Goldie & Lido Doratti wrote: >I have a Mgrt Innes b Rathven but not on the OPR's, who married 7 Jul 1849 >to Alexander Gordon in Bellie. I believe Alexr to have been married before >and his wife had died. On the '51 census they show up at Auchinhalrig, >Bellie with an Alexr Gordon age 6, Scholar. The birth info for Alexr Sr on >all records including his death, is Golspie, Sutherland. But I have never >found him there. But here's a connection that's odd. On the '41 I think >Mgrt shows up at Fochabers, Bellie working for Wm Innes, shoemaker and his >wife Jane Hay, and their children. Would the Bellie info show any >information on the Gordon family or mention the death of his first wife? I >believe her to be Isobella Anderson who married Alexr Gordon 20 Dec 1834, >Drainie. > Auchinhalrig lay in that part of Bellie which, until 1891, belonged to Banffshire. It also lay in the area of the rather strange parish of Enzie, which in some ways, seems to have been a bit like Brigadoon, fading into and out of existence during the century between 1835 (when it started to keep its own Registers of Baptism and Marriage) and 1936, when it ceased being a separate Registration District for births, marriages and deaths. I have tried to document the various twists and turns of the story, and their possible effect on sources important for genealogy, on the Banffshire pages of GENUKI, which you will find at: http://www.abdnet.co.uk/genuki/BAN/index.html Look at the articles for Bellie, Enzie and Rathven, and within these, read what it says under the headings "Census", "Historical Geography" and "Names, Geographical". You may also find the article at: http://www.abdnet.co.uk/genuki/BAN/countyandparish.html which illustrates some of the complications on the basis of someone who might have lived in Auchenhalrig. Gavin Bell