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Hi GordonF
Thanks for your contribution. It would be interesting to find out how long your grandfathers family stayed at the farm. The name of the lady you mentioned was Fraser-Tytler, the occupant of Aldourie House. I will check the census to see if the other female's name is mentioned. You didn't note your grandfathers family name. Even if not related still useful to help identify people at different times and their location. Could you share the photo?  No problem if not.

Thanks, Irene

Thank you so much for your response to my request. I came to a halt a couple of years ago because I needed to go into this branch of the Frasers, and there are so many Frasers it was difficult to identify which ones were which. I have the Fraser family tree on Ancestry and so you are welcome to look at it. It is under Moodie2. I have started up again looking back at the early 1800s. You given me lots of clues so it shouldn't be too difficult to move on to the next stage. The James who was the blacksmith was my gg grandfather. (1802-1881). His oldest son Thomas (1834-1921) was also a blacksmith and lived in Errogie. the house and smiddy was only recently demolished. My plan for this coming winter was to dig a bit deeper into the period between 1746 and 1830 just to establish genuine links. I know there were a number of Fraser families at Balnafoich around 1800.  I would like to keep in touch with you so we could share what information we have of this period. I will look up the people you have mentioned and see exactly if and where they fit in. Perhaps I should add that I was brought up in Inverness and knew my great aunts and of course my grandfather. One of my great aunts did not die until 1974, she was in her 90s. They visited and stayed with their grandparent in Dores village at times.

As you know in the late 1800s engineering was growing and Inverness had some important works.
Northern Agricultural Implement Foundry Co. 1872-1895
Rose Street Foundry & Engineering Co. 1895-1945
As a blacksmith then described as a Springsmith in 1891 (see link http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Spring-Smith), Donald wouldn't have needed all the agro from fighting with his brother..and one would reason that as you say he would wait until his mother died (1892) . He would have had to transfer his blacksmith skills into something very skilled. His brother, Thomas, was not only a master blacksmith but invented various pieces of agricultural machinery, therefore it does not seem strange that Donald would seek a challenge. In the family most of the men in 2 generations were engineers of some sort.
Re the PO in Dores. If you look at the old photo of the PO and then at the Inn you will see that there is a space between them. That is were the James Fraser's smithy was. It was demolished though I am unsure when. Possibly after James died. Anyway thank you again for your input. All the info helps me to create a timeline and place family members and their events within it.

I checked up Donald and obtained the relevant certs. His wife Johan died in 1926 and he was still alive then so unsure where he went after that.

You mentioned another website. The author of that site is in contact with me and we tend to share most of our new info. I see there is some data still to updated on it. It is unlikely that our James Fraser was not in Craig Dunain. There is another James Fraser, similar age, from same area who was termed a 'lunatic' on his death cert.

I note you also have the story re Donald and James. I checked with the various census and have the following problems with it. Father dies in 1881, Donald not living there at that point - Mother still living there and James running the blacksmith's business. If a property is rented then how can someone say the house is 'his' or someone elses. The mother would be the one who was 'Head' of the house. Knowing the family history - ie members who were born in 1878 and 1882 - and how they lived their lives, there would have been a considerable respect for the parent. I checked the census and found another 2 Fraser families (blacksmith's) in the area who had a Donald and James of similar ages. So there has to be some doubt about which family to which the story refers.

I really appreciate you taking time to uncover so much material which is so helpful in building up a background picture. Thank you.