Finding baptism's ?

[yazza]

hi all this is my first post on here.
I have been searching for the baptism's of John Mitchell (1852)and Isabella Mitchell (1854) on Scotlands People.Their parents were John Mitchell and Margaret Gourlay and they lived at Linktown Abbotshall.They had children born after 1855 which I have the certs for but can't find records of these two.I have them on later census records.Surely they would have been baptised.Any help appreciated.

Steve

[AndrewP]

Hi Steve,

Welcome to TalkingScot.

The pre-1855 records, from the Old Parochial Registers, were not compulsory. They were kept by the (Established) Church of Scotland and contain few records from other churches. If these people are not on the OPRs, then there are three possibilities to consider -
(1) they were not baptised
(2) they were baptised in a church other than the Established Church of Scotland
(3) their baptisms were in the Established Church of Scotland, but went unrecorded or the records do not survive.

Only option (2) offers a glimmer of a hope and that is that a baptismal record survives, but not in the OPRs. Some baptismal records are to be found amongst the Kirk Session Records in the National Archives of Scotland. Unfortunately these are not available online. You have to go to General Register House in Edinburgh to view these.

All the best,

AndrewP

[yazza]

hi Andrew
thanks for that explanation.I do know the parents were married by the Established Church so their children would unlikely to be baptised in the Free Church.It's probable as you say their baptism's are unrecorded or lost.Thanks for your help.
cheers
Steve