This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: JPurker123 Surnames: Winchester Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.scotland.mor.general/1367.1.1.1.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hello Jean, William Winchester & Elspet Juncan/Junken/Jenkin/Duncan, all spellings linked to this family, are the farthest back I have gone on this line. Born respectively 1768 &1772. Be aware also the Winchester surname is sometimes entered as Winster in Census records and I have even seen Vinchester. In my honest opinion, and I am no expert, I doubt any of us will get further back than we have on the OPR because registration (or any kind of written record) was not the norm back then for working/normal class people and unless an ancestor was landed gentry there will be no records of them. The only way to find out more is if their farm or land were rented from a Landowner and then they would be named and entered in the Estate Accounts. The Family Research Centre in Elgin would be able to inform you of potential Landowners. Not sure who was the Landowner back then but I suspect it was the Grants of Rothimurchus/Grantown on Spey. Estate papers are held at the National Archives for Scotland in Edinburgh and most are NOT indexed. You have to hire a researcher to look if you cannot go yourself and this is usually the best way as they know their way around the place. Not all researchers are familiar with NAS work so you have to chose someone well experienced in NAS researching. I have found that using a researcher in many instances works out cheaper than the cost of visiting or searching on-line. And I would also caution that good as the IGI (familysearch.org) is in assisting research prior to 1875, entries must be treated with caution if an LDS member has submitted the information because the research involved for their particular needs are not always infallible to any subsequent authentication. Regards JP Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.