> John McArthur was born c1828 as aged 28 is on the marriage > certificate. Father > Duncan, Mother Margaret Smith. You need to find him in the 1851 census, because that will tell you which parish he was born in, and it would probably help to find him in the 1841 first, because at the age of 12/13 you could expect him to be living with his parents (though some boys did go into service as young as this). What was his occupation, and what was his father's occupation, and were his parents still living at the time of his marriage? Who were the witnesses at the marriage - could one of them have been a brother or sister? When did John and Isabella leave Scotland for Tasmania? If they left after the 1861 census, you might find them together in that census. Using that information, try a search at http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl However FreeCEN does not yet cover all counties and all years, and you may not find him that way. If not, go to www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and search there - it's more versatile because you can put in the names of other people in the same household to narrow a search, but is a pay-per-view site. Someone with access to one of the other transcription sites might be kind enough to look for him, but as always with any transcription you need to check its accuracy by looking at the original on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk . You have a bit of work to do to find him, but it should be possible if not easy. Anne