Dear Alan, I wouldn't know what proportion of marriages are missing from LDS and Scots Origin, but it is extremely high. The marriage could have been in the Free Church and I believe most of these marriages are not listed by Scots Origin. I have also seen first names of parents differ for baptisms of children when it's obvious it's the same couple. How about going to LDS (I don't know how to do this on-line, I don't think you can get the computer to cough up unnamed siblings but I may be wrong) and finding possible siblings of Alexander John Mackenzie - children of every couple called Alexander Mackenzie and Ann Macdonald (there could well be more than one such couple) - and see which couple is the most likely based on same first names. You would then get an idea of the places that the couple came from and be able to look at the register of that parish. If you find a listing as you have done in LDS but not Scots Origin, the insertion is probably on the Ancestral File - someone has given the information to LDS. You can find their source and try and contact them, they would be your relations. Anyway, good luck! Jane -----Original Message----- From: Alan <mackenzi@cytanet.com.cy> To: SCT-INVERNESS-L@rootsweb.com <SCT-INVERNESS-L@rootsweb.com> Date: 18 June 2000 11:54 Subject: [SCT-INV-L] Confusion over forename >Hello all, > >I am researching my father (MACKENZIE) side and am not really getting far >due to a severe lack of information. >The earliest "proof" that I have got is a marriage certificate for Alexander >John MACKENZIE and Mary Anne MACDONALD who were married 30th Oct 1912. >His mother and father are listed on the certificate as Alexander MACKENZIE >and Mary MACPHERSON. >Now here's where the confusion lies. I have been to the LDS site and >checked for the mother and father and there is a search result there of 02 >August 1867. I went to check this with the Scots Origins site and there is >no such listing, in fact I went through the whole of the 1800's just to be >thorough and there is no search result at all for an Alexander MACKENZIE and >Mary MACPHERSON. I made sure the search was wide open with wild cards and >such like, but still no result. >However, there is a result for a John MACKENZIE and Mary MACPHERSON given as >1874 in Kingussie and Insh. >Now, given that the name of the son is Alexander John MACKENZIE, is it >feasible that there is a mistake on the marriage certificate, and that the >name is in fact John MACKENZIE, or perhaps a mistake on Scots Origins >whereby the middle name has been used instead of the forename? > >I would be extremely grateful if anyone could provide advice on this one, >perhaps even a census lookup if someone has the time as I am completely >stuck on this one. > >Many thanks in advance. > >Alan Mackenzie > >______________________________