William Curry McKay

[Sheena O'Fee]

Hi folks
I'm trying to help out a friend with the following;-

Looking for the parents of William Curry McKay who married Caith. Morrison 11 March 1803 in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland. William and Caith. may have come from the Cape Wrath area. One or both of these individuals may have been related to the family of John Ross.

William and Caith. emigrated to Shelburne County, Nova Scotia by 1806. They are likely related to the families of the Port Roseway Assoc. specifically Sgt. Donald McKay, Alexander McKay. Related families include McPherson and Urquhart.

Any information on any of the above mentioned would be gratefully appreciated

thanks
Sheena

[ChristineR]

Do you have the full marriage from the parish register?

If not, then you should try and see the entry, Witnesses names may be helpful. And there may be some information about parents if consent was needed. I have early marriage records for Durness, Sutherland, which have father's names and occupations, but I do not know how widespread that practice was in Scotland.

Also you would need to examine baptisms for some time back in case they were locally born.

[Lesley Robertson]

[quote=ChristineR;196812]I have early marriage records for Durness, Sutherland, which have father's names and occupations, but I do not know how widespread that practice was in Scotland.
quote]

It depended very much on the Minister - I have one Minister who specified both parents, godparents AND who the child was named for in baptismal entries (on the minus side, he also managed to spell one family name 3 ways in the same entry). I have another Minister who forgot to mention the name of the bride in a marriage entry!
In my OPS, the entry format changes with changes in the handwriting.

Lesley

[Inez Reed]

Sadly, all I have are the names of the bride and groom abbreviated as "Will. McKay" and "Caith. Morrison" in 1803. The only other "clue" to the names of the parents is through their daughter Margaret, if traditional naming schemes were in place.

Best wishes,

Inez

[Stephen M. Kohler]

The families of SGT. Donald McKay, McPherson and Urquhart families are well documented by members of the Shelburne Genealogical Society. SGT McKay was from Thurso. The McPherson and Urquhart families came from outside of Glasgow.
/R

Stephen
Washington, DC