Andrew Neil(l)

Post by **Jean Jeanie** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:35 pm

There are 2 Andrew Neils shown on the IGI as being born in Uphall around the same time. One in 1739 and one in 1740.

The one with parents William Neil and Margaret Fraser dies aged 3 weeks (taken from the MI which shows his parents names)

Their is an MI for another Andrew Neil which fits with the year of birth for the other one. The MI does not mention his parents names, only his wife's name. He died in 1820 so no statutory record.

Question:- Is this the Andrew Neil whose birth is shown on the IGI or could there be yet another Andrew Neil, born at the same time, whose birth was not recorded on the IGI?

In 1801 there were 786 people living in Uphall. What are the chances of there being another Andrew Neil born around 1740, whose birth was not recorded?

Anyone any good at working out what the odds would be as to whether there are 2 or 3 Andrew Neils?

Best wishes
Jean

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:11 am

Hello Jean,

Someone will probably be able to shoot this calculation completely full of holes, nevertheless……….

On FreeCen http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl 1841 West Lothian is about 93% complete.

If you search for A* Neil* in Census place Uphall the result is 2 Andrew Neils.

If you search leaving everything blank except Census place Uphall the result is 1475 people.

If there were 786 people in Uphall in 1801 (and quite possibly less in 1740), and all things being reasonably equal, you would think there would be only one Andrew Neil in Uphall in 1740 and any more than that being progressively more unlikely.

There were only 25 Neils in Uphall in 1841, only 8 of these were male adults. Of these 8 the only name duplications are far enough apart in age to be father and son and all but one were born locally. Not many really, just one Neil born 1740 could have produced that number (assuming not too many movements out of the area).

It might be an interesting exercise for you to make up a bit of a family tree for the family groups on FreeCen and using the IGI backtrack them as far as you can to give you a picture of the Neil situation in Uphall in the 1740s?

Hope this helps,
Alan

Post by **Jean Jeanie** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:06 pm

Hi Currie

I have the 1841 census for Uphall courtesy of http://www.uphall.org/

All 25 Neils are there.

My dining room floor is now covered in mini trees as I try to work out who is who.

It's the folks who died before 1841 that are giving me the problems!

Cheers
Jean

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:08 am

Thanks Jean,

That 'Uphall on the Web' site is really great. Should be a million more of them.

Alan