Pick a Janet, Jane, or Jean

It’s time to play Pick a Janet, Jane, or Jean. I took the plunge and signed up at ScotlandsPeople, the “official government source of genealogical data for Scotland” yesterday.

I was waiting for a clear-headed moment (they come so rarely) because I knew that ScotlandsPeople charges not only to download documents, but also to see search results.

Pick a Janet, Jane, or Jean

But a blog post is fine motivation, and I decided I’d waited long enough to find Janet McFayden (McFadden, McFadgeon, McFadyen?). I know from research on my own flourishing Scots line that Jane, Jean, and Janet get used interchangeably.

I win a bet with myself for yet more variant spellings of the surname. Her birthdate of 5 Feb 1828 was pretty consistent in other records. But there’s no one born in her county on that date. Line 9 is the closest match for location and lines 6 and 8 are closest for (baptism) date. I’m inclined to go with line 9, Jean McFadzen, because other family members are in that county and no one has turned up in Argyll or Wigtown.

The search was structured for all female births in 1828 in any county for surname McFadyen (using Soundex) and first name starting with a J. (James and John snuck in there anyway.)

But work on my husband’s great-great-grandmother Janet Jane Jean McFayden (McFadgeon McFadyen McFadzen) continues.

UPDATE:

Finding Scottish Ancestors Online, my new ebook, helps you navigate through Scottish Records.