>Hi Maggie Hi Iain Thanks for taking the time to look into this but it is a little harder - neither Scotland's People or the Registrars have the records I am looking for, and I have tried a variety of names and spellings... > >I have done a bit of searching and looked at the 1871 Census where i >found >Mart Thomson aged 72 living in Bellie with her daughter Mary and two >grandchildren Margaret Symon and George McKimmie. Yes that is them. > >Mary (senior) is shown as being the widow of a Salmon Fisher and born >in >Boharm. Her daughter Mary is shown as being born in the Black Isle, >Rosshire >while the two grandchildren are shown as being born in Bellie. George >McKimmie's >occupation is Salmon Fisher. > >However, Mary Thomson (daughter) is listed in the IGI as being the >daughter >of George Thomson and Mary LOGAN not LOBBAN and when I tried to >find the >grandchildren's birth in Bellie I came up with a blank. Yes Mary and her twin Margaret were born on The Black Isle but I put down to the registrar just getting Mary Lobban's name wrong, all her other children were born in Bellie and the Banns and Poor Relief records clearly say LOBBAN or LOBAN. And I have tried LOGAN for a surname on the death record too when I was clutching at straws. I *assume* George Thomson and family were following the herring when Mary & Margaret were born - Mary Lobban is listed as a herring widow on one census too. ;-) Both grandchildren were illegitimate, Margaret Symon (daughter of Mary Thomson jnr), was registered as Margaret Thomson but 'became' Margaret Symon before her first census. George I have never found his birth record but there is no record of his mother (Ann Thomson) marrying his father (John McKimmie of Keith), both are recorded on his death certificate. >There is a Margaret >Thomson who married a John Symon at Enzie in 1897 and may provide >something to >look into regarding James Geddes Symon born in 1903. Enzie is close to >Bellie. My Grandfather was illegitimate, his mother was Margaret Symon (above), she is recorded as single on her death certificate. I have tried THOMSON and GEDDES as surnames on his birth search too, but his two sisters were registered SYMON. I think I did look at that Margaret Thomson and John Symon before I got Margaret Symon's death record. But James Symon (1903) isn't showing up as born anywhere is Scotland around that date in Scotland's People or the Registrars. I need to find other places that might have kept a record of it - navy, school, etc. > >I have not looked any further but I think Scotlandspeople may hold some >answers and may be worth spending a few pounds. It is the fact that I >could find >no birth records for Margaret Symon and George McKimmie and may >suggest they >were not baptised in the Established Church but as the births occurred >after >1855 they should show in the Statutory registers. Been down that road, sorry, neither Scotland's People nor the Registrar's office have a record for James Symon (birth) or Mary Lobban (death) which both should be in the statutory records. This is why I am stuck. ;-( Margaret Symon and George McKimmie are problems I have solved. Thanks for trying though. :-) > >Ian A C Scott > -- Maggie "The pursuit of Truth and Beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives." Albert Einstein