Barbara Nellesen wrote: >Yes, thank you Anne. Ian Scott was able to review it and give me feedback. >Of course, I still cannot find either Charlotte McKenzie or Rev James >Donald death certificate on SP. > If I recall correctly, the Rev. is assumed to have died some time in the 1830s? If so, ScotlandsPeople would not have any record of his death, as they have not to date included any of the pre-1855 "OPR" deaths in their index. >Or, for that matter, the birth of their >children but I thank you for sending me the information on the children. > >May I ask for your advice please? >I am a member of the ANESFHS - would it be better for me to ask them to >search for these death records OR would the Moray Heritage Center be in >a better position to do the search? > > Some time ago, the Scottish Association of FHSs launched a project to transcribe and index the pre-1855 deaths. Progress on this has been patchy overall, but ANESFHS (in the person of Jim Illingworth) completed work on the OPR deaths for NE Scotland some time ago, and the result is a computerised index held at ANESFHS. Restrictions imposed by the Registrar General (who owns the data) prevent us making this data more widely available, but as a member, you can request a lookup. Bear in mind, though, that the OPR deaths are very patchy - many parishes never recorded any. You can check the parishes which did, and the dates for which these exist, at the "Burial Grounds in Northeast Scotland" site at: http://www.abdnet.co.uk/burialgrounds/ The red markers indicate "ancient" burial grounds, and if you click on such a marker (or on the equivalent name in the drop-down list) various bits of information will be displayed in the side panel, including (where they exist) the dates of OPR death records and the relevant GROS catalogue numbers. (There is also information for the later blue and green markers, but this will not generally include the OPR death dates). For some parishes (broadly-speaking those included in the "new, improved" post-1996 Aberdeenshire) the additional information will also include the availability of "Lair Records". These exist pre-1855 for a small number of parishes, and it is possible that they may mention deaths not included in the OPRs. Gavin Bell

Thank you Gavin. Re: death records at SP - I was posting my correction when your message was coming in...Thank you! Re: The burial grounds site - which is great I might add and another THANK YOU! I have the AA153 (Lhanbryde) and AA182 (St Andrews Kirkhill) MI booklets - no entries for either one. I have checked the MI index at the ANESFHS site and could not find either one at Urquhart - Old and New. I checked the Birnie and Spynie burial ground at the MBGRG site. Both of these are online. No entries - Just in case buried elsewhere. If they are at the Elgin Cemetery then there are no notations for records. If they are at the Elgin Cathedral burial ground then the records exist for 1820-1854 and Rev James Donald died sometime between 1827 and 1834, Charlotte McKenzie in 1834, so they would be included here. These are apparently in progress. A cousin of mine also mentioned the possibility of mention in the newspaper since he was a Schoolmaster. /You wrote... / /Restrictions imposed by the Registrar General (who owns the data) prevent us making this data more widely available, but as a member, you can request a lookup./ I guess I will ask that a search be done. Thank you for all your input and suggestions. These two will be found somewhere I am sure! Thank you again for your advice. Barbara > > >