In August I visited Lochwinnoch and also visited Paisley Library where I looked at 5 or 6 volumes of the Cairn of Lochwinnoch. I think it is the final volume (vol 45?) that has an index, but I was told there were also other indexes in some of the volumes. So if you are looking for a particular family or person, you can look in main index. I am sure the main index is not complete. A 'new' relation I recently met on the Internet gave me lots of information from the Cairn, including volumes and pages, so I was able to go directly to these pages and read for myself. I also found information about other unrelated families interesting, too.
Andrew Crawfurd seemed to know everyone in the district, who was related to who, the gossip and concerns of each family.
I think the Cairn is a wonderful set of volumes not just for the genealogist, but for the historian wanting to know about life in a rural Scottish area a century and a half ago. I refer to it as 'births, marriages, deaths, gossip and articles'! It is hand written, so I am not sure how easy it will be to read on microfiche. I was permitted to use a digital camera and photograph. I have yet to find time to go through the many pages I photographed and translate them into type.
If you do look at it, I hope you find it as interesting as I did!
Suzy
