Howard, I've tweaked my database and come up with the following assumption. Given the information, this could be quite plausible but it will need more research John Riach ?ma. Isobel Adame 5 children between 1662 - 1674 son James ma. Elspeth Mortimer 3 children between 1682 - 1693 (a bit thin, he would be 20) son William ma. Marjory Gowan 6 children between 1686 - 1708 son James ma. Margaret Matheson 6 children between 1686 - 1704 The above James had possibly three children James, John and Alexander. James married Isabel Reid 14 Jun 1745 in Deskford Alexander married Janet Reid 2 Aug 1753 in Deskford William Riach and Elspeth Robertson had 8 children between 1725 - 1742 but I'm not sure who he is the son of. John Riach and Isobel Cobban had 4 children between 1735 - 1734 and again I don't know who he is the son of After this the Riach's seem to disappear from Deskford. At the same time as James Riach and Isabel Reid are making babies in Deskford, there is a James Riach and an Isabel Reid making babies in Rathven. Mostly with the same name but a few years later? Need to look at the OPR's for that one - unless you have any ideas Graham? There is still something that bugs me about John Riach (1806) on his death certificate his mother noted at Margaret Hay. There was a Margaret Hay born in the parish of Cullen on 27 Mar 1784 f. William Hay m. Janet Kemp. Howard, around 18 and 19 century there were churches around that as of this day (that I am aware of, it may have changed) have not released their records. I know that Graham Wilson, the archivist in Elgin managed to get the Catholic records - do you know if any more have been released? I may take a trip up there in the next few days. Enough for tonight, z time Regards, Sandy

Hi Sandy. I cannot add anything about the Riachs in Deskford - the name simply hasn't cropped up there for me previously, most likely because the earliest I have got back with my Reids is after your Riachs seemed to departed Deskford. What follows is trying to figure some linkage between our respective Reids in Deskford. The only fitting parents to my main-line James REID (h/o Janet CLARK) are James REID and Elizabeth GRANT who married 8-10-1757 Deskford, so he was born late-1757 Cairntown Deskford. I have found three Deskford-born siblings: John, Jean, Margaret, born Cairntown or Cairstown. I've taken all this to refer to Carestown Deskford, rather than, say, Cairnton Fordyce. Reid witnesses to the four baptisms are: Jean (twice), John, Elspet, Jane. Your Isabel and Janet Reid could be sisters of the above James Reid (senior), but the IGI doesn't come up with such a trio of siblings (at least I couldn't find such) and there is clearly quite a Reid presence in Deskford around the 1720/30s so they could easily be from different families. However, one interesting family turns up: John Reid and Janet Mill had two children (per IGI): Isobel bpt 15-10-1727 Deskford and Janet bpt 27-9-1729 Deskford. And two of my Reid witnesses were John Mill and Elspet Mill. There are no other coincidences of surnames that I can see, so maybe there's a clue there. [I've since found more children of this couple - it's somewhat aggravating to find that the IGI search engine is somewhat random at the moment - some search criteria return nil-results when it's blatently obvious they shouldn't.] The best fit I can find for my James Reid is s/o John Reid and Janet Simpson, their children all bpt Deskford (per IGI): JANET REID 28 MAY 1728 JEAN REID 15 DEC 1729 JAMES REID 03 DEC 1732 <---- a fit ISOBEL REID 23 DEC 1734 ELSPET REID 26 DEC 1737 JOHN REID 01 SEP 1739 WALTER REID 25 JUN 1741 Another James Reid fit is s/o Alexander Reid and Janet Stables, bpt 25 JUN 1728 Deskford. The rest of their family is in the IGI - they clearly moved from Keith to Grange to Deskford. I wouldn't be surprised that a brother of James Reid is John Reid who married Elspet Milton in 1758 and had a large family all in Deskford - I haven't looked at the OPR for this family - it might give some clues. As for Elizabeth Grant, I don't know, but she is surely related to David Grant who married Margaret Wilson (1760, Keith and Deskford - no children that I can find), for both those names turn up as witnesses to Reid/Grant children. David Grant was probably the one bpt 19-10-1734 Deskford to John Grant and Mary Bower (also no other children found: a John Grant also turns up as witness). Doesn't help much with our respective Reids though. That's about all I can add at the moment. > Howard, around 18 and 19 century there were churches around that as of > this day (that I am aware of, it may have changed) have not released > their records. I know that Graham Wilson, the archivist in Elgin > managed to get the Catholic records - do you know if any more have > been released? I may take a trip up there in the next few days. Re your final point above: I don't know! A chunk of the early Deskford records in the IGI are from personal submissions, with all that that implies. Hope some of the above babbling contains something useful! Regards Howard