Family:James Maitland and Christina Booth (1)

The Daviot registers were not recording marriages around the time that it is likely that James and Christian married. Apparently there are a few marriage entries for 1783-1785, but otherwise marriages were not recorded at Daviot until 1813.

The Daviot baptism registers in the late 1700s seldom named the mother of the child. There appear to have been eleven children baptised at Daviot between 1776 and 1795 where the father’s name is given as James, but only one of these (William in 1791) gives the mother’s name:

• 1776 / Dec[embe]r 11th [17]76 / Maitland / James Maitland in Fingask had a daughter baptized Margaret

• 1777 / Oct[obe]r 22 / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a daughter baptised Anna

• 1779 / Dec[embe]r 31 / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a daughter baptized Jean

• 1780 / Apr[il] 21 / Maitland / James Maitland in Fingask had a son baptized William

• 1781 / Dec[embe]r 9 / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a son Baptized James

• 1784 / April 19 / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a daughter bap[tise]d Rachel

• 1786 / March 6th / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had twins bapt[ise]d William & Marjory

• 1788 / Oct[obe]r 3 / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a son baptized John

• 1791 / 3 Oct[ober] / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a son baptized William - wife's name Christian Booth, James Wacker & Alex Munn both in Pitblain Witnesses

• 1795 / April 22 / Maitland / James Maitland in Pitblain had a son baptized Alexander

The William baptised in 1791 explicitly gives his mother’s name as Christian Booth, and the John baptised in 1788 can also be linked to this couple, as his death certificate of 1863 gives his mother’s name as Christina Booth. As both these baptisms specify the same small hamlet or farm of Pitblain, it seems highly likely that the nine baptisms which give Pitblain as the residence are all the same family. The other two baptisms give the place of residence as Fingask, a hamlet about two miles south-east of Pitblain. It is also notable that there is a gap of less than four months between one of the Pitblain baptisms in December 1779 and one of the Fingask baptisms in April 1780. It seems relatively unlikely that one family would move from Fingask to Pitblain, back to Fingask and then back to Pitblain in quick succession. We therefore conclude that the two baptisms which specify Fingask as the residence are from a different family.