Check more than one index and read the full page!

A salutory reminder to not just latch onto the first apparently relevant entry on a source page, nor to believe what you find, or don't find, in indices - ie check images thoroughly - and to scroll down! 

Background:

I've been researching deeper into a Miller / Millar family in Kippen, Stirlingshire to try and make sense of the DNA match clusters that have begun appearing. As a result, the mystery of my 2*great grandmother Amelia Millar's parents seems to be inching a little closer to having a chip out of that very long standing brickwall. 

Just this week a new DNA match popped up, a descendant of a Charles Ferguson and Jean Miller, where Charles was shown variously as born Fintry or Gargunnock. Jean had previously been determined to belong to the family of David Millar and Elizabeth Weight of Kippen, so of high interest to me as potential ancestors of my Amelia, where other hints also led to assorted connections to Fintry.*

As I investigated the clusters of shared matches a satisfying number added DNA to the papertrail down from at least two sons of Charles and Jean, but with the very intertwined families in the area, could this be pushed back further to eliminate Charles and leave only Jean's line?

So I set too exploring the records I could find for Charles Freguson born about 1800-1802 Fintry or Gargunnock.

Which is where indices and original images led me on a merry trail of conflicting, and missing, information.

The exploration of records and indices:

ScotlandsPeople searches only netted me a Charles Ferguson baptized 29 Apr 1800 Gargunnock, to a John Ferguson and Janet Morrison, the image showing page 450 of the register, first entry on the page shows John as labourer in the Village, spouse Janet Morrison did indeed have a son Charles baptised. (see below)

FindMyPast, from their Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929 collrction, however showed two Charles in 1800 in Gargunnock over four entries, only two of which entries had an archive reference.

FamilySearch gets even more confusing:

The source attached to the birth of Charles Ferguson, married to Jean Miller, shows 29 Apr 1800 parents John Ferguson and Margaret Stirling, BUT is indicated as a retired duplicate

where the duplicate referred to is to a baptism the same date and place for a Charles but with parents John Ferguson and Janet Morrison

So why the discrepancy between FindMyPast and FamilySearch as to the date of this baptism, Apr vs May? (The actual entry may have been interpreted in a quick look as May not April, but on balance, it looks like April to me.)

And how come both the references above on FindMyPast refer to the same page of the register but only one appears in ScotlandsPeople?

Scrolling down answered the FindMyPast two entry appearance in the OPR issue. Further down the page, sure enough, there is indeed a separate entry, squashed in between entries for the 3rd and 18th of August, for another Charles baptised the same 29 Apr 1800 date with the parents expected from his 1872 death cert., John Ferguson and Margaret Stirling.

Now to figure out, and report if necessary, how come the second entry does not appear in ScotlandsPeople.

As to why one census shows Charles as born Fintry and another says Gargunnock, from baptism indices alone it looks as if the Margaret Stirling family did shift to Fintry where the birth of the last son is recorded, so a case of apparent accuracy in one census and a "where I was brought up memory" for the other census.

Are they really two separate families?
FindMyPast and ScotlandsPeople do show several baptisms to both couples, with remarkably similar names and dates. But the 1835 Male Heads of Household indices do show both a John Ferguson in Village, Fintry and a John Ferguson, labourer in Village, Gargunnock, so on balance, yes.

* there's also a very intriguing DNA connection between this new match and a descendant of a separate Miller/Millar line who hints at a connection across two separate clusters of interest, potentially linking the families of John Miller and Roseanna McGeoch and the above David Millar and Elizabeth Weight to the  mystery ancestry of our Amelia Millar (b. 1817 Kippen). The slow progress and potentially connected families that are on WikiTree may appear there under my WikiTree Brickwall Category.

The Update

ScotlandsPeople have agreed there is a missing index entry and are remedying it, although it may take a while to make it into what we seen on the site.

For FamilySearch: As there seemed to be no way to unretire the "duplicate" I also contacted the the FamilySearch email to see if I was missing a way to do so as the Edit button was greyed out.

The response: "We suggest you ignore the retired message it may be AI being over efficient. .."

I have put notes on the source but not yet checked where they become visible.