Sorry this is so long.
I'm heading up to Scotland next week on ancestor hunt. My main objective is to knock down (or at least chip away a bit of ) my brick wall re my 3x great grandfather, William Carrick. I'm heading to Edinburgh primarily, but will go anywhere I need to to get past him!
I know very little about him - no birth record, no death record, but I've rounded up as many clues I can think of:
In the 1851 census (in Rothesay - the only one in which he appears) he's listed as a labourer, aged 41 (it looks like 21, but that'd mean he fathered his eldest son, Hugh, when he was 11!) giving an approximate birth year of 1810.
On my 2x great grandfather's marriage certificate (1875) he's listed as a fisherman. (worth bearing in mind William died when my 2x great grandfather was tiny, so this could either be an indication of how he died, or just a guess as to his father's occupation)
On his wife's death register (1873) he's listed as a farm labourer.
The family moved about quite a bit, they lived in the Muirhouses in Pollockshaws/Govan for a while (c1840), as well as on the Shirvan/Castleton estate in Lochgilphead (c1845), and in Balfron (c1843) and Strathbungo (c1848). But Rothesay appears to have been where they were living when William died (see below).
On one of his wife, Flora's parocial aid applications (made years after he'd died), she claimed he was born in Auchinloch and, that they were married in Glenmavis (their marriage register lists them in Barony parish, which may have covered that area at the time). She also suggests he'd "died in Glasgow twenty years ago" - giving an approximate date of death between 1852/3, which fits in with what I already know (that he was alive in 1851, dead by 1861, but doesn't appear in the STAT death regs from 1855-61. I can't find him in the pre1855 OPRs either, unfortunately)
I'm not certain what religion, if any, this part of my family practiced. I had assumed it was CofS, but I can't be certain. The only child for whom I have a birth register is Hugh, the eldest. After that, none of them appear in the registers. I'm starting to think they may have become members of one of the break away churches after his birth (1840), but which one? Flora was a MacMillan, so I suppose it's possible they went with the McMillanites/Cameronians, but I'm aware there are several others they may have chosen - needle in a haystack unless there's a database in Edinburgh which contains them all. Yes, I know, wishful thinking
I already have a short list of possible searches I could try, but wondered if anyone else could think of anything I may have missed. I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Best wishes,
Ann