Midlothian or Perth

[DreadGod]

I have a dilema. One of my ancestors (John Kerr) is recorded aged 55 on the 1851 census. But his place of birth is stated as "Midlothian, Perth".

Now Midlothian and Perth are completely different places. I need to know where to look for the birth certificate. Any ideas ?

[SeamusAlba]

Originally Posted by DreadGod

I have a dilema. One of my ancestors (John Kerr) is recorded aged 55 on the 1851 census. But his place of birth is stated as "Midlothian, Perth".

Now Midlothian and Perth are completely different places. I need to know where to look for the birth certificate. Any ideas ?

ceàrr is gaelic for "incorrect" and probably related to the name Kerr. Certainly there is something "cèarr" about the details on the birth certificate. Maybe he was born in one location to parents from the other?

[Lachlan09]

The recorder could have picked it up wrongly (perhaps verbally) and put the wrong thing. (Remember the immigration people at Ellis Island NY ? They were famous for mis-hearing and even re-inventing new incomers' names).

It seems strange that Midlothian could have been an error, it's such a particular word. But it's just possible Perth could have been the result of a mis-hear. For example, there's a little village near Dalkeith, Midlothian called Pathhead. It's not totally impossible to imagine the father or other adult telling the recorder in the vernacular where the child was born. Pathhead might become Pathheid or even Pathee (where the second syllable gets virtually lost) and the recording administrator (possibly impatient or even dismissive or hard of hearing!), thought it sounded like Perth and wrote it down. Just a thought ! Or if written down, might have been hard to read and was transcripted wrongly.

There are Kerrs in and around that area. Even in nearby Musselburgh there's a Kerr's Wynd.

[Cadbren]

Sounds unlikely, depending on the source perhaps DreadGod has misread something, such as the handwriting of someone. I'm guessing he's referring to the 1851 Scottish census so Ellis Island sods need not apply.

Seeing the source of the information would help.

[wullie m]

Check the 1841 census. wullie.

[Lachlan09]

Originally Posted by Cadbren

so Ellis Island sods need not apply.

Seeing the source of the information would help.

I did use Ellis Island as a classic (American) example of how administrators can misinterpret information given from source. How many Americans started their life in the USA with names given to them by Ellis Island immigration officials who couldn't (or wouldn't) take down names correctly, so approximated ? Not too surprising, considering the queues of immigrants to be got through in a day, illiteracy of many immigrants and language barriers.

I was only suggesting that, similarly, a Scottish local government official or whatever may have misinterpreted source information.

I remember the story told by Alistair Cooke about an immigrant arriving at Ellis Island and determinedly showing an official a crumpled piece of paper with the word PRINGVILIAMAS on it. After much head-scratching it transpired that the immigrant wanted to go to Springfield, Massachusetts.

[Cadbren]

Originally Posted by Lachlan09

I did use Ellis Island as a classic (American) example

I know, I just have difficulty believing that anyone working for the census In Scotland doesn't know this. Historical documents can be funny things to decipher at times and I'm wondering if the two names don't refer to place of birth and place of residence at time of census which is why I made the comment about seeing the source of the information. It may even be that the place of birth and place of christening were two different places.