Dear Buteshire GenWeb friends: Per the email I got from Peter, I wanted to introduce myself to you all. I'm Kyle MacLea, and I'm living here in Michigan, USA. As for the question of whether I'm retired or 'still working' -- I can tell you that I might at times wish I were retired, but being only 28, I've got quite a while to go yet! I work as a scientist during the day, for the US Dept of Agriculture. I've only been actively working on my genealogy for about 6 months now, but I've always had the interest. I've always known that my family came from Scotland, but only recently have I tried to find out WHERE. Which probably as well as anything leads me to my research interests, which I'll go ahead and list in case anyone has some suggestions! Probably like a lot of folks, the home from which my ancestors came to America was the city - Glasgow to be specific. I have a couple of generations in Glasgow, but I always thought that EVENTUALLY, I would find my way back OUT of Glasgow! My ancestor John McLEA is the stumbling block. I know he and his wife Janet/Jessie McKAY were married 27 Nov 1818 in Glasgow Parish by the Relief minister and that John was a blacksmith. I have found the births of 2 children: Margaret born 27 Dec 1819 in Glasgow, Duncan baptised 27 Aug 1824 in Gorbals Parish. From my ancestor Peter McLEA's death record, his birth to John McLEA and Jessie McKAY is listed, and puts him as being born in abt. 1828 (though I cannot find a birth Record for Peter anywhere). Census records from 1851 and 1861 also concur on his approximate age. I have all of the death records for these folks, except for John McLEA, who based on the census must have died pre-1851 but for whom no death cert exists that I can find. So, my problem is basically this: I don't know who John's parents are, or where he was from. I know that he ("John McLAE") married in 1818 and that his wife Jessie is listed as being from Rothesay, Bute, on the census from 1851 and 1861. However, in 1818 at the time of their wedding they were listed in Glasgow and no city of origin is listed (her death record says that she was born Abt. 1802, but only her father's name is given -- Peter McKAY). It would seem reasonable that they (John and Jessie) met in Rothesay, but I have no proof of this. Scotlandspeople does not have a death record for John that I can find. Similarly, there are enough John McLEAs in the birth records (and there were quite a few McLEAs in Bute, I believe!) that I can't really know for sure which one is him. Since the marriage record is uninformative about age or birthplace, I'm a little at a loss. One suggestion was made to me to wait for Scotlandspeople to put the 1841 Census online this summer and hope and pray that John was still alive in 1841 (especially since he was deceased by 1851, this might be a long shot!). So, I query you fine group of experts: Any other ideas on how to get more information on John that would be useful to me in going further up the tree? I have a potential birth to a Duncan McLEA & Margaret FISHER 09 May 1790 in Rothesay, which would make a great deal of sense given that I know two of John's children were Duncan and Margaret, but I don't have proof of the connection. And the age is not unreasonable, though maybe a little late (28 at marriage, and his wife maybe 12 years younger than him). Also, at the moment I have no proof of a connection to the Rev Dr. Archibald McLEA, who is found in numerous mentions in the list archives (and who seems like quite the character). I have not yet managed to connect my family with any other McLEAs (or how we spell it -- MacLEA) that weren't cousins on this side of the Atlantic, so any clues to connect with anyone else would be much appreciated! Any thoughts? Help very much appreciated and I'm glad to be a part of the group! Thanks so much, Kyle MacLea