Thank you for all your responses. It has been brought to my attention that I should have been more specific. So here goes: I am actually trying to find the birth for William Innes b: about 1778 in Inveravon. The following information comes from his death certificate in 1861. It states that he died in 1861 at the age of 83 at Craighead Farm in Glenlivet, Banff. If correct, that would make his date of birth as 1778. His father, also from Inveravon, was named William Innes but the mother was unknown. Regrettably, the extract does not show where he is buried. We have been able to confirm that William Innes married Janet Cameron in 1814 and that they had four (4) children. Ann 1815, Margaret1818, John1820 and William1822. My line is from William. No trace on John 1820 as yet. It also has been proven and confirmed that William 1778 was Protestant and Janet was RC. To try and find William’s parents and concentrating on the year 1778 only I have been able to find a birth for that year but with parents being James Innes and Beatrix Mason. Who knows!!!!! By process of elimination I will find. James and Beatrice lived in Mortlach and it shows Willm. Innes c: Jan 1778. This is the entry which I feel is false. At the IGI enter William Innes then exact year 1778, Scotland and then Banff. I decided to do Mortlach first because William 1778 grandchildren lived there. William in Montreal

> I am actually trying to find the birth for William Innes b: about 1778 > > in Inveravon. Ah, I see. You may eventually have to accept that the record of William's birth and/or baptism has simply not survived. There are often gaps in the parish registers, especially before 1800, because either the information was never written down, or because the record was lost or destroyed. > Regrettably, the extract does not show where he is buried. The place of burial is shown only on death certificates from 1855 to 1859. > To try and find William’s parents and concentrating on the year 1778 only > I have been able to find a birth for that year but with parents being > James Innes and Beatrix Mason. Highly unlikely to be the right one, for several reasons (1) wrong parish (2) wrong father's name (3) there is no sign of a Beatrix among your William's descendants. There are at least two William Inneses of the right sort of age in the 1841 census in Mortlach, so you could try eliminating them by using the SP death records. Anne