marion wakeford wrote: > My great x 3 grandfather William Grant was listed as born in Aberdeen on the 1851 England census, and he stated that he was 55, I know I can't assume that he was born in Aberdeen, but do you think its worth a try? ____________________________________ Hi Marion If you search the IGI for William GRANT births in Aberdeen(shire) for the period 1795 +/- 5 years, you get 15 "hits" of which four are "LDS submissions" and should be discounted. Two of the others are duplicated as birth-plus-christening entries which leaves nine OPR entries. [numbers 1, 4, 6, 7/8, 9, 10/11, 13, 14 & 15] Only one of these is actually in Aberdeen City: 4 Apr 1791, son of William GRANT & Ann CASTLE. This one is a bit early given the declared age in 1851 but may still be right if he "adjusted" his age for the Census [or didn't know it precisely]. The others are in outer parishes which may well have been recorded as "Aberdeen" in the English Census since it was common to record only the county name if born outside the county of residence. IF [a biggish "if"] he was baptized and hence registered in the OPR, then your William will be one of these. With no further information, proving which is him may be a bit difficult. One thing to try is the Scottish [and sometimes English] naming pattern for his children. BEWARE: this is not always followed but can be an indicator: BOYS: first son after the father's father, second after the mothers father and third after the father. GIRLS: first daughter after the mother's mother, second after the father's mother and third after the mother. If this leads to duplicate names then miss that stage out. For additional children the pattern suggests using names of uncles & aunts and then great uncles & aunts but by that size of brood the names of friends, local worthies, etc may be used. However this doesn't often lead to useful detection! BUT BUT remember this is only a guide and it is seldom followed precisely, if at all. I'll leave you to look at the IGI records and consider if any looks worth examining further e.g. through Scotland's People. If you need more info, let me know. -- Best wishes and good luck Ray ********************************************************** >From Ray Hennessy Forenames website: www.whatsinaname.net Preferred Email address: ray@whatsinaname.net Hints for Scotland's People at http://bit.ly/WIAN-SCP **********************************************************