Early census success
Just wanted to thank WDYTYA? and Chris Paton for his help in answering my question regarding my Pringle family in the May issue.
You can imagine my delight when I got the June issue and saw your feature on the history of the Borders, which I read with interest. But the article on early censuses 1801-1831 got me thinking and ultimately led to a brick wall being broken down!
I checked the National Records for Scotland online at nrscotland.gov.uk and discovered to my delight that the 1801 census for Stow, the very parish I was interested in, was transcribed and available for a small subscription on the Statistical Accounts for Scotland 1794-1854 website ( stataccscot. edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/home). The records, which were part of the Innes family papers, included a list of the population of Stow parish in 1801. Here I discovered Walter Pringle, the shoemaker who I had written in about, as a child. As well as confirming his mother’s maiden name, it gave me his father’s name of William, which I already knew, and his occupation as ‘sherrif officer and merchant’. This helped confirm his father’s date of death, as I had found several possible dates on ScotlandsPeople, but one in particular in 1814 in Stow matched, as it mentioned that he was a ‘sheriff officer’. This record also gave me his age at death, which helped me choose the correct birth date for William, faced with a choice of three, and which then lead to the discovery of William’s father Alexander Pringle, a merchant.
I had thought that my goal was to discover a link to the Pringle Lairds, but this made me realise that being able to be certain of my facts is much more important to me, and brings me much more pleasure. Lisa Thackwell by email Editor replies: I’m delighted that our article helped you take your research back further, Lisa. As you say, it is so important to be certain of our facts. I hope you enjoy receiving your free DNA test!