A very overdue update on my last post where I talked about a big discovery thanks to Ancestry’s ‘shaky leaves’ hints. Well I checked out the records cited, the research seemed correct and I made contact with the owner of the tree on Ancestry. He is my fourth cousin, a descendant of Jean, sister of | more…
Blog posts with the tag 'Scotland'
The effectiveness of public rebuke?
The Kirk Session of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland played a major role in policing the behaviour of parishioners in past times. Fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, sabbath-breakers, quarrelsome characters and the like (see Walls Kirk Session records for examples) could be called to account for their behaviour, fined and eventually readmitted to communion. Public rebuke, chiefly | more…
Neptune’s baptism
A few weeks ago I came across a very unusual baptism record, dated 12 April 1750, in the parish of Kirkwall, Orkney. It was the baptism of “a Negroe usually called Neptune”. He was “in the service of Mr Fraser Officer in the Military” and, the record continues, “after having Resided several months in this | more…
