rosskeen - parish records

bobandbryony · Post by **bobandbryony** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:57 pm

Hi everyone,

We were grateful for the replies to our recent subject of naming children so thought we would ask another - hope that's O.K.

The main focus of our research has been Andrew Ross who was born in Invergordon, in Rosskeen in 1849. We now know that his parents Donald and Christina(Munro) had 7 children of which only one was born after 1855. We know from a BMD certificate for the last child who sadly died after 7 months that the mother Chistina died just before BDMs start. No birth parish records seem to exist on Scotlands People for any of the six children.

The OPR death record for Christina gives very little information.

Our question is whether parish records exist outside of those available on Scotlands People and if so how we do we access them. We live in East Sussex so a visit to Edinburgh, or Rosskeen itself, isn't easy for microfiche records if they exist.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:40 pm

Hi Bob/Bryony
Don't be afraid to ask questions, that's how most of us started out on here now we can answer some!

I'm a little confused by your statement

Donald and Christina(Munro) had 7 children of which only one was born after 1855. We know from a BMD certificate for the last child who sadly died after 7 months that the mother Chistina died just before BDMs start

If the child was born after 1855, then the mother would have been alive for Statutary registration too, as ALL the records started at the same time, so Christina's death should be recorded if the child's birth was.

Post by **joette** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:59 pm

I think what he meant was the child died after Stat Reg,the birth/death of the Mother just before.

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:33 pm

Like Wilma I was also a bit confused about Christina's death before 1855.

Could this be the family in 1861 at Rosskeen (with a couple of mistranscriptions)-

Donald Ross 52 born Alness
Christy Ross 38 born Alness
David Ross 6
Isabella Ross 13
Helen Ross 10
Johanna Ross 2
Lerey (Lexy??) Ross 7 Mo (4 weeks??)

JOHANNA ROSS

10 DEC 1858 Rosskeen, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Parents:
Father: DONALD ROSS Family
Mother: CHRISTIAN MUNRO

LEXY ROSS

17 MAR 1861 Rosskeen, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Parents:
Father: DONALD ROSS Family
Mother: CHRISTINA MUNRO

I realise as the names very common in that area then this may well be a completely different Donald Ross and Christina Munro but thought I'd throw it anyway.

Do you have your ancestor in census records bobandbryony?

Regards,
Annette

Post by **paddyscar** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:27 am

Hi Bobandbyrony and welcome to TalkingScot!

Found 1 death for Christina on SP by entering only
Surname:Ross
Forename: Christy
Sex: female
Year range: 1855 to 1855
Age range: 30 to 30
Birth year: 1823 +/- 2
County/city/minor records" Ross and Cromarty
District: All districts

Found 2 births on SP by entering only
Surname:Ross
Forename: Donald
Sex: male
Year range: 1855 to 1856
County/city/minor records" Ross and Cromarty
District: Rosskeen

Found 1 death record for a Donald on SP entering only
Surname: ross
Forename: Donald
Mother's maiden name: Munro
Check marked - 'Include Unrecorded Mother's Maiden Surname'
Sex: male
Year range: 1855 to 1856
Age range: 0 to 1
Birth year: 1855 +/- 1
County/city/minor records" Ross and Cromarty
District: Rosskeen - It may be the person who registered his death didn't know when he was born, or may just have been confusion following the death

http://www.familysearch.org/ENG/search/ ... search.asp has 12 hits on a 'parental' search entering only the father's and mother's names and nothing else. In the resulting records roll down the screen to the heading International Genealogical Index - British Isles 5 hits are in late 1700s the balance in the 1800s. Variations of Mother's first name Christina, Chrisy and Chrisy Ann, but all Fathers are Donald Ross

CHRISTINA GRAY ROSS - Birth: 25 SEP 1859 Tain, Ross And Cromarty
DONALD ROSS - 12 JUN 1855 Rosskeen, Ross And Cromarty
ALEXANDER ROSS - Birth: 17 AUG 1861 Tain, Ross And Cromarty
DONALD ROSS : 06 DEC 1863 Rosskeen, Ross And Cromarty
BARBARA DINGWALL ROSS Birth: 12 APR 1863 Tain, Ross And Cromarty LEXY ROSS - Gender: Female Birth: 17 MAR 1861 Rosskeen, Ross And Cromarty
MARY ROSS - 05 FEB 1872 Dornoch, Sutherland

Sorry, but my credits have expired so can't check against the above on SP.

Hope this helps a bit,

Frances

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:06 am

No birth parish records seem to exist on Scotlands People for any of the six children.

Lots of Free Kirk members up that way, which might explain any non- appearance on the OPRs.

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:27 am

bobandbryony wrote:Hi everyone,

.............We know from a BMD certificate for the last child who sadly died after 7 months.........................

Thank you in advance.

I take it this is the birth record where you got the info about the 6 previous children.

DONALD ROSS

Event(s):
Birth:
12 JUN 1855 Rosskeen, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Death:
13 JAN 1856
Burial:

Parents:
Father: DONALD ROSS Family
Mother: CHRISTINA MUNRO

On this entry it should give Christina/Christian/Christy's age and place of birth. So if she was around 32 and born at Alness then this is the couple living at Rosskeen in 1861.

Regards,
Annette

bobandbryony · Post by **bobandbryony** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:28 pm

dear all,

Thank you very much for all your replies.

We realise that we should have given you the full story but didn't want to bore you.

Thanks to you we have now found Christina's BDM death certificate for 20th June 1855 under her maiden name of Munro which shows the names and ages of 5 of the 7 children;

As at 1855,

Christina - 12
William - 7
Andrew - 5 1/2 (my ggrandfather)
Margaret - (a new name for us) 4
James Hector - 1 3/4
Donald 10 days.

The marriage certificate for Donald/Christina in Edinburgh on 15th June 1840 shows her to be the daughter of William Munro, a farmer in Alness and that he is a cartwright.

The death certificate for Christina, her husband Donald and their son Donald who died in 1856 all show his profession as master coach builder. This is confirmed in the marriage certificate and death certificate of their son James Hector, a commercial traveller from Edinburgh who married Jemima Ballingall in 1878 and had 7 children.

Christina's death certificate also shows her parents as William and Margaret (m.s. Ross). We believe them to be the family who moved from Rosskeen to Boath and Loinaridge where they farmed. The 1861 census showed them having a grand daughter called Krishna staying with them which is an interesting Ancestry translation!

We have all of this information but no sign whatsoever of OPR birth records for the six children born before 1855. Thanks for the suggestion that they may have been members of the Free Church which we believe may well be correct - if so is there any way we can follow this up?

Thanks too for the info from familysearch.org - the 1855 Donald is certainly "our" Donald but the details for the others don't seem to fit.

Thanks once again everybody for all your help.
BobandBryony

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