Hi Jamieson, I'm not connected as far as I know, but as its my family name, I've been researching the McDOWALLs (and variants) in Wigtownshire for 17 years. The mailing list is not able to send out attachments, so your image file didn't make it to other subscribers. As an alternative, you may like to post a transcription to the mailing list. I guess that it is an image of the baptism records from the Kirkmaiden Old Parochial Register? In case you are unaware, couples who had illegitimate children were normally brought before the Kirk Session and rebuked for their 'sin'. Many of these were recorded in the minutes of the Kirk Session and a good number of these minute books are held in National Archives of Scotland. (Actually NAS and GROS have now been combined to the NRS - National Records of Scotland, but the transition is not yet complete.) The catalogue indicates that the Kirk Session Records for Kirkmaiden are not housed in Edinburgh, but instead are in the Archive Centre at Dumfriess. Perhaps your best means of searching those records would be to hire a professional researcher. The mailing list does not allow advertising, so I can't recommend anyone here, but would be happy to if you write to me privately. The Kirk Session Records are being digitised with the view to making them available via Scotlandspeople, but I don't know how long we will have to wait for this to happen. There is no guarantee that your couple have been recorded there, but I believe it is worth checking. I was lucky with a couple of mentions of my family. If the father was the Andrew McDOWALL who was the MP for Wigtownshire, perhaps he wasn't called before the Session. If the father did appear before the Session, the minutes may well settle that question, as it was usual to specify the residence of each party and sometimes occupation. The amount of detail, just like that in the marriage and baptism registers, depends on the Session Clerk at the time. As for the question if he ever married, there is some debate about that due to recorded legal battles over the legitimacy of his heirs. From your wording, I suspect that you have read some of the same references to this as me. Do you have a particular reason for suspecting that this Andrew McDOWALL was the father of your Mary D McDOWALL? Regards, Bruce Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:19:29 -0500 From: Jamieson Haverkampf <jamiesonhaver@gmail.com> Subject: [WIG LIST] Mary D McDowall/McDouall illegitimate daughter of Andrew McDowall/McDouall <SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE@rootsweb.com> Hello. I have recently discovered that MARY D MCDOWALL/MCDOUALL is the illegitimate daughter of ANDREW MCDOWALL/MCDOUALL and was born in Kirkmaiden by Drummore, Scotland in 1784. If anyone else has information on either MARY D., ANDREW or JEAN MCWILLIAM, Mary's mother, I would love to connect and compare notes. I think Andrew was MP of Wigtownshire and can't figure out if he ever married. My tree is public on Ancestry.com "Cauble and Haverkampf Tree"-with Kirkmaiden old Parish record documenting this new fact... Warm Wishes, Ms. Jamieson Haverkampf Atlanta, GA USA <Kirkmaiden Parish Records. McDowall.JPG>