Dates in this History..

Dates are shown wherever possible.

If the date is from a Birth, Marriage or Death Certificate issued after 1830 then it is the actual date of the event. Includes "dd mmm yyyy".

Dates for many of the Ritchie familly had to be taken from Census Returns, they show the Date as a Year. Since the date depends on what a person declares to the Census taker it is possible for it to be incorrect. However most appear in several Census Returns so allow for crosschecking. Format is simply the Year.

Sometimes no document exists to provide a date, for example parents may record a Birth event but no record for their own birth exists. The parents age is then estimated by subtracting 22 from the first child's birth record or 21 from a marriage record. In fact people mostly married between 21 and 30 years of age, females would be a Year younger but obviously this may be incorrect, the Wife was often actually older than the Man. Second marriages were common due to the high death rates of females and children. These dates are normally shown as "ca. yyyy"

Parish Records have been kept at least since the 1500's. however few exist for very early periods. It is important to realise that the Place name is the name of the PARISH not a point within it. So Port of Menteith refers to the total Parish not merely the Village called Port of Menteith, most Ritchies lived on farms within the Parish not in the Village. In fact a Village probably did not actually exist just a Church and Estate House.

Parish Records record the date that the report was made, NOT the actual date of the event. This applies to Birth, Christening and Marriage records. The event would have taken place some time before the Record was made. The time interval would normally be short as there was no requirement to register any delay would simply mean that no record was completed.
A survey of Birth Records shows that half of them were Recorded on a Sunday, this does not seem a likely birth day, the person who actually recorded the event in the Parish Record would be the Church of Scotland Minister who would delegate this to the Session Clerk. So the Sunday records probably were a matter of convenience when the parties would have normally met. Marriage records may be more accurate as then the various persons would be present at the same time. Marriages could take place anywhere, Church Weddings and Home weddings are known. See below.

Parish Records can exist from the 1600's and this of course complicates the Date. Up to 2nd Sept 1752 the Julian calendar was used, after that date it became the Gregorian Calendar and the next day was the 14th Sept 1752. The dates apply to the United Kingdom as a whole. However it is known that some places did not concur, the Outer Isles may have continued to use the Old Dates for a time, however this does not affect this History.

Wedding Requirements.

Since so much twaddle exists about Scots Marriage this was the Legal position.

By Act of Parliament with King William, about 1690 ,the legal position for engaging in Marriage was,
Private Contract between 2 persons.
Male had to be over the age of fourteen.
Female had to be over the age of Puberty.

There was no requirement for any other person to be involved, no witness, no ceremony was required.

Since so little is required to constitute a legal marriage it is probably safe to say that all parents who had children prior to 1855 were actually married. It would be impossible to prove that they were not.
To have the marriage recorded there was a Residence requirement of 15 days in the Parish where the Record was made, this need not be the same as where the Contract was made. If the Persons were born in the Parish then it says that they are "of" this Parish, if born outside it then the word is "in" this Parish. Simply making the record would have been enough to satisfy the legal requirement for a Marriage therefore they need not have previously made a Contract.

Nobody in this History is known to have been married at the earliest age possible, in fact if it happened at all then it was very rare. It cannot be proven but any Marriage recorded in the Parish Record would almost certainly have involved a Church of Scotland ceremony, at home or in Church.

Marriage without a Church Ceremony was common in the 1700's, normally this involved the Community in some form, a Wedding Feast was normal as was giving the Couple presents. In many places the Community would donate enough furnishings to enable them to set up home. Many of these weddings are not recorded in the Parish Records. However they were fully legal and nothing else was required.

Since for practical reasons a Witness may have been required then some tales of announcements at the village Cross or other tales may have some validity but the crucial thing was simply that both had to agree between themselves that a marriage existed.
Gretna Green thus provided the Record and a Witness for the Legendary runaway's so that they could return home, however they would only have to be present in Scotland and agree they were married to meet the Legal requirement.

After 1855 the process became more rigid with records and legal places to marry being introduced. However the principle that it is a Agreement or Contract between two persons remains.

Why are the Records Incomplete?

There was no State organisation to collect information so the Established Church was appointed to this duty. However there was no enforceable way to ensure that people actually recorded Births and Marriages. In each Parish it was the Minister for the Church of Scotland who was responsible for recording, he of course appointed the Clerk for the Church to carry out this duty. He was encouraged by being able to charge a small fee, exactly how much I have been unable to establish. Frequently this meant that the Clerk did not bother to record at all. Also anyone who did not attend Church did not see the Clerk.

Ministers were appointed to a Parish by a variety of persons, mostly the Largest land owner or Heritor but sometimes a City or Town Council the Elders were supposed to have a say but this was frequently ignored. The Ministers Salary was paid by the Patron with the result that the Minister only had to satisfy the Patron. The congregation had a say in the appointment, one record says the appointed minister was stoned when he attempted to take office. Patron's could sell the right to appoint a minister, ministers could appoint a stand in when they departed to the city.

The effect of this was to cause splinter groups to exist within the CofS who did not approve of the use of the Church for State duties and to the Patronage system. About 1733 the first group formed the Secession Church and they were followed soon after by several other groups. None of them supported the Church recording Births and Marriages on behalf of the State.

The result is that large numbers of people have never been recorded at all. Other Families seem to have been very enthusiastic and recorded very well. Catholic areas seem to have no records.
We have to be grateful that we have any records at all.