Christopher Ridings wrote: >I am not sure whether I can help here but I have ancestral in-laws in >Patrick & Margaret (n RIACH) TAYLOR who was baptised 7 May 1727, >Botrephine, Banffshire, daughter of Janet (n BREMNER) & William RIACH. > > >This is earlier and further north of where the research for John RIACH >but I have several ancestral in-laws in Scotland, GAMMIE and LESLIE >who migrated south to Aberdeenshire from Banffshire particularly >during the 18th-19th centuries, and maybe also NICOL from Glamis to >Dundee. > >I wonder whether other family history researchers have also come >across this migration south? > > There was probably a lot of coming and going, in both directions, between Banffshire and Aberdeenshire over a long period of time. Setting aside migration overseas, the chief movement of peoples in the 18th and more particularly the 19th centuries would have been into the bigger towns and cities. And while major "southern" centres like Aberdeen would be a big draw, the same thing was happening on a more local scale. A look at the Census returns for the Town of Banff in 1861 shows that over half of those enumerated were not born there. Against approximately 440 natives of the town, there were 340-odd persons who had been born in other parishes of Banffshire, and over 100 who were born in Aberdeenshire. To get to Banff, all of these must therefore have travelled northwards! Gavin Bell