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Alexander left Aberdeenshire for Queensland in 1888, at the age of 18.  He married Bridget Grace in 1900, and died the same year.  She remarried a Mr. Harms and lived until 1956.  Her daughter Grace died in 1926 at 5 months old and her son Reginald was accidentally killed in January 1929 at the age of 13 years.  Can anyone shed some light on what happened to these people?  Alexander was the son of William Buchan and William Buchan, and my first cousin, 2xremoved. 

Hey, cousin, distant though you may be!

Elspet Donald married William Finnie.  William was brother to my great-grandfather, James, whose son Francis (they loved to keep using the same names, just to confuse future genealogists) emigrated to Canada, followed by several of his brothers and nieces and nephews.  I see that you can't use the personal message system in rootschat until you have 3 messages online.  Once that happens, you can send me a personal message with your email address and I will send you a report with the whole Finnie family laid out for you. 

The Finnies originally settled around Marquette in Manitoba and later moved to Kamsack, Saskatchewan, although some stayed on.  One, Isabella Finnie, married George Thompson and lived in Holland, Manitoba.  She died in 1971, but had a pile of kids, who are probably still around.  My dad, went out to Canada at the age of 20 and lived first in Kamsack, then moved to Winnipeg, before the depression hit and he returned to Scotland.  His mother was a Finnie. 

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Jean

I had previously noted this thread and connected with the grampian archives as suggested by Forfarian.  I received a wonderfully complete response and there was no cost to me. 

It did leave me with some further questions, but suggested I then connect with Aberdeen archives because her board at the asylum was paid by the Marnoch parochial authorities.  "All surviving poor law records for the North-East are held by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, Old Aberdeen House, Dunbar Street, Aberdeen AB24 3UJ, telephone 01224 481775, e-mail archives@aberdeencity.gov.uk A comprehensive name index to these records is held by the City Archives and also by the Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society."  I contacted them by email and received an authomatic reply that I would be contacted within 15 business days.  I am hopeful that I can get answers to the questions I have.

As for the confidentiality issue, this is likely covered by Privacy Laws, as it is in Canada, where I live.  There is a lot of information in these records which can be used for nefarious or just nosy purposes.  I have noticed that censuses seem to have different period before release in different countries.  For example, you can easily access the US 1940 census, but the UK and Canada do not release their records for 100 years. 
 

You may be right, Millmoor.  I based my information on a source in rootsweb, which seems to have been wrong on more than one occasion.  I think I need to set this all down and take a good hard look at it.  I have pretty well ruled out the McConnachie connection and thus the Harrigan one too.

Will write again once I have a new working hypothesis.  Thanks to all of you for your help thus far.

Jean

It is interesting.  I will have to look into this couple to see if there is a connection.  I don't know the names of any siblings of Elizabeth Hepburn but she did have daughters named Williamina Hepburn Finnie and Margaret Hepburn Finnie.