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I have a John Wotherspoon and a Janet Duncan in my tree and have spent quite a bit of time researching them and their children and so far so good, however I am puzzled with two of their children because according to Scotlands People they had two children named Alexander one born 1852 and the other born 1854, the SP records are detailed below.

My initial thoughts were that the Alexander born 1852 died and the child born 1854 was given the name Alexander.

I have been searching Scotlands People for a death for the first Alexander without any success, so I would appreciate some guidance from someone with a better understanding and knowledge of old parish records than I have.

(1) 04/11/1852 WHITHERSPOON ALEXANDER JOHN WHITHERSPOON/JANET DUNCAN M KILBIRNIE /AYR 596/00 0020 0237

(2) 13/02/1854 WOOTHERSPOON ALEXANDER JOHN WOOTHERSPOON/JANET DUNCAN M KILBIRNIE /AYR

Regards,

James

Not sure how Scottish registration works but could it be a re-registration? the surname spelling being different on the second could be a possible reason

Roy

Hi James
Assuming that Alexander (1) did die betwen 1852 and 1854, the death would not be on a statutory record.

The only place that this may be recorded is in the Mortcloth Section of the OPR.
As they were living in Kilbirnie, you would need to check to see if this parish kept a mortcloth record.
If they did, it is usually included in the OPR fiche.
If it exists, and if SP has transcrbed it, there will NOT be an age for the deceased on your search.

Mortcloth records give very little info.
The name of the deceased, whether it was a child, father's name ( or spouse if he/she was married) and cost of burial.
I have never found any that provide the age.

I have looked extensively at Cambuslang Mortcloths and the ONLY cases where a cause of death was noted, is when the deceased died from Cholera.
I am not sure if this notation was extended to any other parish Mortcloth or if this was one of the local Minister's many unique studies of Cambuslang Parish

Anne

it seemed to be the custom back then that if a child died, the next child would be given the same name - my father had a sister Nancy who died, and when the next little girl was born they called her Nancy too

James,
I did a google search...
Kilbirnie Mortality Schedules:
Only Burials between 1753 and 1787 have survived.
unless the child died elsewhere, I don't think his burial record will exist.


Anne

Almost certain that the first Alexander died. It is fairly common for another child to be given the same christian name if it is a family name. My grandfather had 2 brothers named William (after the paternal grandfather). When the first William died the next son born was also named William. He also had 2 brothers named John (after the father) and again when the first died the next son was also named John.

You may find that Alexander was a family name and there was a determination to keep it in the family for another generation.

Given that Kilbirnie wasn't a hugely populated area ( like Glasgow for example) perhaps your best course of action would be to investigate family graves in the area. It may be that if you find a family lair that the local authority would be able to tell you of the burials within that lair. This can be especially helpful if not all the deceased within a lair are named on the headstone.

This link tells you of burial grounds in Kilbrinie

http://www.ayrshireancestors.com/CemeteryHome.htm

Very Sparse Coverage
Of all the OPR records, those of deaths and/or burials are acknowledged to be the most sparsely kept. Since there was no requirement to record these, a great many parishes simply did not bother and of those that did, many have not survived. Often the only record that a death has taken place will be implied in the payment of a fee to the parish for the hire of the mortcloth or pall which was draped over the coffin or the body itself for the funeral.
See Extant OPRs to find out whether death/burial registers exist for the parish in which you are interested. Please also look at OPR Death Years by parish to see the available death/burial event years in the registers.

See
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=554&1353
and the link therein to:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/images/opr_deaths_years.txt

There are no Kilbirnie death records for 1847-1854

Porkie_pie, Anne, AnnCardiff, rootgatherer, and mgnv,

Thank you all for trying to solve this one, I am quite sure in my own mind that the likelihood is that the Alexander born 1852 died as an infant, so until something more definitive turns up I am going to show his death as c1853 and put this in the notes section on his entry on my tree:-

His parents had another son in 1854 who they also named Alexander so presumably this Alexander born 1852 died in infancy and to date no Death Certificate or Mortcloth Record has been found.

Thank you all once again,

James