James TAIT and Elizabeth NICOLSON

[Soapbox]

I am doing research for a friend and James Tait is his 3x great-grandfather.

I believe he was married to Elizabeth NICOLSON but do not have the date.
Can anyone help with that?

James was born abt 1779 Dunnet and Elizabeth Nicolson was born abt 1782 Bower.
There are many of the same names on the IGI; can anyone help me identify their parents?

I believe they had 9 children and I did find their dates of birth on the IGI, the first born being William 1809, so I guess their parent's marriage must have been about 1808.

Two of their children married in Caithness
Peter married Margaret Budge in Wick and John married Janet Ann Steven in Dunnet.a
One son, David, married in Orkney: David married Jane Groat in South Ronaldsay.

I have found possible deaths for James Tait 12 Apr 1854 Dunnet and for Elizabeth 1 Jun 1851 Dunnet, but once again I have no proof of that.

Is anyone researching this family?
Does anyone have any info that might help?
Thank you

Suzie

[Durran]

Hi Suzie,

James Tait & Elizabeth Nicolson are my 3xGreat Grandparents too.
I have been unable to find a date for their marriage but it will probably have been c1808 as you quite rightly suggest. That would be just prior to the birth of William, the first of their 10 children, nine of whom married.
Which of the children is the ancestor of your friend?
John

[sgmcgregor]

Suzie and John,

I'm not sure whether you are aware that there was an article in the John O'Groat Journal in 2014, written by Morris Pottinger, which mentions James Tait. I have scanned the article, and the image can be found at the link below:-

http://s742.photobucket.com/user/sgmcgregor/library/James%20Tait%20JOGJ%20Article

The article was too big to fit on the scanner, so I scanned two images and stitched them together.

Steven

[Durran]

Steven,

Thanks for that. Morris and I are cousins and we both have two lots of Tait blood running in our veins. Barbara Tait (1813-1889) and Catherine Tait (1819-1905), daughters of James Tait & Elizabeth Nicolson, married John Durran (1806-1889) and James Robertson (1816-1891) respectively. Their children James Durran (1838-1910) and Elizabeth Robertson (1841-1920) married as first cousins.

Suzie,

With reference to the marriage of James Tait and Elizabeth Nicolson not appearing in the Bower OPR I have a note to the effect that the marriage entries were "defective between 1798 and 1820".

John