Can't find marriage record.

[Ina]

What year did Scotland start putting “illegitimate” on birth certificates. I have two birth certificates, one in 1856 and the other in 1860, neither one says illegitimate. The parents are listed as John Ferguson and Isabella McDougall, but I can’t find a marriage record for them anywhere. If the parents hadn’t been married wouldn’t the certificates have said that the children were illegitimate?

I've been trying to break this brick wall for years

Ina

[AndrewP]

Hi Ina,

From 1856 to 1860, the marriage was not mentioned on the birth certificate. It was there in 1855 (along with a lot more information never seen again on a birth certificate), and from 1861. In my collection, the earliest "illegitimate" birth certificates I have in my collection are one each from 1858, 1859, 1860 and 1861. In each of these, the father is not named at all. In the examples from 1858, 1859 and 1860, the word "illegitimate" is in the column for the father's name (a separate column from the mothers name before 1861). In the 1861 example, the word "illegitimate" is there under the child's name. That is where it is commonly found from 1861 until that word was banished from certificates (I cannot remember what year that was). I have no examples from the early years where both parents were named, but were not married.

So in your examples above, it may well be that the parents were married, but that was not mentioned on the 1856-1860 certificates. The marriage was probably pre-1855 if there is no sign of the marriage record. The OPRs are known to be incomplete records of births, marriages and deaths, particularly if the family were not of the (Established) Church of Scotland.

Your best hope for such marriages is if more children were born to the couple, in 1855, or from 1861 onwards so that the marriage was referenced on the birth certificate.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Ina]

Andrew, The parents John Ferguson and Isabella McDougall disappeared off the face of the earth after the birth of their child in 1861. I found the two children living in Jura with relatives in 1861 and 1871........and with a name like McDougall in Jura.....good luck finding the right one. I think half the island was named McDougall.

Ina