To continue the McKay/Mackay discussion. I have an ancestor, Donald McKAY b. 1806 who is listed on the 1851 census as being from Farr, Sutherland too. He married Elizabeth WOOLRIDGE (WOLDRAGE) of South Ronaldsay. They had two daughters, Betsy, b. 1832 in Burray (usually included with S. Ronaldsay in listings) who was a schoolmistress in 1851 and Barbara b. 1829 in Burray who was my 2G grandmother and married Robert Thomson WALLACE, son of Malcolm WALLS. Donald McKAY must have come from Farr between 1821 and 1828. I was given some interesting information from fellow lister Stephen Wood. In 1821, Eliza WOOLRIDGE was 12 years old and she and 3 other young people were living with an older couple, John and Eliza DUNCAN, both 62. One of the others was Hugh MCKAY, 13. The other two were Jas. TAYLOR, 26 and Ann JOHNSTONE, 25. I'm curious to know why they would have all lived with the Duncans and if Hugh McKay and Donald McKay are connected. The 1851 census has more helpful information so we know that the McKays had two farm labourers, Barbara PETRIE, and John WOOLRAGE, living with them and that Donald was a "farmer of 26 acres". I believe I read that the area around Farr in Sutherland is the seat of the McKay clan. In some notes my aunt has, there is also mention of an Alexander McKay and Betsy CAMPBELL but I haven't figured out how that fits in or why so many McKays moved to the Orkneys from the mainland. After a few months of research, I've discovered that most people stayed put in those days, usually marrying and dying on the island where they were born. Pam -- Pam Thomson http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/ Town Square Network