I have sought and been given permission to forward the following message which I thought might be of interest to some listers. It does explain why some ancestors are so elusive. Lyndall Canberra, Oz > ----- Original Message ----- Subject: [ANGUS] PART 1:HIDDEN FAMILIES - ALIASES AND PATRONYMICS IN UPPER BANFFSHIRE This article was forwarded to me a few months back ,by the writer Stuart Mitchell ,Scotland . With his permission Im able to pass it on. J.McComb-S.California HIDDEN FAMILIES - ALIASES AND PATRONYMICS IN UPPER BANFFSHIRE Genealogical research in pre-1855 Upper Banffshire can be more frustrating than in most other parts of the North East because of the large RC population. The Invera’an and Kirkmichael OPRs - and hence IGI - are virtually silent about them, so are of little help in tracing Catholic ancestors. Although the RC Baptism Registers for Tomintoul and Glenlivet (Tombae and Chapeltown) contain much of the information that is missing from the OPRs, they are accessible on microfilm only in Elgin Library and the Scottish Record Office. Unfortunately, the respective Registers go back only to 1807 and 1812/1829, then once again the familiar blank wall - or so it seemed until recently. Now, not only do two newly-available sources give additional information about early 19th century RC families, but an unexpected ability to look over that blank wall has been provided by apparently unconnected research. This is an investigation of aliases in highland Banffshire, which although still incomplete has led to the identification of ‘hidden families’ in the 17th and early 18th century OPRs. Aliases An ‘alias’ phenomenon flourished in the Upper Banffshire records for nearly a 100 years after its first appearance in 1740. These aliases were very different from those used by the McGregors of Stratha’an and Upper Deeside (forced by the proscription of their clan to shelter under a Gordon, Grant, or other ‘safe’ name) but no memory of them has survived to the present day. They seem to have had a Catholic dimension, for aliases were meticulously recorded in the Glenlivet RC Registers until 1838, long after they had disappeared elsewhere. Indeed, this was effectively so by 1812 when the Tombae Register starts. Until the RC Registers showed just how many early 19th century ‘alias’ families there were in the Braes of Glenlivet, the aliases in the Invera’an OPR had appeared to be random and of little interest. After that first record on 1st April 1740 (the baptism of James, son of John Miller alias Grant) OPR alias entries became increasingly frequent until the mid-1770s. They then fell away sharply and the last two were recorded in 1794 and 1806. That sudden decline coincided with the disappearance from OPR of baptism records for RC Braes families that signalled the first lifting of Catholic repression in Invera’an. This increases the likelihood of an RC connection for most aliases, as does the very much lower incidence round Protestant Ballindalloch than in the Catholic Braes. RC Baptism Registers Although aliases were particularly prevalent amongst Grants, Stuarts, McPhersons and McDonalds, many of these names were unembellished - one third of Stuart families in the Glenlivet RC Registers 1812-1838 were ‘non-alias’. It quickly became clear that as an alias carried from one generation to the next, defining a specific descent line within the broad family name, it was actually a genealogical patronymic. The children of ‘alias’ families, took the patronymic of their father, never of their mother - a maternal alias was not carried on, even when the father did not have one. While entries in the records usually took the form ‘Family alias Patronymic ’ (often entered simply as ‘Family/Patronymic’ without the word ‘alias’), this was occasionally reversed for families such as Turner alias Grant. The majority of the aliases in the Glenlivet RC Records also occur in OPR, though usually as the stand-alone patronymic. Stuart alias More/Moir*; McAllay/M’Lea*; Bain*; Dow*; Gibbnach Grant alias Roy*; McRobie*; Bowie*; Turner*; McArthur; Bain McPherson alias McUlly/McWillie*; Garrow*; McInnes; Gall McIntosh alias Riach* (only two individuals, but common in Kirkmichael) McDonald alias McAllister* Gordon alias McRitchie (single family) Smith alias Gow* (all families) * These also occur in OPR, usually as the stand-alone patronymic. Aliases in the Glenlivet RC Records, 1812-1838 Because of its gaelic origins and environment, the Upper Banffshire patronymic Moir was pronounced ‘more’ not ‘moy-er’, so is not directly related to the well-known lowland Aberdeenshire surname. Aliases in OPR As most of the other aliases in OPR occur only two or three times each, they must represent individual small families - for some of whom it may have been a single-generation by-name not a true patronymic. Only the Mitchell, Cameron and perhaps McKenzie aliases were sufficiently prolific to represent larger groupings - the multiple baptism entries for the Mitchell alias McAndy families in the Ballindalloch area, indicating that they were Protestant (see next page): Stuart alias McGurman, McOmash, Darg (Kirkmichael & Mortlach only) Grant alias Cly, Miller, Tailzeor, McShewan, McAdam, McComish McPherson alias Moir, McOmie (Aberlour), Doulle (Kirkmichael, Mortlach only) Mitchell alias McAndy° (also Invernochty) Cameron alias McPhail°, Bain McPhail alias Gauld McKenzie alias Kynach° Shaw alias Roy McIntosh alias Smith Innes alias Jay Fleming alias Arrach Bayne alias Cuming Grigorach alias McGregor Duff alias McKay McDonald alias Couper ° These occur as both alias and stand-alone patronymic. Aliases Occurring Only in OPR, 1740-1794 Families Revealed While the alias phenomenon helps to rationalise the very many Grant and Stuart families in Glenlivet by splitting them into more manageable patronymic groups, this is a relatively minor benefit. Its real value is in identifying many pre-1740 OPR entries as Grants, Stuarts, McPhersons etc., who had previously been ‘hidden’ behind patronymics. With a few exceptions, most patronymics disappeared in a general resumption of the basic family names at the end of the alias period. Some Grants, McIntoshes and McPhersons chose to retain their patronymic in preference to the family name, but More/Moir and M’Lea vanished except for sporadic records in adjoining parishes like Mortlach and Aberlour. Although superficially there appear to be few aliases in Kirkmichael OPR and the Tomintoul RC Baptism Register (both have still to be surveyed in detail), evidence that they were still quite common in early 19th century Kirkmichael comes from the Appendix to the Gow Manuscript. This shows aliases for a third of the 60 families (300 individuals) resident in the Braes of Stratha’an in the 1820s: Stewart alias More, Bain, Gault Grant alias “Germany” McPherson alias Doole, Bain, More McGregor alias Willox, More, Bain (plus two families of non-alias Riach) Aliases in the Braes of Stratha’an, 1820s (Gow MS) continue-part 2

Interesting stuff!! Just thought I would mention for the record that ( at least in the areaof the Potteries) in 17th century, it was not uncommon to use an Alias for an illegitimate child. e.g. John Baker alias Mason.bpt May 5 1633 son of Mary This meant John's mother is Mary Baker and we want everyone to know that John Mason made her pregnant and won't marry her. This alias designation is used (by the Parish church anyway, at marriage and again at death ). Liz