James Vernon (1785-Unknown)

Birth and Childhood

James Vernon was born in Creetown, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland in 1785. The parish registers of Kirkmabreck[Figure 1] give a date of 16 September 1785, however, due to the nature these records, it is not entirely clear whether this is his birth date, baptism date, or simply the date the record was made.

No further records have been found from James’s childhood, although this is not unexpected given the time period. It appears the family continued to reside in Kirkcudbrightshire until at least 1802, as the births of younger siblings Mary (b. 1787), Jean (b. 1788) & David (b. 1795) were all recorded in the Kirkmabreck parish register. A fourth sibling, Samuel (b. 1802) did not appear to have his birth registered, however later census returns record his birthplace variously as Kirkmabreck parish or Creetown.

Marriage and Children

On 4 July 1802, a proclamation of marriage between James Vernon & Margaret Digson was recorded in the Penninghame Parish Church register[Figure 2]. James would have been 17 at the time—based on his assumed birth year of 1785—making him young to be married, although of legal age, even without parental consent.

Penninghame Parish—and specifically the town of Newton Stewart, which was part of the parish—was only about 7 miles north of Creetown. It is quite likely that an adolescent James could have migrated north towards the larger town of Newton Stewart looking for work.

As the old parish registers provide no details of parents names, at this point there is no hard evidence that the James Vernon born in 1785 is the same James Vernon that married Margaret Digson in 1802.

The Penninghame kirk session records for 1802[Figure 3] also contain an accounting entry for the payment of 5 shillings of “proclamation money” by James, on the day of the proclamation of marriage.

Nine children of James & Margaret Vernon have been identified, seven of whom had baptisms recorded in the Penninghame parish register. Original registers have not yet been sighted for all of the children, so more specific birth locations—and possibly even occupations for James—may be available in the registers. Two of the children were identified through statutory death registrations, so birth and baptism details are not known.

Name	Birth Date	Baptism Date	Baptism Location
Margaret	–	21 July 1806	Penninghame Parish
Andrew	12 November 1808	13 November 1808	Penninghame Parish
James	Abt. 1809	–	–
Elizabeth	Abt. 1810	–	–
Mary	28 February 1814	28 February 1814	Penninghame Parish
Peter	12 September 1816	14 September 1816	Penninghame Parish
Isabella	29 July 1818	28 August 1818	Penninghame Parish
Samuel	9 August 1820	25 September 1820	Penninghame Parish
John	4 July 1826	20 July 1826	Penninghame Parish

In the 1841 Scotland Census, a James Vernon is recorded living in Newton Stewart, with his assumed wife Margaret Vernon[Figure 5]. A third household member is present—a five year-old child named Margaret Gordon. There are a few conflicts in the data presented (shown in Figure 6 below) in order to consider this household a match. However, the record has currently been considered a low-confidence match, based on a lack of conflicting evidence, and the outlined reasoning.

Conflict	Possible Explanation
James’s occupation is unclear and appears to conflict with later possible matching records.	James could have changed occupation, or the interpretation of the occupation as written could be incorrect.
James’s birth place is listed as Wigtownshire, rather than his known birth county of Kirkcudbrightshire.	There may have been some confusion as to boundaries between Wigtownshire and the neighbouring county of Kirkcudbrightshire, or James may have forgotten which county he was born in.
Margaret Vernon’s age of 51 would give her a birth year of 1789-90, which would have made her around 12 years old when she married James (still legal, but very unlikely).	Margaret Vernon’s age could have been provided to the enumerator incorrectly (either accidentally or intentionally). If Margaret was 12 years old when she married, it could explain why the first recorded birth of a child from the relationship was four years after the marriage, in 1806.
If we assume that Margaret Gordon is James & Margaret Vernon’s granddaughter, through their eldest daughter Margaret, her recorded age of 5 years would place her birth in 1835-6, rather than her known birth year of 1832	Margaret Gordon’s age could have been incorrectly provided by her grandparents, or the enumerator could have rounded her age down to the nearest five (despite not doing this for other young people recorded on the same page).

In 1851, James is enumerated with his son Andrew and his family, living on Cowgate, a street in Garliestown, Wigtownshire[Figure 7]. There are also some conflicting data points present in this record for James Vernon and Andrew Vernon, shown in figure 8 below. There are no conflicts in any of the details for James’s daughter-in-law Mary Vernon, or his three grandchildren. This record has therefore been considered a medium-confidence match.

James is recorded as married, and his wife Margaret was separately enumerated with another son, Samuel, in the remote west of Wigtownshire County.

Conflict	Possible Explanation
James’s age is recorded as 75, making him almost ten years older than he was at the time.	James’s age may have been provided by another household member, who guessed he was about 75 years old.
James’s birth place is again listed as Wigtownshire, rather than his known birth county of Kirkcudbrightshire.	By now it may have been accepted that James was born in Wigtownshire rather than Kirkcudbrightshire, given their proximity and the length of time he had been living in the former.
James’s occupation is “Retired Inn Keeper”, which conflicts with the interpretation of his 1841 census occupation.	James may have changed occupation between 1841 and 1851, or the interpretation of the 1841 occupation may be incorrect.
Andrew’s age is recorded as 39, although he was 43 at the time.	The disparity in Andrew’s age is minimal and may have been incorrectly reported to the enumerator.

Death

At this time, no further records have been found for James following the 1851 Scotland Census. It is possible that he died in Scotland between the 1851 and 1861 censuses, however no matching death or burial records have been found in either the church or statutory registers for Scotland.

---

Additional Records

• Baptism, Margaret Vernon, 21 July 1806 - James Vernon and Margaret Dickson had a Lawful Daughter Baptized 21st July 1806 named Margaret

---

Research Statement

The following table provides confidence levels for individual aspects of the research undertaken. Note that these confidence levels do not take into account contextual information and only apply to the evidence gathered for the individual fact. A wholistic confidence level for the ancestor can be found in the Key Facts table at the top of the page.

Fact	Confidence	Supporting Evidence
Birth Date	0	1 primary source Baptism, James Vernon, 16 September 1785 Abt. September 1785 2 secondary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Abt. 1786 Household of Andrew Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Abt. 1776
Birth Place	2	1 primary source Baptism, James Vernon, 16 September 1785 Creetown, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland 2 secondary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Wigtownshire, Scotland Household of Andrew Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Marriage Date	4	1 primary source Marriage, James Vernon, 4 July 1802 4 July 1802 1 secondary source Household of Andrew Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Before 30 March 1851
Marriage Place	3	1 primary source Marriage, James Vernon, 4 July 1802 Penninghame St John's Church, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Residence	2	2 primary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland Household of Andrew Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Cowgate, Garlieston, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Occupation	1	2 primary sources Household of James Vernon, 1841 Scotland Census Shoemaker / Cordwainer Household of Andrew Vernon, 1851 Scotland Census Publican / Inn Keeper
Death Date	0	0 sources found.
Death Place	0	0 sources found.