Elders of Caitness late 1700s

conniejane · Post by **conniejane** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:30 am

hello. does anyone know anything about the Elders of caithness? i have Robert Elder marrying Christian Sinclair in Reay, Caithness in 1786. I have found a number of their children on scotlands people. there seem to be dozens of elders all with the same christian names! was this because of the scottish clans? any help with the history of this area in the late1700s and ealy 1800s gratefully accepted!!
thank you. jane

Post by **AndrewP** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:10 am

Hi Jane,

A parent search on the online IGI gives the following children to Robert Elder and Christian Sinclair.

JAMES ELDER - Christening: 25 JUL 1787 Reay, Caithness
ELIZABETH ELDER - Christening: 12 MAY 1789 Reay, Caithness
MARGARET ELDER - Christening: 13 MAR 1791 Reay, Caithness
BARBARA ELDER - Christening: 26 MAY 1793 Reay, Caithness
WILLIAM ELDER - Christening: 18 APR 1795 Reay, Caithness
WILLIAM ELDER - Christening: 17 JUL 1796 Reay, Caithness
GEORGE ELDER - Christening: 21 MAR 1802 Reay, Caithness
ROBERT ELDER - Christening: 01 MAY 1804 Reay, Caithness
WILLIAM ELDER - Christening: 13 JUL 1806 Reay, Caithness

I would take a guess that the two eldest Williams died young and the name was re-used in respect of an older relative. If they followed the traditional naming pattern, the second son was named after his maternal grandfather. See http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3973

This naming pattern, where strictly adhered to led to a lot of cousins, nephews and the like having the same names. This can be confusing, particularly when they lived in the same areas.

All the best,

AndrewP

conniejane · Post by **conniejane** » Sun May 18, 2008 11:31 am

thanks for that list of children. I tried to get them on the IGI but obviously haven't got the knack!! I keep trying to find the way to do these things but am obviously a philistine! big fat thanks. xx

Post by **AndrewP** » Sun May 18, 2008 1:31 pm

Hi Jane,

For a parent search on the online IGI, fill in the parents' names in the boxes in the top-right, and the region (British Isles), then search, and that list should appear.

That search can be done without a maiden surname for the mother if that is unknown to you, but that often returns too many results to be useful. Saying that, the results can be narrowed down by selecting the country and county if these are known, and a relevant date range.

All the best,

AndrewP

conniejane · Post by **conniejane** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:48 pm

thanks andrew. thats brilliant. I've cracked it now!! obv. it needs explaining as if to a small child or a proper idiot, in my case. but now i know how to do it. woohoo. jane