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Yes, we have looked into a membership certificate, a separate members web site, the operating costs, the legal implications, and logo designs for pens & shirts (we even had tattoo requests!). And we have had lots of suggestions on membership eligibility (big legal question), and we hope to sort these questions out in 2010.

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(Seriously, a dislike of lawyers) Please note that our (purchased) GRO data is licensed ONLY for our personal use. The intent of our database is to only assist your personal Birnie research.  We do not publish copies of these source documents on our web-site, or provide them to the public.

We do cite the supporting GRO* reference number for our data, and an extract of the item may be obtained directly from the GRO at a reasonable cost. We recommend you collect these extracts to support your personal linage. (*Government Records Office: Edinburgh)

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I call it the "common name dilemma". Problem is, with the multitude of a common names in the same vicinity, and in the same time-frame, our tree construction is sometimes a process of elimination, and a prayer!  The core areas of Birnie families were all within walking distance of each other, often giving us a dozen possible variations of our early trees. The research is usually "correct at the time of research", but family tree corrections (with new evidence) are not only expected, they are  really welcomed!

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I know a lot of our trees have common name problems and questionable source documentation (including mine).  However,  we needed an accurate starting point to link today's families back to the Scottish data. Of course, I did not realize there were 20,000 records, but the plan is not to deter from building the core 1855-1904 Scottish database. With this core, Birnie descendents are now sending in their linking and correcting documentation! Great Stuff.

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NOTE: The GRO source information is indispensable in assembling accurate family trees. For example, a single marriage extract can provide accurate names, event locations &  dates, parents names, occupations, etc. Together with the census data we can eventually correct most of our common name confusion. Yes, it is unfortunately a very tedious, expensive undertaking, but by 2011, the determined wee Birnie's will have the Scottish core completed.

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Most census data is recorded as attained age after birthday, i.e. born in 2000, census in 2007, you passed your 6th birthday, and so recorded as 6. Most often you find a -1 year discrepancy between the system age and census age. Also, the old census documentation is based upon “informant memory” , so you can easily get variant ages  for the same individual.

For humour, the Ladies will smile at the thought of any male remembering ages or dates for a census reporter!!!

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We regret, there is no evidence that we were an established clan, or that we had our own tartan. The very early ancestral connections of the name byrnie were apparently as a Sept of the powerful west coast Mathieson clan.  Sir Andrew Birnie of Saline (Law Lord, c.1300), was interestingly referred to as our clan chief. We have no evidence of continued titles in the family.

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Banns simply means that the couple had previously publicly declared, in a recognized church, their intention to be married.  (Rumour has it that Scots may have considered the local pub, a fine religious institution :) :) :).

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Sometimes the children born during this period, before the actual church marriage, were originally listed as illegitimate. Although some researchers take this issue very seriously, DO NOT take it seriously!

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Mathematically, we are all "illegitimate" somewhere in history, i.e. born of parents considered not married, by civil or recognized religious authorities, and genetic experts report there are genetic markers to male and female linage. i.e. if you have the wee creative gene from a Birnie parent, your a Birnie, your'e stuck with us!