Are we from Scotland?

[IMBER]

"and so Scotland has been my chosen place."

Why? Try something that's a little more evidence based:

http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Surnames.aspx

Imber

[Forfarian]

something that's a little more evidence based

but still not totally reliable.

I know of one surname said on that site to be from northern England, but I can prove that every bearer of the name north of the Watford Gap is descended from one man who was born in Berkshire. Three of his grandsons moved north to Yorkshire/Durham in the 1870s and all the northern bearers of the name are descended from them.

In the case of King, this name crops up as a tee-name along the Banffshire coast. A tee-name was a sort of extra surname added to the surname to distinguish between fisher families with the same surname. I can't remember offhand which surname had King as a tee-name. However I see that King is relatively abundant in Fife, and I wonder whether this might perhaps be a case of a tee-name morphing into a surname?

So do be careful interpreting the data from that site.

[IMBER]

"So do be careful interpreting the data from that site."

Yes, perhaps I should have made that point.

Imber

[Jardiner]

That's spooky argylishiregirl. My wife and I have just been talking about that very same thing.

Thanks

MK

[Ruskie]

The public profiler surnames site just gives instances of particular surnames at two specific years, so is an accurate indication of a surname for that year (I believe the 1881 examples are taken from the 1881 census). It does not mean the surname distribution will be the same 10 years earlier or later if loads died or moved away from an area. The distribution of surname will only appear if instances of over 100 individuals with that surname are recorded.

It's an interesting guide which I use regularly, but of course anomalies and variations do occur. 

[Jardiner]

In a previous post I intimated that we might be from Scotland but this was just a stab in the dark. The problem is I am researching from a distance and not in a position to access local records and depend on internet providers.  In a recent publication listing local Cumberland family names "King" was not included so one assumes the family moved into the area in search of work and certainly my records show that my branch of the king name remained there until circa 1880. My first record is Michael King B: circa 1713. Married Ann Alkin 1752 in the Holy Trinity church Whitehaven. Alas any birth details I've seen on line are not very detailed and so it's difficult to really find out where his father and mother came from. Add to that at least another 1 family with the name King in the same area and it does become a nightmare. How do I go further back?

M King

[*Sandra*]

Have you tried to locate a will for Michael King ?  Wills can be a very good way of unravelling a little more 

Sandra

[Forfarian]

All this information has come via various on-line sites and I've not been able to view any church records. They have been cross-referenced with other data and I'm as certain as I can be that he is a relative.

Never believe unconditionally anything you find online, unless it is an image of an original document (and even then be wary because errors in original documents are not unknown). You maye be doing fine so far, but at some stage you must plan to go to the sources and look at all the original documents.

[Jardiner]

Thanks for that. I have looked at wills but again the available info is scant but shall try again.

MK