Forres Gazette births and marriages announcements

From Moray and Nairn Family History Society:

Birth Notices from the Forres Gazette, 1837-1855 and Marriage Notices from the Forres Gazette, 1837-1855

Unlike today, in 1837 there was no newspaper published in Forres and the people of the town had to content themselves with newspapers from other parts of Scotland, and further afield.

Scottish newspapers that might just contain small snippets of news local to Forres were being printed in Edinburgh, Glasgow and elsewhere. Local articles might also appear in newspapers published in Inverness and Aberdeen. Between Inverness and Aberdeen, though, the only local newspaper being published at that time seems to have been the Elgin Courant which started in 1834.

John Miller, a son of Elgin clothier and draper Lachlan Miller, left the town in 1837 when he chose to move to Forres to open there a printing establishment, and in June that year, posters were displayed announcing the publication of a new newspaper, the Forres, Elgin & Nairn Gazette, still going strong in the town today as the Forres Gazette. Starting as a monthly publication of only four pages, it was not until 1851 that it was published fortnightly and only from April 1855, weekly.

The notices cover births in Forres, the near neighbourhood, the rest of the county, throughout the country and even overseas. Examples can be found from Australia, India and other parts of the British Empire; also from the United States, and more unexpected places such as Argentina (Buenos Ayres), &c.

There are announcements of the births and marriages in the families of the illustrious, the well-known and the humble:

The notices reveal that in some instances, the father had died before the birth of the child. An announcement in the edition of March 21, 1855 states, “Birth, at Lady Hill, Elgin, on the 8th inst., Mrs McKenzie, wife of the late Thomas McKenzie, Esq., architect, of a son.” Thomas, the father, died at Ladyhill House, Elgin on October 15, 1854. The child, David James, grew up to be a poet, author & advocate.

The volumes are available FREE from Moray & Nairn Family History Society at www.morayandnairnfhs.co.uk/publications.asp - they can be found in the Newspapers’ section.

(With thanks to the society)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.