The family history section consists of two parts - genealogies and family histories. The genealogies try to trace the descent of the various branches of the family, whilst the family history section tries to put some meat on the bare bones of the genealogies. Neither section is perfect and both are likely to be subject to change as I acquire more information.
In particular, the genealogies outside the North-East of Scotland (Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire & Moray) are for the best part made up from the IGI and the indices of the OPRs rather than from reference to the actual documents. Anyone who has done work on genealogy knows that these indices, though invaluable, contain errors of transcription and omission, and I have probably made a few of my own to compound matters. I'm always open to new evidence that shows where I've gone wrong.
The index is ordered alphabetically, and rather idiocyncratically by me. In general, a family can be found by looking for the place name with which it was most associated. Thus the landed branches of the family such as those of Auchterless or Dunnichen will be found under the name of their estate. For less easily defined branches I have generally worked according to the names of places where they lived, trying to be as specific as possible. As is the case throughout the archive, the pre-1975 British counties have been used.
The family histories are unique for each and their size and detail depend on how much information I have to hand. For ease of reference however, I have tried to impose some order onto the genealogical section. I hope that the abbreviations & layout section will explain how I've done things.
© James Dempster 1997