The accountancy part of your question has been well covered so I won't try. You say also: His mother is listed >as Mary Crichton Ferrie. I know quite a bit about his mother and her >family, but nothing at all about the father, due to "James Smith" being >such a common name. I don't think the parents married, as there is no >matching record for that either in the OPRs. Also, Mary Crichton Ferrie >(b: Dec. 3, 1822) married twice later in life: first to James Laurie >(1849, Glasgow), and secondly to John Brodie (1870, Edinburgh). At her >earliest recorded marriage (1849) her maiden name is recorded... this >makes me suspect she never married James Smith, Accountant. This is quite normal in Scottish OPRs. Scottish women continued to be known by their maiden name after marriage. In some areas you will find families in the earlier censuses (particularly 1841 and 1851) where the mother is listed with her maiden name, though she is married. Although I think the census takers were instructed to follow the English model. Sometimes you will see a correction made, the maiden name is crossed out. Some old parish records will say "Mary Smith"(maiden name) "relict" (widow) "of John Brown". but I have found second marriages for relatives in Stirling where only the maiden name was given in the parish record - but in the newspaper index for the area the lady is described as Mrs X (first husband's name). Obviously very helpful - unfortunately newspaper indexes for most areas are hard to come by, and most people didn't have their marriage notices in the paper anyway. Anyway, she died in >1900 in Stirling and only James Laurie and John Brodie are mentioned as >husbands on the death record. Often only the last husband is recorded - but if two are recorded, then there may have been only two,or the informant may not have known of the first husband > >Lastly, I just found. James Douglas Smith's death certificate (1925, >Lochee), on which is father is listed as a "Chartered Accountant". Usually a death certificate will state the mother also, in the form "Mary Smith maiden surname Brown" Earlier certificates specifically stated "illegitimate" if this was the case but I think they had stopped doing that by 1925. Do you know where Mary Crichton Ferrie was living at the time of his birth? If you can find the relevant parish, it is just possible that you may find a record in the kirk session records of her being admonished for "antenuptial fornication". On the other hand by this date in the cities it was probably fairly easy to escape the watchful eye of the kirk elders. Especially with the formation of the Free Church in 1843 when large numbers no longer attended their parish church Catherine