SANDRA DENISE DUNBAR wrote: > Whilst we have been unable to locate the birth/baptism of my great > Grandmother in any records in 1852/3, in all census records 1861 to 1901 she > records the parish of her birth as "Woodside" Aberdeenshire. Arguably, the Enumerator should not have accepted that entry, as the Schedule clearly asked for the *Parish* of Birth, by which is generally understood the "quoad civilia" Parish (ie the civil or administrative parish). Woodside lay in Old Machar. Woodside became a "quoad sacra" Parish at a date which is variously reported as in the 1840s and 1860s, but never had its own separate Kirk registers of baptism and marriage, and did not, in 1855, become a separate Registration District. Woodside did (again at a date that I can not precisely state - it was some time after 1833) become a "Police Burgh", with its own Council and Provost. Sadly for the Woodsiders, this dignity was snatched away in 1891, when (along with Old Aberdeen) it was incorporated into the new City of Aberdeen. Perhaps we can forgive your ggm and her friendly neighbourhood Enumerator for not being aware of all the administrative twists and turns! Gavin Bell