Sue, I hired Emma Maxwell to do some Scottish research for me a couple of years ago, involving records at the Archives that are stored off-site (unrelated to Islay). This was my only experience with h

Chris, As it happens, my closest Y DNA match (Y700 test) is with a descendant of the Jura McGillivrays, but the match is so far in the past that it was before they got to Jura. Russ

Chris, What is the username you are matching with in Ancestry?

Chris, In the 1901 census of Nottawasaga, John and Mary McLean’s grandsons Hector and James McLean are living with Malcolm and Bessie McGilvray and are termed “nephews”. Malcolm and Bessie were siblin

Ryan, Glad to see another Islay McGilvray who has the surname. I hope you are considering taking the Y-700 DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA so we can find out how the Islay McGillivrays are related. I made a

Janice, Is one of your McGilvray-Ferguson couples Donald McGilvray and Ann Ferguson who married ca. 1786? If so, do you have a DNA test? I have a hypothesis that this couple are my direct paternal anc

Ken, I upgraded from PAF to Legacy years ago and would recommend it. There is a free version of Legacy that has almost all of the functionality of the Deluxe version. The Deluxe only costs about $25 s

Sue, I have lots of relatives that lived in Ballantrae, but not from the Islay side of my tree. Could you scan the postcard? Russ

Roger, Wow, a whole family tree that spans from 1795 to 1962! We should all be so lucky. Russ

Roger, Could I ask you a favour? As I mentioned in my introductory email, in 1833 Donald is married to Ann McDuffie and has a son baptized at Kilmeny. (I assume they were married because the child was

I am descended from Donald McGilvray, son of "Donald or Peter" McGilvray and Anne McDuffie, who was born in 1833. They were of Ballachlavan, called "the worst wadset in the countrie" by the Book of Is

Phil, The baptismal record says Craock in the OPR transcription in Steve Gilchrist’s website. In my database I have the ‘corrected place’ as Craast. But I don’t know where the correction came from. It

Phil, Years ago I put together a database of Islay McGilvrays. I have that Ann who married Angus McFadyen (18 Jan 1831, Kilarrow) was baptized 19 Jun 1794, Kilarrow, daughter of Donald McGilvray and F