you need to have a good idea which individual church's records you expect to find the person in and what time frame, and then get reading. These are being digitised now, so many (most?) of them are read onscreen. Some are on microfilm, and some are still in the original books. So finding people in the records of churches other than the Established Church of Scotland is a lot harder work, and in the meantime can only be done by going to NAS.
What names do you have for the child and the parents that you are asking about?
All the best,
AndrewP
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innjess
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 3:17 am
- Location: Geelong, Australia
Christenings
Hi Andrew!
...and I thought this was just a little "niggle"! What I have is the ongoing saga of my Great Grandfather, William Murray Hutchison, whose parents were James Horsbrugh Hutchison (Shoemaker, originally from Cupar) and Euphemia Skinner (married 5/12/1830), his second wife. This is from William's typed letter of 1914, and I quote "There ("Fifeshire") my father was born in 1792. The latter was married twice. I was the second youngest of 16". (The youngest was Salvo Lamb Hutchison). "I cannot say at what date my Father came to Edinburgh. He was a shoe-maker by trade in business in Cupar". Near the end of the 7-page letter he states to his nephew, also William Murray Hutchison ( who was attempting to establish his claim to wear the Clan Tartan of the Macdonalds), "I would advis you look up the family Vault of the Macdonalds. It is situated in the South West corner of St. Cuthbert,s Churchyard. I was christened in the Church."
Ive been unable to confirm what would seem to be an easy date to find! Maybe the records have been lost.
Innjess
...and I thought this was just a little "niggle"! What I have is the ongoing saga of my Great Grandfather, William Murray Hutchison, whose parents were James Horsbrugh Hutchison (Shoemaker, originally from Cupar) and Euphemia Skinner (married 5/12/1830), his second wife. This is from William's typed letter of 1914, and I quote "There ("Fifeshire") my father was born in 1792. The latter was married twice. I was the second youngest of 16". (The youngest was Salvo Lamb Hutchison). "I cannot say at what date my Father came to Edinburgh. He was a shoe-maker by trade in business in Cupar". Near the end of the 7-page letter he states to his nephew, also William Murray Hutchison ( who was attempting to establish his claim to wear the Clan Tartan of the Macdonalds), "I would advis you look up the family Vault of the Macdonalds. It is situated in the South West corner of St. Cuthbert,s Churchyard. I was christened in the Church."
Ive been unable to confirm what would seem to be an easy date to find! Maybe the records have been lost.
Innjess