Puzzles: Death entry Mary DUN m.s. GORDON.....

[Jinty]

Mary GORDON was married in 1776, both being in the Parish of Montrose at the time; I have a copy of the Marriage Banns. Mary delivered the last of her 6 children in 1791. I dont have her birth record, not unusually.
I do have a possible birth record for her husband William DUN being 1st March 1754 and, as luck would have it, only the father registered the birth.
My purpose is to progress the line; I have found a William DUN married to a Jean MILL 5 August 1798. [a possible second marriage]
If William Dun was born 1754, that would have made him 37 when his last child was born; I have a note of a stillbirth, but cant read it.
If his wife died in childbirth or was older than he when they married its not unreasonable to suggest he might have remarried.
My purpose is to establish whether Mary [Gordon] Dun/Dunn died on or after 1791 and whether I can establish a second marriage of William DUN with Jean MILL.
Am I well and truly Haggis'd or is there some hope. Can anyone see flaws in this possibility?

[LesleyB]

Hi Jinty
Have you found out if there are any published Monumental Inscriptions for the Parish Mary may have died in?

They would certainly be worth checking as a stone may have survived. There may be the possibiliy of deaths for the Parish in the OPR (on microfilm, these are not online) - some Parishes kept either death or burial records (sometimes both), or sometimes just mortcloth hire records which can help pin down the possible time of death. However, some Parishes did not keep any "death" realted records at all. In which Parish were the children born?

Best wishes
Lesley

[Jinty]

Hello, thanks for your prompt response.

Unfortunately I dont have a date of birth for Mary GORDON. The Montrose Library did a paid for search for me on their relationship and came up with nothing, though I have not pressed them on the issue of Mary Gordon DUN's death. I havent found any MIs.
My folk were buried in the Montrose Old Kirkyard and their stones have been covered with lichen and unreadable.
My problem is I cannot get to a Family search centre. I have a spinal injury, though we do have one here, except I doubt entries made by members of LDS.
I rather think I am haggis'd aka at the end of the line, but dont ever give up hope.

Thanx.

[LesleyB]

Hi Jinty
There certainly seem to be some published MIs for the area:
http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/acatalog/Angus_MI.html
but of course, no guarantee that anyone you are looking for would be in the book - its very much a matter of luck, if there was a stone at all, then whether if has survived, then whether it was able to be read. That's a lot of "ifs"!

My problem is I cannot get to a Family search centre. I have a spinal injury, though we do have one here, except I doubt entries made by members of LDS.

You can order microfilms of OPRs through your local LDS centre - if you are not able to visit yourself, you might need to then persuade someone to go look through the relevant areas of the OPR for you!

Some deaths certainly exist in the OPR for Montrose mentioned at:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files/li ... 0to322.pdf
but the content of deaths in OPRs , like births and marriages, can vary from a reasonable amount of information to a bare minimum.

• 312/8 B - M - D 1670-1766
  312/9 B - M - D 1767-1819
  312/10 B 1820-54 (separate index) M - D -
  312/11 B - M 1820-54 D -
  312/12 B - M - D 1820-54

Also maybe worth contacting Tay Valley FHS as they may be able to help with MIs too.
http://www.tayvalleyfhs.org.uk/

Best wishes
Lesley

[Jinty]

Thank you for the time you took to send that information. As you say, "a lot of "ifs""

[DavidWW]

There were folk recording MIs up to 100 years ago, so it has to worth a check of published and unpublished MIs for Montrose in case someone transcribed the details before the lichen obscured them. The SGS Library in Edinburgh has the best collection of unpublished MIs. Worth an email to them. See the Societies secion here on TS.

David

[Jinty]

I must admit I had not thought of that possibility. I'm not sure if it's because of my Scots reserve, or what, but I am by nature reluctant to push my luck, in e-mailing folk. I'll give it a try. Thanks again.