Hi all, I have found the following Ministers comment at the start of the 1851 census for North Bute; (Writing extremely difficult to read but think this is accurate.) "The reason why the average number of individuals in each family in the rural districts of North Bute exceeds that which obtains in the village of Pt. Bannatyne, the district included within enumeration book is that, in the country sections, a considerable number of farm servants is imported annually thereto, chiefly from the county of Argyll. John McArthur Minister of North Bute" This comment seems to be supported somewhat a breakdown of the statistics of the parish - 10% of the North Bute population being classified as farm or general labourers/servants, their families etc. from Argyll. A breakdown of North Bute and Kingarth shows the percentage of those that were born within and outside the county. County_ _ _ _ _ _North Bute_ _ _ _ _ Kingarth Bute.....................54%.........................59% Argyll...................25%.........................19% Ayr.......................6%...........................6% Lanark..................3%...........................5% Renfrew................2%...........................2% Dunbarton.............1%...........................<1% Ireland...................1%...........................2% Perth......................<1%........................1% All other locations were less than 1%. One thing I found of interest was that in the whole rural area of the island of Bute, only 3 individuals are recorded as originating from Arran. I'm guessing here but I imagine that, as the census was in spring, the number of 'imports' would probably be lower than might be the case during the autumn harvest? Cheers, Bill