Reference Melvilles/Wyllie of Beith posted by Lesley Stainer 1 February 2010 >From that posting a connection was established between Lynne and Nyle relating to the 1821 marriage of John WHITEHEAD to Marion DONALD. We were searching for Elizabeth MUIR the 2nd wife of John WHITEFORD and went off-list to search - this is our progress, or lack of it, to date. We know from 1841 census Elizabeth Muir was about 30 and was born Ayrshire and employed at Willowyard by John Whiteford. They married 1844 and their daughter Margaret was born 1845. We assume Elizabeth died in childbirth as John Whiteford was a widower in the 1851 census. We do not discount that she died later than 1845. As the Whiteford families appear not to have used the common naming pattern it is not safe to assume the baby Margaret was named after Elizabeth Muir's mother. If she was named after Elizabeth's mother, then it is possible Elizabeth Muir was the daughter of Thomas Muir and Margaret Thomson, and born 1815 Kilmaurs. Catch point... it appears likely - that Elizabeth Muir married 1841 Thomas RICHMONT (aka RICHMOND) and had a son Thomas in the same year. To date we cannot find further trace of that family.... anywhere. Our brickwall appears to be created by the lack of death/burial records 1820-1854. They are not included on Ayrshire burials CD, do not appear to be included on Scotland's People, have not been filmed by LDS, and the only reference we can find to their existence is in the book published 1993 by SAFHS and reprinted regularly, but has no mention of being further edited or updated - The Parishes, Registers, and Registrars of Scotland ...which states deaths for Beith 1820-1854 are held at Register House, Edinburgh. Our next step is to establish that. Kilmaurs burials records do not go beyond 1785. We have searched every imaginable avenue of the 1841 census, the death record of John Whiteford, 1867, and the marriage record of John Whiteford to Elizabeth. We cannot find MI's for Beith. We will keep you posted. But please... any lister who thinks they might have a connection to the puzzle... make contact. We are in the early but obvious stages of despair....!! Lynne and Nyle