Help needed please - Ferguson/Horn Wick.....

[jean o]

I have the birth cert for my ggggrandfather which says parents
James Ferguson and Catherine Horn
the death cert also says James was a carting contractor.

The only marriage I can find is transcribed as James Farquharson - Catherine Horn Wick 1816. children Mary and Janet

I cannot find James and Catherine on any census but have found a marriage 1825 Wick between a Catherine Horn and Robert McLeod??

I need to find details of James - have tried scotlandspeople, IGI, Caithness MI without success.

PLEASE can anyone help?

Thank you
Jean

[catbug]

Hi Jean,

Welcome to Talking Scot. Do you know where and when your ggggrandfather was born? I also have a couple of Fergusons in my family tree (although in Perthshire, not Caithness) and have found that the names Ferguson and Farquharson are often interchangeable. Is there any chance that they could be who you're looking for? Or is the date and place to far out? I might not be able to help much but there are a lot of experienced people on here who might .

Good luck,
Cat

[jean o]

Thank you for your warm welcome.
I have no information on James (snr). If I have the correct Catharine she was born 1795 Wick. James the son was born 1820 Wick.
On scotlandspeople and GRO the only children listed are Mary and Janet. I found Mary on 1841 census living in Thurso but then she dissappears and I haven't found Janet at all.

Jean

[catbug]

Hi again Jean,

I don't know if you have this but the IGI has an extracted record of the birth and christening of a James Ferguson, parents James Ferguson and Catherine Horn, born 3 Jul 1820 and christened 14 Jul 1820 in Wick. For some reason, his birth doesn't seem to appear by doing a parent search but does appear by searching his name and year of birth. Apologies if you already have this information.

Best Wishes,
Cat

[jean o]

Hi Cat

Yes I had got that info thanks and also have the birth cert which also says :witness Jas. Keith blacksmith in Wetherclett??? and Henry Horne in Thurso.

have you heard of the place the blacksmith is from?

Jean
<duplicate post deleted by LesleyB>

[LesleyB]

Hi Jean
...and a warm welcome to Talking Scot

The only marriage I can find is transcribed as James Farquharson - Catherine Horn Wick 1816

Have you had a look at this in the OPR? Might help you decide if it is the transcription which is at fault or it really does look like that. Not that it is going to give you his parents' names tho!! But it might confirm which parish he was from and his occupation if you are lucky.

And Mary & Janet's births too? Again, sometimes these can hold little clues.

It may well be that neither James senior or Catherine survived as far as 1841...or they could be hiding behind some devious mis-transcription or error! Not sure if that area is up on Freecen yet, but you could try the free search on Ancestry to see if anything looks likely.

Best wishes
Lesley

[jean o]

Hi Lesley

Thank you for your suggestions. I found the marriage on scotlandspeople but it said image not available which made me wonder how how good the original would be.
I have looked on ancestry, freecen and scotlandspeople 1841 census but no trace of James and Catherine, but did find marriage for a Catherine Horn 1825 in Wick and wondered whether she remarried.

Please could you tell me how I can find OPR for Wick/Thurso and what surrounding areas I should concentrate on?

Thank you
Jean

[LesleyB]

Hi Jean

I found the marriage on scotlandspeople but it said image not available which made me wonder how how good the original would be.

On Scotlands People there are only images at present for the post-1855 SR records. Pre 1855 OPR records are currently being digitised and should be availble some time in the future. You would need to see a microfilm for the OPR info - or order the page from the LDS site, or buy a copy of the page via Scotlands People ...but that is the expensive option.

Far better to order the film from your local LDS family history centre for a small fee and have a good look, not only at the one entry, but have a good look at the rest of the film too, taking notes or printing out relevant pages - it can give you a good idea of who was who, what the dominant occupations were, how dense the population was and how frequently occurring the surnames you are interested in were in the area. ...and a whole host of other things too!

Best wishes
Lesley

[catbug]

Hi Jean,

have you heard of the place the blacksmith is from?

Sorry, no, I haven't heard of anywhere called Wetherclett. I looked it up but couldn't find anything either. There is a place in Caithness called Watten where a few James Keiths of varying ages live in the 1851 census - maybe some connection (I'm probably clutching at straws though!)? There are also a few places ending in Clett in and around Caithness but I couldn't find anything that looked like it could be Wetherclett.

Sorry I'm not much help again - hopefully someone else will be.

Good luck
Cat

[jean o]

Thank you Lesley and Cat.
I am going to purchase marriage cert to see if that helps.

Cat - the end of that place name is definetly Clett - so maybe Nether Clett? anyhow its given me new leads to explore.

Thanks again

Jean