John Hotchkiss

Personal and Family Information

John was born on 20 MAR 1854 in Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland, the son of Cornelius Hotchkiss and Hannah Marshall.

His wife was Mary Cameron, who he married on 15 JUL 1886 in The Sheriff Clerks Office Linlithgow, Scotland. Their seven known children were Elizabeth (c1887-?), Hannah (c1888-?), Janet (c1890-?), Mary (c1892-?), Annie (1894-1974), Helen (c1896-?) and Cornelius (c1900-?).

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Events

Attributes

Notes

Note 1

!Source: Old Parish Register Births/Christenings, General Register Office for Scotland, http://subscribers.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/.

!Source: scotlandspeople.gov.uk OPR Births & Baptisms

6 09/04/1854 HOTCHKIES JOHN CORNELIUS HOTCHKIES/HANNAY MARSHALL FR586 [FR586] M LARBERT /STIRLING 485/00 0020 0318

!Source: ancestry.com Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950

Name: John Hotchkies

Gender: Male

Birth Date: 20 Mar 1854

Baptism Date: 9 Apr 1854

Baptism Place: , Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Father: Cornelius Hotchkies

Mother: Hannay Marshall

FHL Film Number: 1041953

Reference ID: - 2:17VZRCF

!Source: ancestry.com 1881 Scotland Census

Name: John Hotchkis

Age: 27

Estimated birth year: abt 1854

Relationship: Lodger

Gender: Male

Where born: Larbert, Stirlingshire

Registration Number: 481B

Registration district: Grangemouth

Civil Parish: Falkirk

County: Stirlingshire

Occupation: Baker Working

ED: 1

Household schedule number: 129

LINE: 12

Roll: cssct1881_136

Household Members:

Name Age

Robert Hardie 34

Helen Hardie 34

Isabella Hardie 13

Alexander Hardie 10

James Hardie 9

Robert Hardie 1

Kate N Hardie 4 Days

John Hotchkis 27

!Source: scotlandspeople.gov.uk Statutory registers Marriages 668/ 27

District of Linlithgow

1886 on the Fifteenth day of July at The Sheriff Clerks Office Linlithgow,

For Declaration in presence of

George Gardian Douglas Clerk and

Elizabeth Douglas his wife

Signed: John Hotchkis, Baker, Single, age 32, residing: Grangmouth

Father: Cornelius Hotchkis, Joiner

Hannah Hotchkis M.S. Marshall, Deceased

Signed: Mary Cameron, Domestic Servant, Single, age: 26, residing: Grangemouth

Father: Angus Cameron, Labourer, Deceased

Janet Cameron M.S. McLay

Warant of Sheriff Substute of Linlithgow dated 15th July 1886

Registered: 1886 July 15th At Linlithgow, Alex Keuray, Asst Registrar JA.

!Source: Quote from Judy Philip on Google Groups

-------

The situation was that, until the Marriage [Scotland] Act 1939 came

into effect in July 1940, there was no such thing as civil marriage in

Scotland [Scottish Law is distinctive in quite a few areas].

-

Before this there were two sorts of marriages - both perfectly legal.

A couple could be married by a minister of religion [referred to as

"regular" marriage] or in several other ways [referred to as

"irregular" marriage - "irregular", in my view, being a very

misleading word].

"Irregular" marriages could take place:

* by declaration in front of witnesses [taking advantage of the

principle in Scots law that marriage was constituted by mutual

consent]

* by habit and repute [as described in the earlier response]

* by a promise of marriage followed by intercourse based on that

promise of marriage [as described in Latin in the earlier response].

-

How did the loaded word "irregular" [with its connotations to us of

something being not quite proper or legal] come to be applied to

perfectly legal marriages?  It seems to me to have arisen from much

earlier days in the Established Church of Scotland - people who had

entered into the married state without the benefit of clergy were

often referred to very critically in the Old Parish Registers as

having been "irregularly" married [well, the ministers obviously

thought it was irregular!] and, having been suitably humbled, were

then "entered here married".  So the word "irregular" entered into the

lexicon for marriages not performed by ministers of religion.

Unfortunately, that word "irregular" has misled a lot of genealogists

who have been concerned that there was something "shonky" about their

ancestors' marriages - when there wasn't at all.

-

When Statutory Registration was introduced in Scotland in 1855,

marriages by ministers of religion were automatically registered.  But

"irregular" marriages were not - if people who had not been married by

ministers of religion wanted formal proof of their marriage and,

specifically, wanted it recorded in the Statutory Registers [and a

marriage certificate], they first had to have the fact that the

marriage had taken place verified by Warrant of Sheriff Substitute -

sounds very grand and formal but was often, I have the impression

[especially in more recent times], little more than a rubber stamp.

-

As you can imagine, as time went on this was a far from satisfactory

state of affairs for people who didn't want to go through a religious

form of marriage.  But it took until July 1940 for the Law to catch up

with practice!

-

Meantime, there developed what I see as a "work-around".

-

A couple would make a time to go to the office of the local Sheriff

[Sheriff-Substitute] and would take two witnesses with them.  The form

of contract generally adopted was a simple written declaration of

acceptance of each other as husband and wife before two witnesses -

and that form was often drawn up by the Sheriff's office.  The Sheriff

[or his representative] would then issue a "warrant" [certification of

the marriage] which the couple would  present to the Registrar who

would officially record the marriage and issue a certificate.  As in

the case you describe, this often all happened on the same day - both

offices may even have been in the same building [perhaps adjacent!!].

Of course, it didn't have to happen like this [a Warrant could be

sought later] but I suspect that, in the 1900s, that was how it mostly

happened i.e. it was effectively the equivalent of a "civil" or

"registry office" but the processes had to be such as to comply with

what was fairly obviously an out-of-date law.

-

Here is a rather nice quote from a book "Scottish Roots" by Alwyn

James, ISBN 0-88289-802-7

"Up until 1940, Scotland had a distinctive form of marriage, known

rather imprecisely as an irregular marriage. This, the so-called

Gretna Green marriage which lured panting English lovers north of the

Border pursued by greybeard kinsmen brandishing swords, was a

perfectly acceptable alternative to the conventional church wedding,

involving instead a declaration in front of witnesses or before a

sheriff. The epithet "irregular" should not lead you to believe that

it was illegal or second-rate [it wasn't], or that it was indulged in

by a small minority: Dr. Ian Grant pointed out to me that in checking

through the first 200 marriages in Glasgow Blythswood for 1904, he

counted 81, more than 40 per cent, which were marriages by

declaration.

--------

!Source: ancestry.com 1891 Scotland Census

Name: John Hotchkies

Age: 37

Estimated birth year: abt 1854

Relationship: Head

Spouse's name : Mary Hotchkies

Gender: Male

Where born: Larbert, Stirlingshire

Registration Number: 481B

Registration district: Grangemouth

Civil Parish: Falkirk

Town: Grangemouth

County: Stirlingshire

Address: 40 Canal St.

Occupation: Baker

ED: 1

Household schedule number: 78

LINE: 6

Roll: CSSCT1891_150

Household Members:

Name Age

John Hotchkies 37, head, abt 1854, Larbert, Stirlingshire

Mary Hotchkies 31, wife, abt 1860, Polmont, Stirlingshire

Elizabeth Hotchkies 4, daughter, abt 1887, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire

Hannah Hotchkies 3, daughter, abt 1888, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire

Janet Hotchkies 11Mo, abt March 1890, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire

William Cameron 14, boarder, abt 1877, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire

The 1891 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of 5/6 April 1891.

!Source: ancestry.com 1901 Scotland Census

Name: John Hotchkies

Age: 47

Estimated birth year: abt 1854

Relationship: Head

Spouse's name : Mary Hotchkies

Gender: Male

Where born: Larbert, stirlingshire

Registration Number: 481B/2

Registration district: Grangemouth

Civil Parish: Grangemouth

Town: Grangemouth

County: Stirlingshire

Address: 40 Canal St.

Occupation: Baker

ED: 1

Household schedule number: 40

LINE: 17

Roll: CSSCT1901_158

Household Members:

Name Age

John Hotchkies 47, head, abt 1854, Larbert, stirlingshire

Mary Hotchkies 41, wife, abt 1860, Polmont

Elizabeth Hotchkies 14, daughter, abt 1887, Grangemouth

Hannah Hotchkies 13, daughter, abt 1888,, Grangemouth

Janet Hotchkies 10, daughter, abt 1891, Grangemouth

Mary Hotchkies 9, daughter, abt 1892, Grangemouth

Annie Hotchkies 6, daughter, abt 1895, Grangemouth

Helen Hotchkies 5, daughter, abt 1896, Grangemouth

Cornelius Hotchkies 1, son, abt 1900, Grangemouth