Mary Legarth wrote: > Thankyou Gavin, > I suppose I should have mentioned that it was family oral history which put > the Birth at Woodside. Fair enough. > William MURRAY Bap 7 April 1801, at Skene, ( assume to be Banffshire ), Why Banffshire? Ray Hennessy and I have done a pretty detailed survey of placenames in Banffshire, and there is no instnce of "Skene" or anything much like it in the county. However, there is a parish of Skene in Aberdeenshire, roughly 9 miles west of Aberdeen. > died 1879 38 North Prioadford , ( ? spelling), North Broadford. An earlier name for the western part of what later became George Street. Old Machar, was the father of > William Duff MURRAY. > Old Machar also became part of family oral history. > William Murray 1861 was age 58 years, ( apparently Baptised 1801,) living > 233 Stricket Road, ? Aberdeen City. I think that is probably "Stocket Road". The "Stocket Forest" (to the north-west of the town) was part of the lands gifted to the town by Robert the Bruce, and the name persists in today's "Midstocket Road". On 19th century maps, you will also find the "High Stocket" and "Low Stocket" roads, names which are now disused. These all lie in the arc of country to the north and west of St Nicholas, the ancient town parish of Aberdeen, and are in the parish of Old Machar, where much of the 19th century expansion of the city took place. Gavin Bell