This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: maryschacht Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.scotland.ans.general/5996.3.1.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Important to remember, these are not records created for our use, but a government 128 years ago. Scotland went from highly fuedal to moderately fuedal. Census, if you read the instructions (for 1851) it tells the enumerator, it is important to pigeon/dove cote peope into three boxes, pre-working, working age(if they were employeed if they were working, and old age...easy to see why, the church was still doing most of the "social welfare agency caring, but the crown understood that it would eventually fill that role, so large numbers of chilren in schools might need tax money, working or not-paying taxes and keeping account of if the tax base was increasing or decreasing, and finally elders who would eventually need increasing help, was and still is an important issue. Nobles who had very little care of their tenants, didn't want to give to the poor, or set a prescient where they might be pressured to give more. in my last master class in pre1750 research, a local woman asked the church for assistance reimbursement for a four year old orphan, she gave him meals, washed his clothes, but instead of helping her monitarily, they offered to SELL him a license tobeg?! Some church elders did honestly care for the children who they watched growing up, but still pillared a ten year old for getting pregnant as a domestic servant, she died shorty after birth from complications,and his grandparents adopted him. no charges were filed or any real investigation was ever conducted since her employer was also estate manger for the Earl's estate. the grandfather identified the rapist in the family bible, shortly before death. the early census 1800-1831 were tallies, and original sheets have no family names. !841-1851,enumerators were told to move age or minus five years. 1841 just asks if born in Scotland. So the government could care less for next of kin. The other religions are not centralized, but it is important to at least look at them. I have lists of resources, I maintain subscriptions to Scran, scotspeeps, ancestry, scotsmen newspaper. If george had milaria, he was not a simple fisherman, tropical illnesses in and around India, china, and the African continent. "You can always get what you want if you only know how to use what you have" is a fav. quote. We build a family of friends who share our passion, as my own sister's eye glaze over if I begin to talk family history. They want my results, but think it is a destination, but it is really a journey. We understand about that in each other. the Family history I like best is not going just the dates that are bookends on the life, which is the book between. I read everything I can about the trades/occupation, regiments, and general history. You can infer your ancestors life by looking at a person who did write down, life in a bothy, or one-room tenament. FHS keep libraries of pedigree files sent by members. Tay valley had 16,000 files at my last visit. I h! ave the Perthshire and Angus monument inscription books from the Scottish genealogy society. The books usually have 120 cemeteries, fewer cemeteries in big cities. The index has only last names, then I or someone has to look them up in every cemetery they occur in for particular names and dates. If you want I can go through my subsciptions sites looking but i'd need his wife's surname. I am not an expert, but I do have experience (more than 30 years). I have found many errors, strange spellings, and a huge number of varients. the MI books do list local history books, and I search add-all, used and out of print books, but you can find great publications from the Family History societies. All the best for the holidays, and i can give you recommendations for professionals with us on the list and off Mary in Oregon Bruinswood@aol.com Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.