William Niniane Reid - THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY: "WILLIAM NINIANE REID"

Started by Private User on Tuesday, April 6, 2021

There is no such person as "William Niniane Reid".

A pedigree published by WikiTree identifies "William Niniane Reid" as the husband of Jonet Hamilton. They are said to have married on 27 August 1597, at Prestonpans in East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire), in Scotland, but the only marriage recorded at Prestonpans on this date belongs to Niniane Reid and Jonet Hammiltoun. The marriage record makes no mention of the foremame "William" and Jonet Hammiltoun's husband is identified as "Niniane Reid" in the baptismal records of all six of their children.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Reid-11378

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Reid-11381

I am reluctant to speculate about this, after all the proposed genealogy is not mine, but it looks as if the author of this pedigree could not find a suitable baptismal record for anyone named "Niniane Reid" and decided, for reasons not known to me, to misidentify him as William Reid, that son of Henry Reid and Margaret Tod whose baptism was registered at Dunfermline in Fife on 23 September 1576.

https://archive.org/details/parishregisterso00pato/page/51/mode/1up

In view of the foregoing I propose to change the name of "William Niniane Reid" to "Niniane Reid" and disconnect him from the family tree of Henry Reid and Margaret Tod.

Objections and counter arguments will be welcomed.

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