Hi Ray Sorry I meant to say born 1855 to 1877, st Nicholas. Information about his father comes from his marriage certificate ( army papers) naas, Co Kildare. As do residences & children, they all tie in. BUT there is no mention of Macleggan. There are a lot on Scotlands people, a bit intimidating, not to say expensive. Probably worth trying. I don't understand the Macleggan bit, one reason is that the only possible marriage is of William Mckenzie to Margaret McKenzie, was she or was she someone else? Not sure of the accuracy of IGI. Anyway thankyou for your input Regards Sue Sent from Samsung tablet -------- Original message -------- From: Ray Hennessy <[email protected]> Date: 08/03/2014 20:34 (GMT+00:00) To: [email protected],Aberdeen List <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Brick wall Hi Sue When you say "birth of William McKenzie (my great grandfather) 1855-1897" are you saying he died in 1897 aged c.42? If he married in Scotland, the Scotland's People site             http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/  would have the registrations details including parents. If he died on active service [?Boer War, 1897?] the regimental records would have his details and I thought enlistment papers included next of kin and ???parents.  Is this how you found out his father?  If he died in Scotland [even after military service], his death should have been registered in Scotland.  You could find this on Scotland's People and registration would have included his parents assuming the informant knew who they were! If he was born in 1855-ish he should be on the 1861 census at home which would presumably show his parents.  This is also available on Scotland's People as are the censuses for 1871,1881 and 1891.  Have you looked for David & Ann McKenzie in the 181 census?  This would show their children at home.  however, we know of several cases where a young child was with the grandmother on Census night [including my wife's eldest aunt] so you need to be a dedicated detective to find the grandparents and check them out if he isn't with his supposed parents.   Admittedly it can be a bit expensive buying lots of credits on ScP but the IGI might give you useful indicators before you go to ScP. *One Tip* When you do a search on ScP make sure you broaden your search to get as many examples as is sensible.  The search hits are supplied 25 to a page which costs one credit.  So it makes sense to widen the search [e.g. by adding parishes (up to 5) and/or extra years] to get 25 hits or just under that [or a multiple of 25].  In the long run these extra hits can prove very valuable. Hope this helps.  If you haven't used Scotland's People, just ask and I or someone will help. Good hunting Ray Ray Hennessy www.whatsinaname.net On 8 March 2014 15:23, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: Hi New to the list. I am looking for the birth of William McKenzie(my great grandfathrr)1855 to 1897, father David a laborer. The only one I can find (igi & ancestry) is a William Macleggan McKenzie born 1857 to David & Margt St Nicholas Aberdeen. I'm not convinced. Our family frequently used surnames as second names, he never used it, EVER, not even on his army enlistment papers, or marriage, or death for that matter. On his enlistment papers he states he was born St Nicholas. Family folklore says that an Ann may have been his mother but while there is a David & . Ann, no William. I thought Margaret might have been Macleggan but can't find her either. If anyone can help I would be very grateful. His enlistment papers say he was a farm servant. Regards SueC Sent from Samsung tablet ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message