13th: Don't you just know it!

The minute that you run a major update, new findings always hove into view!

I'd been avoiding checking the newly available online (from ScotlandsPeople) Scottish OPR Deaths and Burials as I knew
a) they were very sparse records
b) often didn't have much conclusive details
c) that I'd get sidetracked from all sorts of things as a result.

Not even sure why I decided to check for something today, but for whatever reason I've started looking at some of the Roxburgh FAIRBAIRNs, and have already found the burial, or at least the mortcloth payment, for Archibald FAIRBAIRN of St Boswells, and a rather more puzzling, but very informative, entry for Margaret PURDIE nee FAIRBAIRN and her son William, in the Melrose OPRs.
The least of the puzzle is trying to figure out where the family was in 1848, so if anyone can point me to what I interpret as Cairlion, presumably in the Parish of Melrose, I would appreciate it, as my web searches to date only bring up Arthurian references to Cair Lion.
The more major part of the puzzle is that it clearly states that son William PURDIE died the day after she did, and was aged 23, which age is plausible as Margaret and Charles PURDIE married in Melrose in 1821.
However, I already had a son William for this couple, whose 1864 marriage cert to Ann ROBSON says he was a 19 yr old shepherd, so born c 1845/6ish. Census data mostly corroborates this, although the 1901 transcription on ancestry does imply 1843ish. Whichever you believe, all point to a birthdate prior to the death of an older brother William in the family.
A closer search of the IGI showed I'd missed a couple of baptisms in Melrose for the family with mother Margaret spelt as Margt. The relevant FAIRBAIRN chart has been updated.

28th: Another Archibald, or is he?

The marriage cert. for Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Jane BLAKEY turned up today.
It shows Archibald's father as yet another Archibald FAIRBAIRN, a gardener.
There's an Archibald of exactly the right age, son of Archibald FAIRBAIRN and Janet SCOTT, born St Boswells, 1813.
I don't have father Archibald's occupation as a gardener however, more normally he shows up as the ubiquitous ag. lab., occasionally farm steward, and in 1841 when the presumed son Archibald married, the father shows as an ag lab at Greenwells Glenburney at Melrose.
As a descendant of Archibald and Jane FAIRBAIRN is in the dna project, if this hunch is correct, Doug (F-14) should be a very good match to Martin (F-1) our first project participant.
If he isn't, then I guess we need to keep digging to find distant cousins of both Martin and Doug to confirm their line's dna signature, or find another Archibald of the right age and place.
Anyone have any other Archibald/Archibald father/son pairs where the son was born Scotland around 1813?

24th: Back to Melrose FAIRBAIRNs

Again, check the FAIRBAIRN DNA Project Diary for the latest pedigree loaded, and the theory behind how they might connect to the lineage of Robert and Agnes (LANDRETH) FAIRBAIRN.
Would be good to prove that connection.