James Runciman (1741)

Born Jan 1741 in Whaupknow, Parish of Tyninghame, Haddingtonshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alan Runciman [send private message]

Biography

This biography was part auto-generated by a GEDCOM import of a tree created by Alan Runciman, a 4th generation grand-nephew of James, supplemented with additional research by Alan.

Name

Name: James /Runciman/ ^[1]

Birth & Christening

Birth:

Date: On or before 4 JAN 1741 (his date of christening)

Place: Parish of Tyninghame, Haddingtonshire, Scotland^[2]. James was born at Whaupknow, assuming the custom was followed that he was born in the family home.

Whaupknow was a cluster of cottages provided by Auldham Farm for its workers. The last reference to it in local parish records appears in the 1770s around which time it fell victim to the development of Seacliff House. Read here what life was like for the family at Whaupknow.

Christening:

Date: 04 JAN 1741

Place: Parish of Tynninghame, Haddingtonshire, Scotland^[3] The family's church was Old Tyninghame as the Whaupknow cottages lay in the parish.

Absence of Further Records

No records or references to James have been found following his baptism. It wasn’t usual for burials/deaths to be recorded by the church. Several options can account for an absence of other records after baptism:

• The records were lost.
• He died in infancy or childhood before marrying age, the next likely event to be recorded.
• He survived to adulthood but never married.
• As a young man before marrying he moved outside Scotland where records may not be so easily traced. (Although there is no evidence in worldwide records in Familysearch.)
• He led a full life but followed a minority religion in a dissenting church whose records were non- existent or lost.
• He married in Whitekirk Church before 1761 when records were lost in the fire. This would require him to have no children baptised after 1761 when Whitekirk's records exist again (or for him to move away etc).

The index of the marriage register at Tyninghame on Scotland's People reveals that there is indeed a gap in the register from 1739 onwards until that church ceased in 1760. This period covers a possible range for James, b 1741, to marry although it is equally possible that he married after 1760 when Tyninghame parish merged with Whitekirk. However it would further require there to be no children of the marriage after 1761 when records at Whitekirk commence again.

At the time of writing (October 2020) church records after baptism for a number of Richard's & Jennet's children have not been found either. This indicates that some explanations put forward above can probably be discounted, such as emigration or Scottish relocation. The possibility of an absence of church records needs more research to determine whether any of the other siblings appear as contenders as parents themselves after the records resume at Whitekirk, or at other adjoining parishes.

At this stage unfortunately the most likely explanation is that there was a number of infant/child deaths in the family. The siblings for whom no records have yet been found after their baptism are -

• Hugh, reasonable level of research on SP, without success.
• Richard, reasonable level of research on SP, without success.
• Jean, reasonable level of research on SP, with little success, noted on Jean's profile.
• James, to be researched further.
• Helen, to be researched further.

Another peripheral factor ties in with this conclusion. On William’s drowning his orphaned children were then cared for by Richard, the childrens’ grandfather. Richard was 64 in that year & doesn’t appear the most likely candidate to take on the care of 4 young children aged from 9 to 2, particularly if he’s still working. His wife Jennet is not mentioned in the records of the Widows Fund, so no conclusion can be drawn about her. If any of these 5 uncles & aunts listed above were alive they would be aged in their 30s & would present a better option for care. Is this the reason not one stepped forward?

Death

No record of burial has been found. With no records seen of a marriage or as a parent, as hypothesised in the foregoing section it's possible James died as a child.

Family Profiles of Interest

James was a younger brother of William Runciman of Crail , who drowned at an early age in a fishing tragedy,

plus

some facts and comments about the early Runciman ancestors are summarised in The Early Generations.

There are also 3 other Runciman 'lineages' which thanks to DNA testing are now discovered to be branches of the same lineage with a Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) in the 1600s, most likely in East Lothian or the Scottish Borders. Lorna Henderson manages a Runciman One Name Study which gives a good insight to our Crail Line's relationship to the other DNA-related lines - as well as the non-related lines.

Wiki profiles relating to the Crail Lineage:

Whaupknow, describes where the family was born and lived until adulthood.

Runciman Lineage 1b-The Early Generations As the name implies this Profile covers the latest research known of the earliest ancestors on the 'Crail' Line.

Crail Fishing Disaster History and Latest News. James is a brother of William of Crail who drowned with 7 others in the 1765 Crail Fishing Disaster. A 250th anniversary commemoration for the drownings was held in Crail on 16 May 2015.

Scotland and Beyond In 2004 a history of the William Runciman of Crail line was published. The latest research & continuing updates are now published on the web rather than in print. As Scotland and Beyond has been out of print for some time Jen Jelley & Diane Middleton, compilers & publishers of the 2004 book, kindly agreed to make their publication available in PDF format. This Profile contains the link.

The Runciman Cradle Tour provides the reader interested in seeing some of our ancestral locations with a suggested itinerary and their association to the family.

Similarily there is a Crail Trail for those who wish to visit where William of Crail spent his married/working life and eventually to meet his early death from drowning.

Sources

• Source: S102 Title: OPR East Lothian, Scotland RUNCIMAN Births, Author Address: http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, Recipient Address: East Lothian, Scotland Abbreviation: OPR East Lothian, SCT RUNCIMAN Births 1538-1854 Author: Scotlands People Index Publication: 1538-1854 Repository: #R146
• Repository: R146 Name: Scotlands People (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/) Address: City: Edinburgh State: Midlothian Country: Scotland
• Source: S103 Title: OPR East Lothian Scotlands People RUNCIMAN Marriages, Author Address: http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, Recipient Address: East Lothian, Scotland Abbreviation: OPR East Lothian SctP RUNCIMAN Marriages 1538-1854 Author: Scotlands People Index Publication: 1538-1854 Repository: #R146
• Source: S3222 Title: "Scotland and Beyond" (2004) plus subsequent research by Alan RUNCIMAN, Ros RUNCIMAN, Lawrence FLETCHER, Lorna HENDERSON & many, many others, Compiler Address: UK, Australia and New Zealand Abbreviation: "Scotland and Beyond" (2004), plus subsequent research Author: Diane Middleton Jen Jelley Alan Runciman Ros Runciman Laurie Fletcher Lorna Henderson and many others Publication: Jul 2013 Note: imported on 2013/07/24 at 15:44:27.
• Source: S55 Title: Scottish Birth, Marriage, Burial entries (to 1854), Record Type: Scottish BMDB entries (to 1854), File Number: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php Abbreviation: BDM: Scotlands People entries to 1854

1. ↑ Source: #S102 Page: Birth/bap.? 4 Jan 1741 James s/o Richard RUNCIMAN & Jennet GOURAY (?index typo), Whitekirk & Tynninghame, 723/ 0010 0100, extracted from index Feb 2010
2. ↑ Source: #S102 Page: Birth/bap.? 4 Jan 1741 James s/o Richard RUNCIMAN & Jennet GOURAY (?index typo), Whitekirk & Tynninghame, 723/ 0010 0100, extracted from index Feb 2010
3. ↑ Source: #S102 Page: Birth/bap.? 4 Jan 1741 James s/o Richard RUNCIMAN & Jennet GOURAY (?index typo), Whitekirk & Tynninghame, 723/ 0010 0100, extracted from index Feb 2010

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Alan Runciman for creating WikiTree profile Runciman-618 through the import of RUNCIMANAlansPaternal4WikiTreeAug2013.ged on Aug 29, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Alan and others.