James BURNFIELD

NadineS · Post by **NadineS** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:55 pm

Hi all,

I'm searching for parents of James BURNFIELD, bc 1800 Perthshire.
He joined the 79th Regiment of Foot c 1817 and came to Fort York, Canada. He married Euphemia ROSS,(bc 1809 Scotland, father Robert ROSS) in Muddy York (now Toronto) Canada. I'm unable to find a mc for this couple. How might I find his parents with such little information?

Nadine

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:14 am

Hello Nadine,

When I looked at the name Burnfield on the IGI something looked a bit odd. There were 50 events for the whole of Scotland and 31 of those were concentrated in Perthshire but of those there was only a single one before 1800.

I looked at Hugh Wallis’s Middle Name Scotland site http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/ for “B” names in Perthshire that might have been previous versions of Burnfield. The ones that stood out were Burntfield and Bruntfield.

For Burntfield there were 70 for the whole of Scotland with a concentration of 58 in Perthshire of which 13 were pre 1800. For Bruntfield there were 223 in Scotland 156 in Perthshire with no less than 67 pre 1800. The Perthshire concentration of all three similar names suggests to me that they’re all really probably originated from Bruntfield and that your missing James’s baptism could have been under one of the other names.

If you see a promising one and you know his kids names you might be able establish a pretty firm link if they stuck to traditional naming. For instance there’s a James Bruntfield birth in 1797 in Little Dunkeld which place is a virtual “hot bed” of his name. Maybe the marriage in Canada is under such a name variation.

Hope this helps,
Alan

NadineS · Post by **NadineS** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:55 pm

Hi Alan,

Thank you SO much - I think you've found a goldmine of Bruntfields!
This James looks possible, so more research is necessary. I do need to find out how to search for a possible military marriage before civil registration in Canada.

Thanks again,
Nadine

NadineS · Post by **NadineS** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:14 pm

I just had to write and tell someone....I found their marriage by an Army Chaplain in Canada in 1830. Now I just have to purchase the document from the GRO. This is my first "find" in a long long time!!!

Nadine

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:11 pm

Well done, Nadine =D> . It is great to get a boost like that now and again, especially if it is something you have been searching for for a while.
Rae