Looking for information on family of Annie MCKAY b.c1840 in Scarfskerry(?), Latheron, Caithness. Married James SINCLAIR early 1860's after emigrating to New Zealand. Children were James, William, John, Catherine, Isabella, Alexander and Robert (my grandfather). Any help would be appreciated. Katherine

Katherine, There is an Ann Mackay shown in the IGI (http://www.familysearch.com), Christened in Latheron 1 March 1840, Father Robert Mackay, Mother Catherine Mackay. As the IGI is a secondary data source, you need to check this against the primary records. The IGI is free to access, although it is fairly accurate I have come across errors from time to time. In fact in seaching for you ancestor I discovered that the Ann McKay (b. c1829 Latheron) I had in my tree has different parents in the IGI to my database, so I'll need to go back to the Primary records to identify whether it's the IGI or my data that's in error. The primary Scottish records can be accessed at Scots Origins (http://www.scotsorigins.com). However, this is a fee based service. If you find information for your ancestors, I suggest you engage a Genealogist to look up the data for you at the General Records Office in Edinburgh. I live about 40 miles South West of London, so I'm close enough to go up to Edinburgh and do my own onsite research. I usually go up there once a year for a week. The certificates that you can order from Scots Origins are expensive and take a month or so to arrive. For the cost of one certificate you could probably hire a Genealogist for an hour and get far more useful information. Do the basic research yourself and when you have a number of possible candidates, get a Genealogist to do the final research. Also if you really want a copy of any certificates, a Genealogist can get photocopies of them onsite in Edinburgh for only 2.50 GBP. When you order certificates via Scots Origins you get an offical copy with an embossed stamp that makes it a legal proof of Birth, Marriage or Death, if I recall correctly this costs 15.00 GBP. When you're onsite at the Records Office you can order an uncertified photocopy for 2.50 GBP. Personally I don't bother getting photocopies now, it's just too expensive, I've uncovered some 750 ancestors in the last three years and it would be prohibitive to obtain certificates for all of them. I just copy down all the relevant details onto some forms I've made up and then transfer to my PC when I get home. In case anyone's interested, the forms I use are in Microsoft Word format and are available for free download from my Family Tree WebSite (http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/s/h/a/Christopher-Macneill). Regards Chris Macneill -----Original Message----- From: Sinclair Family [mailto:sinclairfam@xtra.co.nz] Sent: 19 March 2002 03:55 To: SCT-CAITHNESS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Annie MCKAY b.c1840 Looking for information on family of Annie MCKAY b.c1840 in Scarfskerry(?), Latheron, Caithness. Married James SINCLAIR early 1860's after emigrating to New Zealand. Children were James, William, John, Catherine, Isabella, Alexander and Robert (my grandfather). Any help would be appreciated. Katherine