How do I find wills and/or mortcloth records

jen wilson · Post by **jen wilson** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:14 pm

Hello,

I am searching for the death of a 3 x great grandfather in Nairn, some time between 1823 and 1841 ( there was a child born in 1824 and his wife was a widow by 1841, so that's my best guess). The family was obviously fairly well to do, judging by the witnesses at the births of the children and also by the fact that in 1841, the widow was "independent".

I have searched on Scotland People for a will but there is nothing there - is the list complete? If not, where else should I be looking?

Does anyone have an MI list for Nairn for that period? If so please could you look for William Smith, mason, of Nairn ( wife Margaret Forsyth, sons John, Robert and James Augustus Grant, daughter, Margaret).

How do I find out about mortcloths? Might there be a record of William's death in the mortcloth dues? Where would this be?

Any help on this would be truly wonderful - I have been stuck for a very long time!

Thanks,

Jen

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:26 am

jen wilson wrote:Hello,

I am searching for the death of a 3 x great grandfather in Nairn, some time between 1823 and 1841 ( there was a child born in 1824 and his wife was a widow by 1841, so that's my best guess). The family was obviously fairly well to do, judging by the witnesses at the births of the children and also by the fact that in 1841, the widow was "independent".

I have searched on Scotland People for a will but there is nothing there - is the list complete? If not, where else should I be looking?

Only around 8 to 9 % of Scots left wills that went through the process of confirmation (the Scottish equivalent of probate).

There are probably a few more % "hiding" in various registers of deeds, but these most often ain't easy to locate as they can have been registered decades before death.

jen wilson wrote:Does anyone have an MI list for Nairn for that period? If so please could you look for William Smith, mason, of Nairn ( wife Margaret Forsyth, sons John, Robert and James Augustus Grant, daughter, Margaret).

How do I find out about mortcloths? Might there be a record of William's death in the mortcloth dues? Where would this be?

If such exists, it will be in the OPR or kirk session records, but might be no more than a name and the amount received for the use of the mortcloth.

David

jen wilson · Post by **jen wilson** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:23 pm

Thanks. At least such records would give me a rough date of death. At the moment I am stuck with a window of about fifteen years, which with a name as common as William Smith is just not funny.

Jen

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:42 pm

Given the absence of a will, - all those that went through confirmation are in the NAS index accessible via ScotlandsPeople, - what will it help to know an exact date of death?

And there may be a problem arising from the family being well-to-do, - thay hight have owned their own mortcloth !

The kirk session could be worth a look anyway as there's a chance that he was an elder ............ (I'm assuming that the 1824 birth is an OPR record, therefore the family was most likely Established Church of Scotland).

What was his occupation, - any chance that he would appear in local directories of the time?

David

jen wilson · Post by **jen wilson** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:32 pm

He was a Mason and I have tried to find trade directories for the period 1800 - 1820 but with no joy so far. One of the witnesses at a child's baptism was another Smith who was an architect - I am hoping they may be of the same family but haven't been able to find anything on that either.

The approximate date of death would at least give me a chance of finding his grave stone!

I am just wanting to find anything at all which may take me back to his place of birth and his parents. An age at death, which might be on a grave stone, would give me another clue.

Best wishes,

Jen

Bervonian · Post by **Bervonian** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:30 pm

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Jen, but the Nairn Parish Register, in common with many others, has no mortcloth entries.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 8:45 pm

There may be something in the kirk session records.

David

Wanda Stevenson · Post by **Wanda Stevenson** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:01 pm

Not to show my ignorance or anything, oh why not!!
ANyway, can someone please tell me what a "Mortcloth" is.
Thank you as always, info fantastic on the site:)
Wanda

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:47 pm

Wanda Stevenson wrote:Not to show my ignorance or anything, oh why not!!
ANyway, can someone please tell me what a "Mortcloth" is.
Thank you as always, info fantastic on the site:)
Wanda

The cloth used to cover the coffin. Most churches had one, many had several, of different qualities.

Sometime a charge was made, sometimes not, especially if the heritor had donated the mortcloth(s) to the church.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritor for the meaning of the latter term

See also http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.com/ ... erals.html

David

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:37 pm

See also
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4510

Best wishes
Lesley

TalkingScot.com

How do I find wills and/or mortcloth records

How do I find wills and/or mortcloth records

Re: How do I find wills and/or mortcloth records

Mortcloth entries

Mortcloth

Re: Mortcloth