OPR marriage search John Menzies and Marion Lumsden (please)

[Mollydog]

Could somebody please help me and do an OPR marriage lookup for:

John Menzies and Marion Lumsden 19 May 1854 Parish of Bathgate, County of West Lothian.

I ordered Banns & Proclamation of Marriage dated 30 April 1854 online from Scotlandspeople, which I received after paying Australian $23. I am very disappointed because I thought I was going to receive some sort of marriage document, but it doesn't look like it. The only information on the Banns was their names, no other information at all! I was really hoping to find out the father and/or mother or any little bit of info of John Menzies to continue my search.

[AndrewP]

Hi Molydog,

Welcome to TalkingScot.

By far the majority of the (pre-1855) OPR marrage records are no more than a sentence or two about the proclamation of the banns. Usually something to the effect of "12th August 1854, William Smith and Helen Mackay both of this parish gave their names in order to be married." Sometimes it is followed by "and were subsequently married 2nd September." Occasionally it will include a house name. Very rarely you will get the bonus of the parents' names.

Sorry to disappoint you, but the 1854 marriage that you ask about is most likely to have only minimal information.

The most likely places to find their parents' names are their death certificates, assuming they were in Scotland at the times of their deaths, or a country that give a similar level of information on the certificates.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[Mollydog]

Thanks for your reply Andrew.

I just wanted to try and confirm that I have the correct John Menzies born to parents George Menzies and Rachel Tait. The naming pattern of John and Marion's children points to his father as being George and mother as Rachel, you know with the naming first born son/daughter etc. But on John's death certificate, his youngest son stated that John Menzies parents were David Menzies and Margaret Tait. Could he just have picked those names out of a hat, because he didn't really know? I have searched everywhere and cannot even come up with a marriage between David Menzies and Margaret Tait let alone a son, John Menzies.

Anyway, I hope I am not waffling on too much.

Kind regards

[nelmit]

Thanks for your reply Andrew.

I just wanted to try and confirm that I have the correct John Menzies born to parents George Menzies and Rachel Tait. The naming pattern of John and Marion's children points to his father as being George and mother as Rachel, you know with the naming first born son/daughter etc. But on John's death certificate, his youngest son stated that John Menzies parents were David Menzies and Margaret Tait. Could he just have picked those names out of a hat, because he didn't really know? I have searched everywhere and cannot even come up with a marriage between David Menzies and Margaret Tait let alone a son, John Menzies.

Anyway, I hope I am not waffling on too much.

Kind regards

Hello Mollydog,

According to the IGI John MENZIES son of George MENZIES and Rachel TAIT was born in Newbattle, Midlothian on 27th December 1835.

If you look at the birth entry on SP of George MENZIES, son of John and Marion LUMSDEN, born 1st March 1855 in Slamannan, Stirling, it should tell you John's age and place of birth. Hopefully this will match with the above details.

Regards,
Annette M

[MaryB]

Hi mollydog - I see you are searching menzies, I have Menzies in my family as well, although from Greenock/Port Glasgow area. The family later went to Australia, and a Robert Menzies went on to become PM of Australia

I haven't bothered taking this line any further, as my gt grandmother and her 2nd hubby Robert Menzies didn't have any issue

[Mollydog]

Thanks for the tip Annette M.
Regards



Hi Mary B

My grandmother always said we were somehow related to the Robert Menzies PM, but I haven't found the connection yet!

Regards