James SHIRRA(SHERIFF)

                      The surname Shirra was changed to Sheriff after the birth of the first child and restored to Shirra later.(by family knowledge -the son William).
Mfilm 304668 ,1041977,102132,889487.SLC.
Also shown as SHIRRAH or SHIRRAY on cdrom Old Scottish Church Records SLC Marriage source F 1041972.SCR Marriage record shows name as SHERIFF.
BIRTH: source-Scottish Church Records-CD Rom Film #889482. Also confirmed by the research of Kenneth A. Shirra, Feb 2001.
Bothkennar is a Parish bordering the north east of Falkirk containing Skinflats village,part of Grangemouth town and parts of Carronshore and kinnaird villages in Carse District,Stirlingshire.
Parents of husband are James Shirra and Margaret Millar since of the list of possible parents,these obey the rule of naming in Scotland. Here,the first dau is named after the mother's mother,the second dau is named after the father's mother and the third dau is named after the mother.

CHRISTENING: SCR also gives christening date as 17 Jun 1766 under Shirra.

MARRIAGE: SCR Marriage shows name as SHERRIF, F1041972. Marriage Place shown as Falkirk on IGIa,F537464.

BIOGRAPHY:
Falkirk, Erskine Associate Church
   Shirra, (Listed by Mitchell, No.73.)
The church and churchyard of the Erskine Associate Church was in the Silver
Row, in the centre of Falkirk. The churchyard was derelict and the church
itself was converted into the Roxy Theatre early in 1905.  In the mid 1960's
the entire area, including in the Silver Row, the churchyard and old
church/theatre, was demolished for redevelopment and is now the Callander
Centre, on the east side of Falkirk.  It is reputed that any remains found
during the demolition were transferred to Camelon Cemetery, however the area
was merely flattened and any remaining gravestones destroyed in the process.
The Town Clerk of Falkirk of the time made a list of the gravestones before
their destruction.  According to Mitchell the details were in a tabular
format with columns for names, row number, number in row, date of death and
type of stone.  Each item in the first column was nearly always of one or
two persons' names (in the latter case probably of husband and wife) but no
relationships were recorded nor ages given. The "date of death" is given as
a year only and presumably in many cases represented the year in which the
stone was set up or lair acquired as it gives a single date only for couples
who appear to be husband and wife. The names of children were not recorded
and many were probably on the memorial stones.  The list recorded surnames,
or the first surname, in alphabetical order.
   In this list there appears ; No. 73 - Wm. Fleming, 1794, Jas. Shirra & Chr.
Harvey, 1794.
   There is no doubt that this James Shirra is he who was born about 1768, and
married Christian Harvey, born 22nd. September 1771 and died 2nd. May 1828.
They married, in Bothkennar Parish, near Falkirk, on 23rd. November 1793,
and had at least three children, William, Janet and Christine.
   There is in Bothkennar Parish churchyard, a probable early 18th. century stone
commemorating a James Harvey and a Janet Hosie, but it is unknown what
relationship there is, if any, (possibly father/brother?) between the
Christian Harvey, who married James Shirra, and the James Harvey who married
Janet Hosie, the only known connection is that both were of Bothkennar
Parish.
   It is unknown what relationship, if any, William Fleming was to James Shirra
and Christian Harvey but it would seem that William Fleming died first and
as this would probably be in 1794, thus this date on the stone marking this
lair.  James Shirra and Christian Harvey would have been interred later in
this same lair and commemorated on this stone. The date of death for James
Shirra is currently unknown but Christian Harvey is thought to have died in
1838. It is unfortunate that any further inscription on this stone, possibly
regarding offspring, was not recorded before its destruction.
Source:Kenneth Alexander Shirra,2001
.Falkirk Erskine Associate Churchyard - The known inscription of this stone,
Jas. Shirra & Chr. Harvey, no doubt refers to James Shirra, born 1768 and
Christian Harvey, born 1771 and married at Bothkennar in 1793. This James
Shirra being the son of the James Shirra who married Margaret Miller.  It is
unfortunate that this stone was recently destroyed, in the mid 1960's, and
any further details, if any, have been lost. The Falkirk local government
authority has, since the 1950's, been very destructive towards local
historic structures, much having been lost.  There is some indication that
this has slowed down, not because of any change of policy but because there
is little left to demolish.
This memorial indicates that the Shirra line had come from the Stirling area
to the Falkirk area by the end of the 18th. century.  It can also be noted
that church adherence was not to the established Church of Scotland, but to
a  Secessionist church. The Erskine church in Falkirk was established by the
withdrawal, from the Established Church of Scotland, of the Rev. Henry
Erskine who in 1739 built the church known as the Erskine Associate Church
in Horsemarket Lane, off the Silver Row, Falkirk.  This church had a burial
ground attached and the church building was in use up till 1905 when it
became the Roxy Theatre until the late 1950's, until the demolition of the
entire area in the 1960's.  The congregation in 1905 had moved to a new
church building at the junction of Cockburn Street and Hodge Street,
Falkirk.  The Erskine Associate congregation was linked in various ways with
other secessionist churches and in 1900 became the Erskine United Free
Church which in 1929 re-united with the established Church of Scotland and
the present Erskine Church became a Church of Scotland Parish Church in
Falkirk.
It can also be noted that it is from this James Shirra and Christian Harvey
that all the Bainsford Shirras can probably claim descent.  It may be a
factor in research that it would seem that most Bainsford Shirras, where a
church connection is known, seem to have adhered to a non-conformist or
secessionist, though Presbyterian, church, at least up till 1929 when most
such churches were re-united with the established Church of Scotland.  Thus
it is probable that any church records before 1929 concerning the Bainsford
Shirras are not to be found within the established Church of Scotland but
within other churches.