How likely is a missing Baptism?

[trish1]

I have returned to this branch of my family a few times, but seem no closer that I was 5 years ago in resolving who is the father of Peter Boyd. Peter married Elizabeth Milne in 1782. Banns were called in Markinch, Fife (his parish) and St Andrews and St Leonards - her parish. Children were William, Bety, Isobel, Janet, Peter, and Margaret. William was baptised in Markinch, the remainder in Leslie. Many researchers have decided Peter was the child of John Boyd & Janet Cunningham from Falkirk - baptised 1752. I could accept this except for the fact that their first child is called William and there is no son called John. Future generations strongly followed the naming standards. It is possible that Elizabeth's parents were William and Elizabeth (Elspeth Miln born St Andrews & St Leonards 1755) which could cater for the William but not the missing John.

IF the naming standards are used the parents of Peter are William and Isobel. There is a family that matches - in Markinch, viz. William Boid and Isobel Seath (noting William came from Wemyss & Isobel from Markinch) BUT there is no record of a baptism of a child Peter. They married 1744 - and appear to have children (perhaps there are 2 families) from 1743 to 1764 - quite a spread - 1 in Wemyss, 5 in Markinch and 1 in Dysart. So 7 children in 30 years in the register. My Peter Boyd appears to have been buried in 1794 - unfortunately no age given.

1. Is it acceptable that Boid is a variation on Boyd (LDS doesn't recognise them as alternatives)
2. Is there anywhere I could look for any "missing" children of William and Isobel
3. Any clues on why it has been assumed that Peter belongs to a John Boyd - is it simply because there is a baptism for a Peter son of John?

Trish

[AndrewP]

Hi Trish,

From the IGI, I see the family groups as follows:

• PETER BOYD / ELIZABETH MILNE - Marriage: 11 JAN 1782 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  PETER BOYD / BETTY MILNE - Marriage: 01 FEB 1782 St. Andrews And St. Leonards, Fife, Scotland
  . . WILLIAM BOYD - Christening: 18 MAY 1783 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  . . BETY BOYD - Christening: 13 MAR 1785 Leslie, Fife, Scotland
  . . ISOBLE BOYD - Christening: 07 JUL 1787 Leslie, Fife, Scotland
  . . JANET BOYD - Christening: 19 APR 1789 Leslie, Fife, Scotland
  . . PETER BOYD - Birth: 25 JUL 1791 Leslie, Fife, Scotland
  . . MARGARET BOYD - Birth: 13 DEC 1793 Leslie, Fife, Scotland (mother = Betty Mill)
  
  WILLIAM BOID / ISOBEL SEATH - Marriage: 20 OCT 1744 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  WILLIAM BOID / ISOBEL SEATH - Marriage: 16 NOV 1744 Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
  . . WILLIAM BOID - Christening: 11 SEP 1743 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  . . JANET BOID - Christening: 24 APR 1748 Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
  . . GEORGE BOID - Christening: 10 JUN 1750 Dysart, Fife, Scotland
  . . PATRICK BOID - Christening: 17 JUN 1753 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  . . RACHEL BOID - Christening: 08 APR 1759 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  . . AGNES BOID - Christening: 29 AUG 1762 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  . . DAVID BOID - Christening: 26 AUG 1764 Markinch, Fife, Scotland
  
  JOHN BOYD / JANET CUNNINGHAM - Marriage: 15 NOV 1743 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . AGNES BOYD - Christening: 12 AUG 1744 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . JOHN BOYD - Christening: 04 MAY 1746 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . MARION BOYD - Christening: 30 JUL 1749 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . PETER BOYD - Christening: 23 FEB 1752 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . PATRICK BOYD - Christening: 01 APR 1753 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . JAMES BOYD - Christening: 05 JAN 1755 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . MARGARET BOYD - Christening: 20 FEB 1757 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . MARGARET BOYD - Christening: 12 JAN 1759 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland
  . . JAMES BOYD - Christening: 27 SEP 1761 Falkirk, Stirling, Scotland

If I was a betting man, I would say the best chance is that your Peter who married Elizabeth (Betty) Milne would be the one baptised as Patrick in Markinch in 1853. That is based on geography alone, so proves nothing, but as the place is right the chances are good, particularly as you have established from the marriage OPR that Markinch was his home parish.

In answer to your questions:

1. I would have no problem accepting Boyd and Boid as the same name. I found the IGI accepted them as the same name. The one that didn't fall into the family group was Margaret, whose mother's surname is listed as Mill rather than Milne.
2. Only suggestions that I have are if any of them appear in Kirk session minutes (unlikely as the parents are married), or if there are any family headstones listed in the Fife MI's.
3. On the evidence given, it looks like someone was making a best guess because the details almost fit.

All the best,

AndrewP

[trish1]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for grouping the families so well. There was a third possibility I looked at - a family in Perth where unfortunately the parish register only gives the father's name
James Boid baptised 28 Aug 1748 Auchtergaven, Perth, Sct father William
Isobell Boyd baptised 26 Aug 1750 Auchtergaven, Perth, Sct father William
Andrew Boyd baptised 29 Jan 1753 Auchtergaven, Perth, Sct father William
Christian Boid baptised 9 Mar 1755 Auchtergaven, Perth, Sct father William
Peter Boid baptised 7 Dec 1757 Auchtergaven, Perth, Sct father William
William Boyde baptised 5 Jul 1767 Auchtergaven, Perth, Sct father William

I thought it was equally as likely as the Falkirk branch - but when I searched further I think I have found this particular Peter Boid remaining in Perth.

I wondered about the Peter/Patrick - I don't know alot about the equality of these two names & as the Falkirk family had both it didn't seem as likely - then again the Falkirk Peter could have died as an infant, given that the child born a year later has the same/similar name.

I do agree with your summation - location and naming patterns make the Markinch folks the best bet - shame that the opr for Peter's burial does not contain an age.

Many thanks

Trish

[AndrewP]

Hi Trish,

Peter and Patrick can be safely regarded as the same name. It is one that is regularly interchanged through the years when researching one person of these names.

All the best,

AndrewP

[trish1]

Hi Trish,

Peter and Patrick can be safely regarded as the same name. It is one that is regularly interchanged through the years when researching one person of these names.

All the best,

AndrewP

Thanks Andrew - I hadn't realised it was that definite. I wonder why the earlier researchers thus ignored this possibility - but perhaps, like me, they didn't put the two names together. It took me some years to convince my mother that spelling variations didn't exclude someone from our family (I'm not sure she ever believed me) so I will have to learn more about name equivalences.

Trish

[SandySandilands]

Hi Trish,

Peter and Patrick can be safely regarded as the same name. It is one that is regularly interchanged through the years when researching one person of these names.

All the best,

AndrewP

Thanks Andrew - I hadn't realised it was that definite. I wonder why the earlier researchers thus ignored this possibility - but perhaps, like me, they didn't put the two names together. Trish

I have also come across Peter/Patrick/Philip being interchanged. Philip in particular being used when an event was recorded in England.

It took me some years to convince my mother that spelling variations didn't exclude someone from our family (I'm not sure she ever believed me) so I will have to learn more about name equivalences. Trish

My father was exactly the same. If our surname was not recorded with the "i" and the "s" "...they had nowt to do with us!"