Part 955sd – 1662 Marriage Registration – 8-Times Great-Grandparents James and Elspeth (née Dumbar) Scott

Good Day,

Today, as I follow my Scott Family line back in time, I have found the 1662 Marriage Registration for 8-times Great-Grandparents James and Elspeth (née Dumbar) Scott. They were married 24 September 1662, Julian calendar, in Colinton, Midlothian.

And now that I have move back in time, I realize that documentation may be halted due to the earliest dates of recording the Parish Records. According to The Phillimore Atlas & Index of Parish Registers by Cecil R. Humphery-Smith, 3rd Edition, 2003, here are some beginning dates as to when certain Parishes in Lothian and S.E. Lowlands, specific to my research may have started.

From The National Records of Scotland –

Regarding dates and the Julian versus Gregorian calendars -

“Change to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. Scotland, along with England, Ireland and Wales, formally adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. This required a correction of 11 days and Parliament decided that Wednesday 2 September should be followed by Thursday 14 September with no intervening days numbered 3 to 13”

“There are two significant and separate developments that 
was the adoption of 1 January as the first day of the year affect dates in the Old Parish Registers (OPRs). The first instead of 25 March. The second was the calendar reform which began in 1582 when some European countries replaced the old-style Julian calendar with the new style Gregorian calendar. The latter was based on a more accurate calculation of the length of the year and required an adjustment of 10 days to align the calendar year with the solar year.” 

Stephen P. Morse has a Julian to Gregorian conversion application. 

Parish and Original Year Registers Deposited

Canongate - 1564

Dolinton or Hailes - 1654

Duddingston - 1631

Edinburgh - 1595

Haddington - 1619

Inveresk - 1606

South Leith - 1588

St. Cuthberts - 1573

Please note that the actual copy of the page in the Register is torn. We’re guessing at the Transcription, especially for those words affected.

24 Agust 1662 & 1663


This Day James Scot and Elspeth Dumbar
both in this parish gave up ther bands matrim[oniel]
To be proclaimed for the first tyme. Consigned of [penalty?]
Two Rix Dollars Married 27 September.

Sources: ScotlandsPeople_OPR677_000_0030_0008Z; Family History Library FHL 007908831 Image 806 of 1008.

According to 8-times Great-Grandparents' the 1662 Marriage Registration was registered in Colinton Parish, Midlothian on the 27th September 1662, Julian Calendar.

I am not, even though I spent a good portion of my employment career as a banker, a student of pecuniary history. And of course, I had to look up information regarding the "Rix Dollars".

From Wikipedia and James Wood (1909), The Nuttall encyclopaedia. Frederick Warne, London, New York.

"Rixdollar is the English term for silver coinage used throughout the European continent."

Sounds like the Rix pattern of European coinage may have foretold of the current Euro.

And here is an updated Scott Family, in 2 images, showing the descendants from my 8-times Great-Grandparents James and Elspeth (née Dumbar) Scott through to my Great-Grandparents William James and Ella Margaret Louise (née Scott) Smith.

The search continues.  And I just keep on going.

Also, let me know if you would like an invitation to access to my Smith Robertson Family Tree on Ancestry. You can email me at jsmith58@gmail.com.

If you have any comment, question, thought, idea please feel free to contact me via email at A Genealogy Hunt or jsmith58@gmail.com.

Regards,

Jim