> Here's a guess for you to consider. You don't mention Janet's > mother so this is a shot in the dark: Well, whoever indexed the entries thought that Hardwood and Harriedwood were places, because the people were indexed under the surnames Ritchie and Fraser, and these are the people Melissa was looking for. > Could William Ritchie Hardwood have married a [?Janet] White? Perfectly possible. If so, the record is not indexed in the IGI. There are two Janet Harriwoods in the IGI, one born in Dyke in 1747 and the other in New Spynie in 1842, mother Ann Clarke. So evidently neither of these fits your hypothesis, whereas Melissa recognises the Fraser/Ritchie family as the ones she has been looking for. The IGI tells me that James Fraser and Janet Ritchie were married in Rafford on 15 June 1849 and had the following children, all baptised in Rafford: James, 14 March 1850 William, 27 August 1851 Isabella, 13 February 1854 This matches the index entry, except that this also mentions a daughter Jessie who doesn't turn up in the IGI. The answer is, of course, somewhere in the documents indexed in LIBINDX. Anne

THANK YOU to the ones who replied to my post re the LIBINDX. Anne your advise was wonderful and all taken in, thank you. I have a copy of the death cert for the mentioned James Fraser. He died 1875 in Melbourne, Australia aged 57 and his parents were listed as James Fraser & Anne Watson. James had married Janet Ritchie in Rafford, Scotland prior to their arrival here in OZ. James & Janet lived in Tasmania for 17 years and were in Victoria 4 years prior to James's death. The children listed at the time of James death were James, William, Isabella, Janet, Anne and one other name that is illegible. Janet Fraser died 1882 aged 52 years. Her parents were listed as being William Ritchie and Isabella Calder. So hence when I found these two familles on the site I could not understand the names mentioned. So now I guess that it means that James Fraser (senior) lived at Hardmuir. Janet Ritchie lived at Whiteharriewood and her father William Ritchie lived as Hardwood. Now another question has appeared..... WHERE are these places and do they still exist in Moray? As to the children of James and Janet Fraser: James was born Scotland William was born Scotland Isabella was born Scotland Jeanette Fraser was found born 1858 in Tasmania (she was found listed as a child of James Fraser & Jeanette Ritchie, so it seems it may have been a typo error in the spelling) Ann Justina Fraser was found born 1864 in Tasmania (parents were James Fraser & Janet Ritchie) There was also a female child found born in 1860, but no name was mentioned for her. At the time of James Fraser death at least one child was dead prior to his death and that was the son James. Also it looks like Isabella may have been dead also prior to her father. (the writing is hard to read for Isabella's age at her fathers death). My tie to the Fraser family is through the son William Fraser. He was my great great grandfather. His youngest daughter was my great grandmother, who lived to the age of 92 years, and her own parents died very young leaving her an orphan and raised by her elder siblings. If anyone has links to any of the mentioned families or can help fill in any gaps I would love to hear from you. Melissa in OZ. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Burgess" <anne.burgess@btinternet.com> To: <MORAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 10:55 PM Subject: Re: [MORAY] Re: LIBINDX onLine at Long Last!!! > > Here's a guess for you to consider. You don't mention Janet's > > mother so this is a shot in the dark: > Well, whoever indexed the entries thought that Hardwood and Harriedwood were > places, because the people were indexed under the surnames Ritchie and > Fraser, and these are the people Melissa was looking for. > > > Could William Ritchie Hardwood have married a [?Janet] White? > Perfectly possible. If so, the record is not indexed in the IGI. > > There are two Janet Harriwoods in the IGI, one born in Dyke in 1747 and the > other in New Spynie in 1842, mother Ann Clarke. So evidently neither of > these fits your hypothesis, whereas Melissa recognises the Fraser/Ritchie > family as the ones she has been looking for. > > The IGI tells me that James Fraser and Janet Ritchie were married in Rafford > on 15 June 1849 and had the following children, all baptised in Rafford: > James, 14 March 1850 > William, 27 August 1851 > Isabella, 13 February 1854 > This matches the index entry, except that this also mentions a daughter > Jessie who doesn't turn up in the IGI. > > The answer is, of course, somewhere in the documents indexed in LIBINDX. > > Anne >

I had another idea today and took another look at the Rafford 1851 census. Sure enough, there it was, in the Altyre district (ED 1, Page 8) Harwood William Ritchie/head/mar/57/masson/Rafford Isabel Ritchie/wife/mar/55/Divie William Ritchie/son/um/30/general labourer/Rafford John Ritchie/grandchild/5/Inverness Isabel Ritchie/dau/unm/19/domestic work/Rafford I enjoyed the enumerator's description of the Altyre district: "The Altyre district is that part of the parish of Rafford which is bounded by the parish of Edinkillie on the south and south-west, the parish of Forres on the north and west, the district of Blervie on the east and the district of Cluny on the south-east. The length of this district is computed to be [3.5] miles by [?2?] miles in breadth. The lower part on thenorth is nearly level but towards the south the ground rises a considerable height. The district or estate is nearly covered with wood, the only open ground of any extent being around the mansion-house and in its vicinity. The farms in the district are all ver y small with the exception of one on the south-side and the lands farmed by the proprietor himself. The population consists of 109 males and 102 females, in all 211. The number of occupiers is 40 - inhabited houses 40 - uninhabited 1 - building none. This is the western division [of the parish of Rafford]. So we know that Janet's parents were living at Harwood/Hardwood/Harriewood/Whiteharriedwood in 1851. Mannachie Lodge still stands (I actually know the present occupants slightly). If you go to www.streetmap.co.uk and search for Manachie Farm. Just south-east ofit you will see a distillery (this is Dallas Dhu, which is now a visitor centre). Imediately west of the distilery there is a road junction. Mannachie Lodge is the tiny pink square in the south-west corner of the road jundction, between the road and the burn (stream)which flows past the distillery from the little pond in the woods. If you use the grid reference 303500,856500 in the search box the arrow should point to the Lodge. We still haven't worked out where Har(rie)wood is but we're working on it. HTH Anne