Appreciate knowing any connections to:

1 John Snedden
.. +Janet Witherspoon b: in Springrange Row, Waterside, Dalmellington, County Ayr, Scotland
........ 2 Janet Sword Sneddon 1857 - 1918 b: May 28, 1857 in Scotland d: February 28, 1918 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
............ +Alexander Quinn
................... 3 John Alexander Quinn 1884 - 1953 b: February 25, 1884 in 4 Scott's Place, Motherwell, County Lanark, Scotland d: May 09, 1953 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
....................... +Mary Elizabeth McAllister 1880 - 1958 b: March 23, 1880 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland d: May 07, 1958 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

................... 3 Janet Sword Witherspoon Quinn 1880 - 1950 b: April 02, 1880 in 32 St. Vincent Place, Motherwell, Scotland d: March 14, 1950 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
................... 3 Thomas Quinn 1882 - b: March 11, 1882 in Dalziel Parish, County Canark, Scotland
........ 2 Helen Sneddon 1873 - 1873 b: November 03, 1873 in 11 Melton (?) Row, Motherwell, Dalziel Parish, County Canark, Scotland d: 1873

I have a copy of what I believe to be a land indenture from 1792 for South Carolina with the name of David Witherspoon on it. The document is in very poor condition, it was with some of the old McLeod papers that we have. If you are interested I will try to read it more carefully and let you know what I find out.

Gail/

Thanks but I'll save you the effort at this time. I know of no relatives in SC and can't match to this name at all. If you have room, please save it in case I, or someone else, does find a connection. Thanks for contacting me.

Alison

i have family that lives in south carolina they lives in union south carolina my father and grandmother use to live in union south carolina my grandmoterh was a witherspoon i am still looking for her family members.

I am researching McAllisters in Ayrshire- they're supposed to come from Stevenson, Ayrshire, Scotland. I can't seem to find that on a map. Do you perchance know anything about that geography? They were born around 1840 and emigrated to the US sometime, I'm in the process of trying to figure that out. My McAllisters are: John McAllister and his wife Jeannette McKean McAllister.

There is a marriage of John Mcallister, to Janet McKean. 05/Aug/1864. Stevenston, Ayr.

There is one child born to this couple in Scotland, that i can see Jeanie Mcallister, born 26/Apri;/1866. Stevenston, Ayr.

It looks like the couple may have left Scotland, shortly after this period, as there are no other births of children to them in Scotland, and no sign of them in 1881.

If you do not have their marriage certificate then i suggest you get it, from Scotlandspeople, for a small fee, this would provide their parents names, you would then be able to pick both up in the 1861. census. hopefully living with their parents which would then extend your family tree.

Stevenston, is about 8 miles north of the town of Ayr, on the South West, Coast, of Scotland, adjacent to Saltcoats. you should be able to find it on any modern map of Scotland.

Regards,
Jonn.

I see I was spelling Stevenston wrong and that was part of my problem! Tell me where you found the marriage information you referenced! I am not familiar with Scotspeople- I will look into that to see about getting their marriage certificate!

The site is http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

This is a pay site, you have to join, become a member, you then purchase credits with a credit card.

£6. Sterling, gets you Thirty Credits, it takes one credit to view the index of the marriage, then a further 5 credits to view the actual marriage certificate, if you have a printer you can also print of the certificate, so for 6 credits = £1. 20 pence. Stirling. you get the marriage certificate.

This marriage certificate should provide the age of bride and groom, address, the names of parents, if it says deceased below a parents name then that person was deceased at time of marriage.

The only problem with this site is the search engine it will only produce a result of the exact spelling of names on the actual certificate. So to find your couple you have to put into the John Mcallister, and Janet Mckean, year 1864. Ayr, Stevenston.

If you go for this certificate let me know the names of the parents, and i will try and find them for you on the earlier census. ie 1841. 1851. and 1861.

Regards,
Jonn.

Jonn said:
"The only problem with this site is the search engine it will only produce a result of the exact spelling of names on the actual certificate. So to find your couple you have to put into the John Mcallister, and Janet Mckean, year 1864. Ayr, Stevenston."

Yes, but if you are unsure what the spelling on the certificate is (and there are occasions when it may even have been mis-indexed - this system doesn't always work in that case), you can use the wildcard or, less reliably, the soundex feature to narrow it down. If you already have the exact year already that is very helpful as you could use a wider name search ie j* m*ke* wich will allow for all alternative spellings of Janet, Jannet, Jennet; and Mckean, MacKeane etc (but also a lot of other unrelated names). Thre are oher wildcard symbols you can use, eg % to indicate a single unknown letter in a name. When using the search feature it is worth going wide first then narrowing your search down until you get a page-worth of results (if possible - some of my names are so common that even with a year you get many results) - you never know, you may spot a relative in the results!

The ScolandsPeople site really is excellent value for money - I have managed to trace back to the 1750s using just SP. Not everyone is this lucky - it depends on whether the parish records exist at all, and whether your family paid to be entered in the OPRs at various points. But it's well worth giving it a shot!

Happy hunting,

Louise

Jonn,

Thanks so much! I plan to sign up for Scotspeople sometime this week and will then do the search for the marriage certificate and go from there. Will keep you posted!

Kristin