Who are the right parents?.....

kaz · Post by **kaz** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:38 am

Hi all,

I am hoping someone may be able to assist me in a little problem i have.
I have been contacted by someone who has the same set of people in their tree as i do the problem i have is we both have different parents for the bride, what i am trying to do is sort out which one of us has the right parents.

This is the info i have:

William Watson married Euphemia/Euphan Russell on the 29 apr 1793, this we both agree on.

Where we differ is for the parents of Euphemia/Euphan Russell--

I have her date of birth as 4 august 1774 in Newbattle, parents Thomas Russell and Catherine Penman.

My contact has her date of birth as 15 december 1776 in St.Cuthberts, Edinburgh, parents James Russell and Pheby Gibson.

I have both William and Euphemia on the 1841 census but it only lists Midlothian as place of birth.

Does someone think they may be able to offer any help on this matter.

Thank you

kaz

Post by **AndrewP** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:45 am

Hi Kaz,

Has either of you got a document that shows the bride of this marriage (definitely her) that shows the parents' names. The obvious document would be her death certificate, if she survived until at least 1855 and died in Scotland. If not, then neither of you knows for sure that you have the right parents.

Otherwise, you can only be working with a birth that suits the right time frame and geographical area.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

kaz · Post by **kaz** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:59 am

Hi Andrew,

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunatly Euphemia died before 1851 census so i dont know exactly where her place of birth was.

I will have to ponder on this one and see what my contact thinks as well.

I have a similar problem as well 2 genreations forward.

I have an Elizabeth Glass married a William Watson, but there are 2 Elizabeth's listed on the scotlandspeople born the same year 1831 both in Edinburgh, i have elizabeth's death cert but no parents listed on it so thats another dead end for me.

thank you for your help and advice Andrew it is very appreciated.

kaz

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:33 am

I had a quick look at the IGI.

The parents that your contact has [ James & Pheby ] are from an extracted record, whereas the ones you have [Thomas and Catherine ] have been submitted by a LDS member.

Tht's not to say that there wasn't more than 1 Euphemia Russell born around the same time and place !

On what are you both basing your assumptions?

kaz · Post by **kaz** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:10 am

Hi Wonka,

Thank you for your reply,

I was given the parents of Euphemia by another researcher, i also used the igi, as for my contact i dont know what she used to get the parents.

I am also using the assumption that the set of parents i have are the right ones as William and Euphemia had a daughter who they named Katherine and they also named one of their sons Thomas a long shot i know but the family over the generations seemed to have used the same names over and over again with just occasionally an odd name thrown in if you see what i mean.

bye for now

kaz

AnnetteR · Post by **AnnetteR** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:23 pm

Hi Kaz

A search through the OPRs between the years 1774 and 1777 show 4 births (2 for Euphan, 1 for Euphen and 1 for Euphemia) all with surname ending in one L ie., 'Russel'. The two you mentioned are there:

Euphen Russel born on 9/8/1774 to Thomas Russel and Catherine Penman in Newbattle.

Euphemia Russel born on 15/12/1776 to James Russel and Pheby Gibson in St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh.

Out of curiosity I had a look at the OPR for the marriage and it is listed as 29/4/1793 - Euphimea Russel to William Watson in Cockpen.

Quite a few variations on her first name.

Sadly it is an expensive business ordering OPR documents and very often you get little information but sometimes (from my own experience) you get the father of the bride's name. I believe the OPRs are going to come online soon but from past experience soon can stretch out to not quite so soon.

It might be one way however of confirming which one is yours but I would take heed of Andrew and Wonka's comments because, unless you have absolute proof that you have the right bride, the OPR data wouldn't be much good to you.

Good luck with you searching and keep us posted

Regards

Annette R