Stronsay OPR Gap .....

[Jamboesque]

Hi Folks,

I think I’ve hit a problem that may be insurmountable.

I am trying to trace 2 lines of my family in Stronsay Orkney, the Groats and the Ste(ph)vensons, however both lines seem to disappear round about 1800. I have no doubt that at least the Stevenson’s did not migrate from another island.

I spent the other day in the fascinating collection of spaces that is the Scottish Genealogical Society looking at the microfiche for the OPR’s for Stronsay (No31) and can across a disturbing situation. On one page the entries finish at 1771, then there is a line drawn across the page and underneath written in a different hand the entries start up again in 1797 with no explanation as to the 26 year gap.
If there are no entries available for these years then both these lines will be very near impossible to progress backward.

One suggestion from one of the volunteer’s (nice folk that they are!) was I should check the Kirk Session Records at NRH.

Has anybody come across anything similar? What might have happened, I can’t imagine that the island would have gone some 26 years without a minister.

[trish1]

According to the LDS their copy of the same register is missing 1770 - 1797 so it would seem these years were lost or destroyed. They also only seem to have marriages and funerals from 1801. The LDS have Kirk session minutes 1753-1760. Book MR 24 ; vol. 1. Someone else may be able to tell you if any others exist.

This was my saddest research find
"Very early in the morning of Tuesday the 16th day of August in the year 1842, Hanley Parsonage was totally burnt and demolished by a riotous mob, and all its contents consumed, stolen or destroyed. Among other articles the whole series of Registers of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, at Hanley Chapel, from the year 1754 (the time of their commencement) to the day of the outrage, contained in 15 books, are supposed to have perished in the flames, except for two of the volumes. The Duplicate Registers of Marriages since Midsummer 1837 also escaped, because they were at the Chapel and not deposited with the others in the Iron Chest at the Parsonage.

The above facts are hereby certified by me
R.E. AITKINS Beneficed Curate of Hanley"
Source: LDS Film No 1470996 Items 16-23 Parish Registers 1789-1915 Church of England. St. John the Evangelist Church (Hanley)


Trish

[Jamboesque]

Thanks for the quick reply, Trish.

I guessed thats what the LDS would say, and I would have tended to agree with them but for the fact that the break appears on the same page of the OPR. The image on the fiche is quite clear. The entries appear to be contiguous, above the line on the page are entries from 1771 and below the line,on the same piece of paper, are entries from 1797.

So I would tend to think that pages were not removed from the record.

[AndrewP]

Hi Jamboesque,

The first Statistical Accounts of Scotland, from the 1790s has in the pages for the United Parishes of Stronsay and Eday, a table of quantities of births, marriages and deaths for each year of 1780 to 1793, so presumably there were records of some sort at that time.

http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/link/1 ... ay/15/412/
then follow the link to browse scanned pages for non-subscribers.
then follow the link to Stronsay and Eday ... page 412.

The second Statistical Accounts of Scotland from the 1840s makes no mention of the condition of the parochial registers for the United Parishes of Stronsay and Eday.

The GROS list of available OPRs is not detailed enough to show gaps in the records.

The NAS online index shows that the Stronsay Kirk Session minutes are not held by them, but can be found in the Orkney Archives.

http://www.orkneylibrary.org.uk/html/archive.htm

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[Jamboesque]

Thanks Andrew,

I should have looked up the Statistical Account before posting the above, from the description given on pages 422 - 425 it seems quite clear that the incumbent minister was under great pressure financially. Both the churches on Stronsay & Eday were almost derelict and given the fact that he had to pay the ferry cost of one shilling for each ferry trip between the churches it is maybe forgivable that he was not too interested in keeping up the Parish Register.

The author of the Account leaves the reader in no doubt as to who was to blame to the situation
Page 424 “Lord Dundas is Patron” A short sentence but rather telling.

I am always amazed at reading the Statistical Account for Scotland, it is an interesting resource that provides a substantial window into the later part of the 18th Century in Scotland.

As you say there may well be records available I’ll just have dig a bit more deeply in the Orkney Archives for some titbits.

Thanks again.

Jack

[DavidWW]

Hi Jack

The situation that you have encountered with the Stronsay OPR is far from being unusual.

In fact I'd regard it as a good day when working with the OPRs not to come across a gap in the records.

The basic reasons are very simple, - the records were never made, or the records were made but have been lost in some way.

Beyond that it gets a lot more complicated in terms of the very many reasons leading to loss or lack of recording in the first place.

Why weren't the records made? As you've found in this case, the minister may have had problems. Perhaps the most frequent reason is that there was no minister, i.e. a gap between the outgoing minister and the appointment of the new one. Sometimes a minister from a neighbouring parish would step into the breach and do christenings, or parishioners would go to a neighbouring parish, but that's less likely in remote areas.

Another reason was the Stamp Act between 1783 and 1794 which meant that some people couldn't afford the fees, as well a some ministers taking the view that this was unwarranted interference by the state in the affairs of the church, and refused to keep records.

Made but lost? You name it, there are examples of loss by fire, damp, dropped into water from a bridge, eaten by rodents (they love cellulose), stolen (to avoid lists of names beoing compiled for militia service), taken in error by the minister's family, sent down th the Court of Session in Edinburgh for use in a court action but never returned ..................

David

[Jamboesque]

Hi,

Thanks for the input, David.

I think the loss of the OPR’s is probably a combination of all the factors discussed above.
However, I was quite fortunate in that the lady (maternal g-mother by several generations) in question, a Betsy Stevenson lived to 87 and died in 1881. Obviously being a Statutory Record it included her parents Margaret Keldaly (b1765) & Peter Shearer (b1766). These of course have a distinct lack of provenance in that there is no OPR to indicate a marriage or the birth of Betsy (this would also preclude any search for Betsy’s siblings), however I have now got 3 siblings of Margaret & 3 for Peter to investigate. I will need in all probability try to get a copy of the M.I’s for the Parish of Stronsay to give a level of confidence to these assumptions.

Betsy Stevenson’s husband Peter Stevenson died in 1871 at the age of 78 so I have to chase that side up using the same technique, Lord knows how many folk will turn up under these rocks.

I sometimes think my ancestors were attempting to populate Stronsay by their own efforts!

If you have the need to search the OPR for Orkney a good site that I’ve found is the Bostwick Family site at http://tilley.dynodns.net:8000/modules.php?name=OPR

It’s searchable database for all OPR’s in Orkney very useful

[fmackay]

Hi there
Another good site is www.cursiter.com which has OPR's and much more.
Fiona

[Jamboesque]

Hi Fiona

Been There, Done That, Got the proverbial Tee-shirt.

You can't have enough sources and I've used the Cursiter site quite a bit over the last year.

Thanks for highlighting it for other folk though...........

Jack