Hi Jamieson, I’m mainly using the McDOWALL spelling here, but of course, the records will use other variants. McDOUALL is one of the more common variants in Wigtownshire. The McDOUALLs of Logan seem to have settled on that spelling in more recent times, but prior to the 19th century, and even well into that century, spelling of names was arbitrary. Some of your notes under the heading “other thoughts” have me puzzled, so excuse me if I have misunderstood. I get the impression that you may be confused by the various contexts in which the word Wigtown is used. Wigown is the name of a town, (or more correctly, a Burgh), within the parish of Wigtown, in the county of Wigtownshire. Wigtownshire is often abbreviated to Wigtown, especially in situations where it is apparent that it refers to the county. Unfortunately, this often confuses folk who are unfamiliar with Wigtownshire and records referring to it. I’m interested in how you have been able to work back to the particular Mary McDOWALL who was the daughter of Andrew McDOWALL and Jean McWILLIAM. Mary McDOWALL was a common name in Wigtownshire, so there would be a number of them who could possibly have been the one to marry Charles PAUL. I see from the IGI that Mary McDOWALL and Charles PAUL married (or perhaps proclaimed their intention to marry) on 18 Jun 1809, in the parish of Penninghame, Wigtownshire, and had children: Nicholas baptised 16 Mar 1810, John Baptised 31 Mar 1812, Jean baptised 11 Jul 1814, James 30 Nov 1817, all in Penninghame parish. (Note: Nicholas was a female name in Wigtownshire at that time.) If this Mary McDOWALL's parents were Andrew McDOWALL & Jean McWILLIAM, then Mary & Charles didn't follow the naming tradition. Not all couples did, but when they did, it adds weight to one's case. You say that Mary McDOWALL died in Morristown, NJ in 1854 and that’s where your grandmother was born and raised. I presume that Mary McDOWALL and Charles PAUL moved from Wigtownshire to the USA sometime between 1817 and 1854. Do you have further information on that timing? Penninghame is as far as one can be from Kirkmaiden and remain in Wigtownshire. You mentioned some concern about that distance and I share that concern. It is not prohibitive of the Mary McDOWALL born in Kirkmaiden being married in Penninghame, but does make me wonder if it was a different Mary McDOWALL. If you have some means to establish this was the same one, that is good, but it can’t be established only on the basis of no other one of suitable age being found in the OPRs. The OPRs are far from being a complete record of births. Assuming that either you already have evidence or that we can find it, the next step is to establish if her father was the same Andrew McDOWALL who was born 7 Dec. 1758 to John McDOUALL of Logan, Kirkmaiden and Helen BUCHAN, and died 03 May 1834. He was the one who was MP for Wigtownshire from 1784 - 1796 and 1802 – 1805. The fact that the baptism entry described him as Andrew McDOWALL, Esqr., certainly fits. What should be kept in mind, however, is that Andrew McDOWALL was a very common name, and there were others amongst the land-owning lines. It would therefore be great if the Kirk Session records can verify that it was Andrew McDOWALL/McDOUALL of Logan or Culgroat. I will be most interested in what you can find in that regard. (I’ve sent details of a suggested professional researcher in a separate off-list message.) You mention the mother of Mary McDOWALL, Jean McWILLIAM, being 32 years old at the time of Mary’s birth. That’s not too old, even back then. I’ve seen plenty of cases where women were still having children into their 40s. I do have to wonder though, how you were able to assign Jean McWILLIAM as the daughter of Alexander McWILLIAM and Grizel McDOWALL? Regards, Bruce