Hello Sylvia,
That’s a difficult question. Whoever did the paperwork on the baptisms and just wrote down Soldier wasn’t being very helpful. Quite often these records contain the name of the regiment as well.
Did the wife live long enough for her place of birth to appear on a census or death certificate? For him to have married while stationed overseas etc might suggest that she was living and perhaps even born overseas etc and he met her there. Maybe even down South in England.
The difficulty in finding a marriage locally may be just the usual difficulty many people experience when trying to locate a marriage in that time period and for any of the several possible reasons.
This may be a situation where a book on the barracks or wherever soldiers were stationed in Glasgow may be a help, one that you could just look up and get the answer but I don’t know of one. There was a great deal of British military coming and going in many parts of the world at that time.
If regiments.org was still alive and kicking it might be possible to search the site for mention of Glasgow and look at each result to see if it matches to a particular regiments stay there in the 1790-95 period. That system doesn’t seem to easily work with the currently available access.
If you search the National archives
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/sear ... d=True&j=t for John Jeffrey as a phrase in the 1790s I think there’s only one soldier in the results who seems to be a fair bit younger than your fellow and that doesn’t help.
If I search the old newspapers for “Glasgow barracks” this is all there is for the 18th Century, and will give you a bit of an idea of the situation regarding the amount of shuffling about that occurred, in this case in only three years..
True Briton (1793) (London, England), Friday, June 3, 1796
“We understand that the Sutherland Fencibles, stationed in Glasgow Barracks, are to be reviewed by Major-General Hamilton on Tuesday next; the Royal Paisley Volunteers on Wednesday; and the Glasgow Royal Volunteers on Thursday.
Sun (London, England), Friday, October 14, 1796
“The Gordon Highlanders, last from England, under the command of Colonel Woodford, are arrived at the Barracks at Glasgow”
Telegraph (London, England), Saturday, March 11, 1797
“Saturday morning four Companies of the North Fencibles, and a party of artillery with two field-pieces, marched from Glasgow Barracks for Greenock. A detachment of thirty artillerymen, with two field-pieces, from Leith Battery, arrived at Glasgow Barracks on Saturday forenoon.”
True Briton (1793) (London, England), Saturday, October 7, 1797
“The 21st Regiment of Foot marched from Glasgow Barracks for Dundee on Friday, and the 8th Regiment on Saturday for Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Stranraer. They are replaced by the Cheshire Militia, who arrived on Friday and Saturday.”
True Briton (1793) (London, England), Thursday, October 19, 1797
“Monday, a detachment of the Cheshire Militia, quartered in the Glasgow Barracks, and a Troop of the Norfolk Cavalry, stationed at Hamilton Barracks, marched for Dumbarton”
Bell's Weekly Messenger (London, England), Sunday, July 1, 1798
“The West Lowland Fencibles have marched for Glasgow Barracks. They are replaced in the Castle by six Companies of the Shropshire Militia. The rest of this Regiment are at Leith and Musselburgh.”
Courier and Evening Gazette (London, England), Friday, July 26, 1799
“Friday a considerable number, report says nearly 300, of the Nottinghamshire Militia, presently quartered in Glasgow Barracks, volunteered their services into Regiments of the Line, for European service, agreeably to the late Act of Parliament.
All the best,
Alan
and returned by the time the children started being born?
and I think that a trawl of the overseas marriages in on the cards.