Yes, I remember we already had this discussion about Banffshire, and Moray concerning my rellie, Charles Middleton, who was born in Banff, Banffshire, 1797. I still haven't found him. Sharon --- Gavin Bell <g.bell@which.net> wrote: > > Banffshire has long been something of a Cinderella > among counties, > always in danger of being swallowed by its bigger > neighbours. > > In ecclesiastical terms, the county never really > existed. The Kirk of > Scotland divided the country up into administrative > districts called > Synods (being a gouping of Presbyteries, which in > turn were a grouping > of Parishes), and while they had different > boundaries from the counties, > these did broadly coincide. So Aberdeenshire > covered much of the same > ground as the Synod of Aberdeen, and the county of > Angus largely > coincided with the Synod of Angus and Mearns. But > Banffshire never made > it to Synod status, being divided between the Synods > of Moray and Aberdeen. > > As a civil county (for the administration of > justice, and other purposes > connected with the Crown), Banffshire did exist for > a number of > centuries, but with very untidy boundaries: until > 1891, when there was > a grand tidy-up, some parishes were in more than one > county, and some > parts of the county actually existed as islands > within other counties. > I have documented these oddities, and their likely > implications for > genealogy, on the Banffshire pages of GENUKI > (www.abdn.net/genuki/BAN). > > More recently, Banffshire has, along with all > Scottish counties, been > subject to two major reorganisations: in 1974, the > old counties were > replaced by a system of "Regions". Banffshire > (together with > Aberdeenshire, Kincardine, Moray and the City of > Aberdeen) was absorbed > into Grampian Region. 20 years later, the doctine > of "Big is Beautiful" > had gone out of fashion, and the Regions were split > up again. However, > we did not go back to where we were before. > Instead, the territory of > Grampian Region was split into 3: Aberdeen City, > Aberdeenshire and > Moray, but "Aberdeenshire" now includes all of > Kincardine, and the > eastern half of Banffshire. Similarly, "Moray" has > absorbed the western > parts of Banffshire. > > As a result of all these changes, finding the > archives which might > contain information on one's ancestors is, to say > the least, complicated. ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca