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I am trying to find my great grandfather's father who did not appear on his birth certificate but did on his death cert.
His name was Willam Davidson born around 1810 in Banffshire.
My great grandfather was his son and he was called Alexander Davidson, born 1830 in Crimond. His mother was Elspet Chalmers who subsequently married Willim Marr in 1834 in Longside.
I would love to find William's ancestors as well as those of Elspet Chalmers.


Eunice Oliver

There were no such docs as birth certs in Scotland before 1855

How do you know where and when William Davidson was born?

1851

Name: Elspet Marr
Age: 39
Estimated birth year: abt 1812
Relationship: Wife
Spouse's name: William Marr
Gender: Female
Where born: St Fergus, Banffs
Parish Number: 218
Civil Parish: Longside
Town: Mintlaw
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: South Street
ED: 1
Page: 8 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 45
Line: 15
Roll: CSSCT1851_48
Household Members: Name Age
William Marr 45
Elspet Marr 39
James Marr 16

Have you checked for Elspet's baptism on the IGI?

Alexander Davidson

England and Wales Census, 1881
birth: 1831 — Crimond, Aberdeen, Scotland
residence: Belhelvie, Aberdeen, Scotland
spouse: Jane Davidson

record title: England and Wales Census, 1881
name: Alexander Davidson
age: 50
gender: Male
birth year: 1831
birthplace: Crimond, Aberdeen, Scotland
relationship to head of household: Head
marital condition: Married
profession / occupation: Crofter Of 20 Acres
address: Bridle Fold
census place: Belhelvie, Aberdeen, Scotland
record type: Household
family history library film: 0203452
piece / folio: /
page number: 7

Elspet Marr
Age: 25
Estimated birth year: abt 1816
Gender: Female
Where born: Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Civil Parish: Longside
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: Mintlaw
Parish Number: 218
Household Members: Name Age
William Marr 30
Elspet Marr 25
Mary Marr 9
James Marr 6
Margret Marr 4
William Marr 2

William Davidson

Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
residence: Banf, Scotland
parents: James Davidson, Margaret Copland

record title: Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
name: William Davidson
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 22 Jul 1810
baptism/christening place: RATHVEN,BANFF,SCOTLAND
father's name: James Davidson
mother's name: Margaret Copland
indexing project (batch) number: C11164-2
system origin: Scotland-ODM
source film number: 991192

William Davidson

Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 20 Aug 1811
residence: Banf, Scotland
parents: Wm Davidson, Margaret Malcolm

record title: Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
name: William Davidson
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 20 Aug 1811
baptism/christening place: MARNOCH,BANFF,SCOTLAND
birth date: 20 Aug 1811
father's name: Wm Davidson
mother's name: Margaret Malcolm
indexing project (batch) number: C11161-2
system origin: Scotland-ODM
source film number: 990988

Elspet Chalmers born 20 April 1810 to Samuel Chalmers & Elizabeth Wallace in Aberdeen

Taken from Scotlands People, unfortunately the copy was so faint I couldn't read it. Couldn't find a marriage for Samuel & Elizabeth

Hello Eunice, you can also try putting those names into the Search Trees box above to see if anyone else on this site has them in their tree. If you find a connection, you can contact the tree owner. Regards. Cx

Thank you for that Cynthia. i shall try it.
Eunice

so what about the information the rest of us gave?

Sorry everybody, I replied to you but whilst in the process of sending, my line crashed.
I am grateful to all for the work you did on my behalf.
To Ann for William's possible parents.As I do not know where he was born or his origins, i am now wondering which of the two sets is the most likely.As Rathven is quite a way from Crimond and St Fergus where Alexander was born and where Elspet came from, i wonder if Marnoch family might be correct.Sadly I have been unable to find Marnoch on my map!
Felicity asked me how I knew where and when William was born, as there were no birth certs before 1855.
His date of birth, I guessed as being similar to Elspet's and I knew his name because he appeared on Alexander, his son's death certificate although he was not mentioned on Alexander's marriage cert ;Only Elspet was. I realise of course that he could have been older than that.
I have not checked on Elspet's baptism on IGI
To Beejay, Elspet Chalmers born to samuel Chalmers and Elizabeth Wallace -in Aberdeen. From the censuses I have consulted she was born in St Fergus, Bffshire, so I wonder if that is the correct one?
thank you to all and you have certainly given me ideas and leads to follow.
Can anyone, however tell me why it seems to be so much more difficult to get ancestry info for Scotland as opposed to England?

Eunice

Have you found a marriage for Elspet to Mr. Davidson please?

She would appear to have married William Marr using her maiden surname?

IGI Individual Record FamilySearch
ELSPET CHALMERS Pedigree
Female Family
Marriages:
Spouse: WILLIAM MARR Family
Marriage: 17 AUG 1834 Longside, Aberdeen, Scotland

Messages:
Extracted marriage record for locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the marriage date.

Have you found a christening record for Alexander please? You need to find further proof that his father was William Davidson. If he never knew his father it may be that the father's name given on his death certificate was a combination of his stepfather's first name and the surname of his own father.

Have you found Alexander on the 1841 census please?

If Elspet died in Scotland after statutory registration began then her death registration entry (available from Scotlandspeople) will give her parents' names including her mother's maiden surname if the informant knew the details.

To rootgatherer
No I have not found a mariage for Elspet Chalmers and William Davidson and as I said only Elspet appears on Alexander, the son's, marriage certificate.
There is an IGI marriage of Elspet Chalmers and William marr in 1834,17 August.
I have not looked at christening records as such . I just have birth Crimond, 1831 On the 1901 census he is down as being born at Crimond.
On re-looking at the death cert of Alexander, it says Father-William Davidson, deceased and mother Elspet Davidson ms Chalmers. No mention of Marr!
I
Alexander was not with his mother in the 1841 census. She was living at Mintlaw, Longside and had four children with Wiliam Marr
I have had no success tracing Elspet's death.

How do you know that Elspet Chambers who married William Marr was Alexander's mother please? All that you know is second hand information i.e the information that the informant provided on his death certificate. The fact that it doesn't say Elspet Davidson later Marr maiden surname Chambers may show that he didn't stay in contact with his mother. As a 10 year old you would expect him to be with his mother in 1841 or perhaps his grandparents but there is no obvious entry on the 1841 to match.

Roogatherer
I agree with you up to a point but assumed that Elspet Marr was his mother. In the censuses i looked at, Alexander never seemed to live with her
What do you think?
Eunice

I think I would keep Elspet Marr in my "yet to be proved" file for the time being.

I don't think that there is enough evidence yet, I wouldn't add her to my tree with so little evidence. I would be happier if we could find Alexander living with his mother or even a grandparent!

I am thinking (and I may well be wrong) that Alexander may have been born before his mother married.

You could contact Aberdeen Archives and find out if there are any relevant surviving poor relief records. It is probably worth having a look at the Aberdeen and North East Family History website to see what records they hold.

To Rootgatherer,
Thanks for that advice. I shall try what you say and get back to you.
However, it will be a couple of days at least as i am tied up till the weekend.
Thank you,
Eunice