Twins

At the end of my last post, I mentioned that I had no idea that Alexander Ritchie BUCHAN had a brother called John. 

I did a 'parent search' on familysearch.org for Alex's parents, Charles and Jessie (nee RITCHIE) and up he popped! While checking the information, I noticed that his birth date was identical to brother William's but perhaps this was confused with a christening date (children were sometimes baptised in 'bunches').

I managed to download the birth entry on Scotlands People and sure enough, John and William were twins!

Birth record of Charles & William BUCHAN, Peterhad 1868

Anyone else found twins in their families?  I think this was the first instance I've come across.

Neighbouring Families - Part 2

This is a follow on from my previous post - Neighbouring Families.

! The results here are accurate, however not the William BROWN I was tracing (see previous post for correction).  I have chosen to leave this information here to help others.

Using FamilySearch, I searched the IGI for Sarah FERGUSSON with a spouse named BROWN.

Success: It listed Sarah marrying a John BROWN in Glencairn, 1826 (about 3 years before William BROWN was born according to the censuses).  This seemed a very good match indeed so I began to search for birth records of William and his brother, John.

No sign of William but I found a birth and christening record for John (parents John BROWN and Sarah FERGUSON) in the nearby parish of Keir, for September 1825.  However, this was a year before his parents' marriage so although it is not impossible, I could not be sure. Perhaps the parish record will say whether the birth was 'legitimate' or not?  I bit the bullet and viewed the actual parish record on ScotlandsPeople.  The birth had been transcribed incorrectly and actually took place in December 1828 - remember ALWAYS view the actual record where possible!

Birth entry for John BROWN, son of John BROWN & Sarah FERGUSSON - December 1828

While checking my previous searches on ScotlandsPeople, I found an entry for William, legitimate son of John BROWN and Sarah FERGUSON of Snade Mill (the residence was indecipherable to me at first but the ordnance survey maps helped me a great deal) He was born on the 2nd December 1826 and christened the 6th December. 

Birth entry for William BROWN, son of John BROWN & Sarah Fergusson - December 1826

Snade Mill (Cairn Water), Glencairn parish

via ScotlandsPlaces

Now I need to link this John BROWN to my James BROWN to prove these neighbours were also family.  I would also like to find the family connection to George BROWN who also lived at Woodhead throughout these censuses.

Next steps (edited):

• Find a family link between these BROWNs and the BROWNs at Woodhead