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PPS Apologies for the bittiness of my replies but it is late now. You will find Francis in 1881 in Duns in Berwickshire where he is living with his wife and is oldest son, Thomas, named, I guess, after Thomas McMurdo. I think that for some reason he took his biological father's name back on after his mother died in 1875.

Hello again. I wondered if this was of interest. In 1920 Francis "Frank" Coltart died in Duns, Berwickshire. In some of the censuses he states that he was born in Troqueer, Kirkcudbrightshire. His DC states that he was the reputed son of John Coltart, General Labourer and Mary-Lilias Gray, afterwards married to Thomas McMurdoch (sic), Coal Miner. His wife was Margaret Drummond. The 1851 census shows a Thomas McMurdo, miner, at Craigdarroch, Sanquhar, with Lilias his wife and their children Margaret, 2, John, 5 mo, and Francis Little, 5, stepson, born Troqueer.   I hope this helps. Maxine.

PS I note that on one of the later censuses with Thomas McMurdo and Lillias mcMurdo/ Little / Gray that there is a young daughter named Elizabeth. Could this be the younger Lilias? It is surprising that there is a seven year gap between her and her nearest sibling. Perhaps she IS their daughter. Perhaps she was a granddaughter that they were bringing up? Just a wee theory to throw into the mix!

Hi Isis! Thanks for the link - what a useful tool! And now I know that they were separate farms!

My gggg-grandfather was called Alexander McGregor and his wife was Jean Dewar. Yes, it was Moulin as in the 1841 census they were spending the night in the stables ( now the brewery )with his wife and a daughter at the Moulin Inn and he is down as an Ag Lab. Why he was in the stables beats me. I prefer to think that  maybe the Inn was full and they had just moved to the parish rather than that they were too poor to get a room! However, his daughter Vere's marriage entry for her banns from St Cuthbert's in Edinburgh ( but they married in Pitlochry ) in 1843 states that he was a farmer ( obviously glorifying his status ) in Pitlochry. Two of his childrens' DCs state that he was a post-runner so he could not have been a farmer-owner as a landowner would not have a second job as a post-runner. I suspect that Archibald McG who also lived in Moulin may have been his brother but, as yet, nothing concrete. Alexr and Jean really were peripatetic and lived in Castle Menzies, Aberfeldy, Perth, Weem, Bankfoot and Moulin which makes it difficult to find his roots.

Unfortunately he died in 1849 and Jean pre-deceased him in 1847. I have met up with a "cousin" here in Edinburgh and she has an old handwritten document which gives me their rough ages but that has not been much use and neither have their children's names. I am just plodding on though, and the discovery of Jean's "natural" child living with his half-sister in his dotage has helped me to localise my search ( well, for the Dewars anyway ) around the Logierait area.

I have just had a look at a couple of other trees for you regarding the Lamonts and, as far as I can make out, the  Robert in question's tree went as follows ( I can't vouch for these trees but they seem well- enough researched ):

Robert b. 1809 to James Lamond & Mgt. Fergusson in Glenshee. James born 1789 in Glenbeg to John Lamond and Rebecca Campbell. John born about 1761 in Dalbunzie to James Lamond and Janet McIntosh who married in 1760 in Kirkmichael. I can't see Blair Atholl mentioned anywhere in the pages.

I had a quick look at your Lamont, Balnald page. Your research really is super ( makes me feel like such an amateur! ) and I am sure that the info above won't be of use but I guess that even if it helps you discount this line then that is something! I am now at the stage that I need to get digging in the Kirk Session Minutes and farm papers but I work pretty much full-time and have three boys so I have to grab my "tree time" when I can.  I was at the Bell Library a couple of weeks ago but never found much. Hope springs eternal though!

I will look again at your pages over the next few days when I am not so tired and see if I can find anything that ties in to any of  my files. My head is pretty cloudy tonight due to dinner party excess last night!

Maxine

Hello Isis! Thank you for the info. I have Robert's parents down as being Robert Lamond( born circa 1809 )  and Jane Cameron (born circa 1819). In the 1851 census I have him as living at "Camber" in Kirkmichael with his parents and siblings, Margaret, James, Peter and Donald. He is 7 months old in this census. In 1861, the address is elaborated on further and is given as 1 Camb's House, Farmer's House in Glenshee, Perthshire ( I only found out recently that there are apparently two Glenshees in Scotland ). The parents have added to the family by this census, with Jessie, John and Elspeth being born in the interim. His mother is not in the 1871, but the rest of the family is at the same address. As you know, he married Mary Ann in 1875 and then in the 1881 he has moved to Tome ( sic ) Bothy. I wonder if this is a mis-transcription of Camb ( ancestry's transcriptions are notoriously awful! ). They have had five children in six years - poor Mary Ann! In the 1891 they are living at "Slocknacraig" in Kirkmichael and have had another four children. One of them, Hugh, has his enrolment papers for the army viewable on ancestry. Let me know if you would like to view my tree and I can send an invitation to your e-mail address. By the time of the First War, Hugh is living in Canada ( or so I remember from memory ! ). His papers tell you quite a lot about him physically.Robert has his address mentioned in the 1897 -8 Leslie's Directory.
I am afraid I have not done any more than this  with Robert's tree for now but I am starting to delve deeper into the trees of the spouses of my gggg-grandparents' children and their children, hoping to find further links so may come up with something else in the future. Just last week I discovered that in 1805 my gggg-granny had an illegitimate child to a Menzies the year before she married my gggg-grandfather, who was a McGregor. They had their first child at Castle Menzies although she was from Duntuim so it all seems very interwoven.
Slightly off topic, but I noticed that your website is borenich. I spent a lovely weekend in Borenich farmhouse with some girlfriends back in January. I have also looked at your very interesting site as my gggg-grandfather farmed just outside Pitlochry but I have not, as yet, been able to work out which farm he worked on. He was a labourer so may be hard to find.

Let me know if you would like to view my tree, you are more than welcome, and thanks again for your reply.

Best wishes,

Maxine.