Interpretation of Will wording.

[malwil2]

I have a will of one David LAWSON from Blackford PER SCT. Iam trying to establish whether or not his father was called William. How would you interpret the following extract?:
" ... before these witnesses the said Alexander Monteath and Peter Lawson Feuar in Blackford Son of the deceased William Lawson Feuar there (Signed) David Lawson Alex Monteath witness Peter Lawson witness"

There are no obvious punctuation marks, and to confuse matters further, David had a son called Peter! David died 3 July 1847 so there isn't a death certificate.

[LesleyB]

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

From the small extract you have given above,

Peter Lawson Feuar in Blackford Son of the deceased William Lawson Feuar there

I would say that Peter Lawson, feuar at Blackford, was the son of William Lawson who had also been a feuar at Blackford but is now deceased.

(Signed) David Lawson Alex Monteath witness Peter Lawson witness

with suggested punctuation:
(Signed) David Lawson, Alex Monteath, (witness) Peter Lawson (witness)

Not sure what avenues you have explored already, but my next thought would be OPR deaths for the area, but it seems there are no deaths for that parish; (drat!! )
333. BLACKFORD
333/1 B 1721-1819 M 1738-1819 D -
333/2 B 1820-54 M1820-54 D -

What about MIs (monumentnal inscriptions)? A published source does exisit. See:
http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/acatalog/ ... re_MI.html

• Perthshire MI - Perthshire South (Upper Strathearn and Trossachs). Vol.2. Pre-1855.
  Aberfoyle, Balquhidder, Blackford, Callander, Comrie, Dunblane, Killin, Kilmadock (Doune), Kincardine (Thornhill), Lecropt, Monzievaird & Strowan, Muthill, Port of Menteith.

If you are not able to consult this yourself, perhaps one of our members may have access to it, to establish if your lot are mentioned or not.

Did your David have any brother or sisters who survived past 1855? If so, their death would be worth following up. Or does your David appear in the 1841 census? Also, the names of the children of your David may give a good clue as to what his parent's names were.

Best wishes
Lesley

[malwil2]

Gidday Lesley.
This is not what I wanted to hear. I am trying to prove that David is a brother of my ggg grandfather Charles Lawson. The naming patterns for Davids children, William (1795 - ?), John (1797- 1832), David (? - ?), Peter (1802 - 1880) and Sarah (1817 - 1870) would indicate that his father was William, father-in-law John (Comrie) and mother-in-law Sarah (McEwan). The latter definitely match. Just wish that they had another daughter to match with Lillias (Sinclair)!
We visited Blackford back in 1996, searched for Lawson headstones and have searched through the late Alf Smiths listings for the Blackford Kirkyard but to no avail. The only Lawsons mentioned are Dr James David Lawson (a g grandchild of David Lawson) his wife Elizabeth Sharp and daughter Lillian.
I have the death certificates for sons Peter and David as well as the will for Peter but still nothing to conclusively link them with my family. I haven't been able to find any living decendants of the family of David Lawson and Sarah Comrie. But I will keep searching.

Kind regards,

Mal