ROBERTSON...JOHN/MARGARET (MORE?) MARRIAGE ?

robbiej · Post by **robbiej** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:52 am

I have the Birth of Edward Robertson as 11th Feb, 1821, Christened 15th Feb 1821, son of JOHN ROBERTSON/Margaret (More?)St James' Episcopal Church, Constitution Street, Leith.
This has been Verified at the Research Centre in Edinburgh but nothing else was found.
Nothing comes up in the LDS site. and FreeCen etc are too far forward to give anything.
I already have Edward's marriage etc......
Can anyone assist me with the Marriage of John please???.
The family seemed to be from Sth Leith area, as furhter on they are all from this area. Not to say ofcourse, that John and Margaret IF they were Married... were from there, but I cannot think of anywhere else...This is a real Brick Wall for me, and I really would be grateful for any help, or a Marriage Cert where abouts.... Thanks...
robbiej

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:03 am

Hi Robbie

I already have Edward's marriage etc......
Can anyone assist me with the Marriage of John please???.

If they belonged to St James Episcopal Church, it is unlikely that the marriage will show on IGI or SP as they did not belong to the Established CoS, and so if there is a record of a marriage it is likely to be an entry in the St James' records rather than the OPRs.

St James records are held at NAS, in Edinburgh, so you'd really need to go there to consult the records. As you are in NZ, that is quite long trip, and I don't know if the LDS have filmed the records for St James*, but that might also be worth looking into, as then perhaps you could order the from from your local LDS centre .

Best wishes
Lesley

*not seeing anything obvious in thier library catalogue, but they do have "Registers of the Episcopal congregation in Leith, 1733-1775" vedited by Angus Macintyre (book) Pub. Edinburgh : J. Skinner, 1949 film, 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. - FHL BRITISH Film [ 844782 Item 6 ]
- don't know if this would list people's names or is more general.

robbiej · Post by **robbiej** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:37 pm

Thank you Lesley, I thought that someone there just might have access to something which would allow me to go further with him. BUT... It is as I thought..Obviously there is no where else other than the Research Centre that I could see or find the records IF there is one... Nothing is on S/People..
My friend did have a look while at the R/Centre, but could find nothing other than that Birth record.
And....As you say from NZ, it is a long way to go !
I ordered a film from LDS last November. They told me there had been a hitch in getting it from Sydney of all places !. I have found they are not the easiest people to contact here ! No one is answering their phone.
Maybe.... someone will come across it ?? !!
Thanks for your help.
robbiej

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:02 am

Hi robbiej,

Do you have the census information for John and Margaret for 1841 or any year? Edward's siblings?

There is one John Robertson with wife Margaret living in North Leith in 1841 showing on Ancestry.

Carol

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:06 am

Sorry! John and Margaret are on the 1851 census.

Carol

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:04 am

Hi Robbie
Just in case you don't have note, here are the opening hours for the LDS in Christchurch:

Christchurch New Zealand
25 Fendalton Road
Christchurch, New Zealand
Phone: 64-03-355-6874
Hours: T-Th 9:30am-3:30pm; T, Th, F 7pm-9pm; Sat 9:30am-1pm

Do you know if your couple had any other children (before Edward)? That just might help you to narrow down a range of years for a marraige.
The reference for St James Church documents at NAS, just incase it is of any use, is:

Country code GB
Repository code 234
Repository National Archives of Scotland
Reference CH12/1
Title Leith, St James's Episcopal Church, Constitution Street
Dates 1727-1887
Access status Open

Best wishes
Lesley

robbiej · Post by **robbiej** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:06 pm

Thank you both of you.
I haven't any cernsus regarding John & Margaret, as till rercently I didn't have a Birth for Edward.
Will try and get the Census, although I am not on Ancestry.
Do you know if they are on prior to 1851 ? can you check that for me and then I can ask for them.
I know of someone who may be able to help.
I have that Margaret was born 1793 in Sth Leith, lived till after 1881 and died at age 88 in Sth Leith, but that is all. I have nothing on John. I haven't been able to locate them, although I would have thought that maybe their death's would have been on S/P...So many of them there, it is a bit of 'pig in a poke' to locate them.
I don't know if there were any other siblings in the family.
Yes I have the adress etc of L D S here, but for some reason they are not answering their phone ! and it is not near enough for me to just pop in on the off chance they might be open. I guess I just have to keep phoning..
Thanks both of you..
robbiej

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:13 pm

Hi Robbie

Will try and get the Census, although I am not on Ancestry.
Do you know if they are on prior to 1851 ? can you check that for me and then I can ask for them.

You may be able to access Ancestry for free at your local library - not quite sure how things work in NZ. I only have access to Ancestry when at my local library, unless I take out a short sub for 2 weeks, (12 record views, for 14 days) which I did last time we were snowed in!!
You can also try freecen ( www.freecen.org.uk ) for the earlier census years, and of course, Scotlands People also have all the census years along with original images for all years except 1881.

There is a Margaret in Sth. Leith on Freecen in 1841, aged about the right age, with what appear to be children called John a Merchant Seaman, James and Jean - do these names ring any bells? (it may not be your Margaret) And an Edward in a different houshold who is a bottle maker apprentice - does this fit with your Edward? Best if you go and have a look on freecen, then you can decide if you think they are your ones.

I have that Margaret was born 1793 in Sth Leith, lived till after 1881 and died at age 88 in Sth Leith, but that is all. I have nothing on John.

I take it she is stated as a widow at that point? Best thing would be to trace her back in the census and see what the position is - the 1841 (mentioned above) is not the most informative census year - much better if you can catch her in 1851 onwards.

Best wishes
Lesley

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:34 pm

Hi all,
To avoid duplicated effort, see these previous posts:

http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11438
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11723

Edward 1821's birth was finally found, thanks to a friend who looked at the Episcopal records at NAS. However, despite looking through the whole film, no marriage for the couple was found.

robbiej wrote: I have that Margaret was born 1793 in Sth Leith, lived till after 1881 and died at age 88 in Sth Leith, but that is all. I have nothing on John.

This turned out to be a different person. She was followed down the censuses-- both her daughter's birth and Margaret's death cert give her maiden name as Jack.

There is a slight chance that Edward's mother WAS surnamed Jack after all, since the birth entry only says:

EDWARD ROBERTSON, son of John Robertson and Margaret, his wife, was born 15/2/1821 and baptised 11th inst

The More surname comes from Edward's death cert (and a possible marriage cert that may or may not be him, robbiej and I don't agree on that topic

) If the marriage cert IS robbiej's Edward, then it would seem to clinch it that his mother's surname was More, since he would have given the info himself. In that case, this Margaret Jack is out of the running.

I am not sure whether the problem in finding the marriage record of John Robertson and Margaret More at NAS was due to the records not being complete, or whether the marriage didn't take place in Leith. There is a submitted marriage entry on the IGI for John Robertson and Margaret Jack in 1811. Not sure where the info came from.

All the best,
Sarah

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:49 pm

Crikes Sarah, your memory is clearly way better than mine...I'd even posted in the previous threads and still had no memory of it.

However, one thing I do remember...

Edward 1821's birth was finally found, thanks to a friend who looked at the Episcopal records at NAS. However, despite looking through the whole film, no marriage for the couple was found.

The St James, Leith, Episcopal records I saw some years back were not on film, I saw the original books at NAS. I don't think there is a film of them, as I suspect, if there was a film, that it would be in the LDS catalogue. Not sure if these records have now been digitised along with the OPR project - possibly not as they are not CoS.

Best wishes
Lesley