Roll of Burgesses help needed

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:06 am

Hi all,

I'm tracking one of my questionmark Clerihews.

William Clerihugh, Edinburgh and Margaret Meldrum had Vair Clerihugh in 1798. Vair married Mariann Scott in 1824 in Edinburgh and they had a son William in 1825, Vair Jr. 1831, Charles 1836, Mary 1838, and John 1844.

The last of Vair Sr.'s siblings was born in 1816.

I found this entry from the Roll of Burgesses, Register of Marriages on Ancestry:

Data Source: Midlothian (Edinburgh), Scotland: Parish and Probate Records
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 6:39:14 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Midlothian: Edinburgh - Roll of Burgesses and Guild Brethren 1761-1841, (Abercrombie-Huie)[BatchNum]-B104
Volume 5. The Register of Marriages.
Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses, 1761-1841.
1820, January.
County: Midlothia
Country: Scotland
Clereheugh, Vair, barber and wigmaker, B., in r. of fr. Wm. C., barber and wigmaker 16 Jan 1833

Can anyone tell me what the abbreviations in the last sentence might refer to and what this entry might mean? Vair Sr. was a wigmaker and barber and his father was named William, but the year 1833 doesn't fit any of them if this is a notice of marriage?

Carol

Post by **paddyscar** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:54 am

Hi Carol:

I don't have any experience with this particular document type, but there seems to be an odd mix of Burgess/Guild/Marriage register, which makes me wonder, and with the source being Ancestry ....

BURGESS
A person who represented a borough at official levels.

Clereheugh, Vair, barber and wigmaker, B., in r. of fr. Wm. C., barber and wigmaker 16 Jan 1833

Perhaps Vair became Burgess in resignation of former (burgess) Wm. C., on 16 Jan 1833 - a very uneducated guess.

Frances

Post by **AndrewP** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:24 am

An equally uneducated guess:

Perhaps Vair became Burgess in replacement of father (burgess) Wm. C., on 16 Jan 1833

Food for thought,

AndrewP

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:34 am

Hi Carol,
Here's another guess: Could Vair be indexed because he is mentioned in his father's record of 1833? So B (burgess) in r (record) of fr. (father)

All the best,
Sarah

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:52 am

Good guesses all of them and none occured to me! Thanks everyone. I'm wondering if maybe Vair's father died and he took his Dad's place as a Burgess.

This isn't a subject that I know anything about so I guess it's time to start reading up!

Don't have a clue why it was listed under the Register of Marriages though unless that was an Ancestryism!

Carol

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:47 pm

Hi Carol

I don't know much about Ancestry but you can see a list of Edinburgh Burgesses at http://www.scotsfind.org/databases_free/burgesses.pdf . The list there shows much what you have & I think the abbreviation means "in the room of father, William C(lerehugh)". The entry below shows that William was admitted as a Burgess on 10 September 1793. There is a useful overview of the Burgess system at www.edinburgh.org.uk/hisc/wood.html

Muriel

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:26 pm

Hi Muriel,

I couldn't get your first link to scotsfind to work, but the second was a good explanation of the burgesses.

Carol

Link in above post modified - should work now - AndrewP

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:37 pm

Carol, that site is being worked on so:

go to www.scotsfind.org then click free databases and you'll find the Burgesses records.
Its a PDF so use the 'find' option to get your folks: page 222 out of over 1200

There's a surname Vair too away at the end.

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:40 pm

Thanks Wilma,

I got to the home page, but didn't know where to go from there! On my way now!

Carol

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:31 pm

Sorry for causing you problems with the scotfind site, Carol; it's a while since I used it to find one of my Sorbies.

Muriel