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I'm heading for a wee drive to Skye soon to try and find an ancestor who died there in 1879. He died in the Parish of Sleat.

I am guessing the burial ground at Kilmore is his final resting place. My question is, as my ancestor was not well off, is there a high likelihood that he was buried in an unmarked grave? What were the costs associated with erecting a headstone in 1879?

Does anyone know where "Kay's Land" Springburn was? It is listed on the 1851 census but I can't find it on any old or new map. There were other areas listed on the census like "Govan's Land" that I similarly cannot find.

I am assuming it must be close to where Kay Street is now? Does anyone know?

I am looking for information regarding a soldier named, Joseph Sporton.

On the death record of my 4x Great Grandmother in 1899, it says her father was "Joseph Sporton - Soldier (deceased)" and her mother was an "Agnes Sporton, nee Thomson (deceased)".

The 1871 census shows that Harriet was born in Gibraltar some time around 1824.

I have come across many alternative spellings of the name including Sporton, Sportan, Sporting, Sportin, Sportain, Sportling and Spawton.

The problem is I just can't find any records related to her father, who was he? What regiment did he serve under?

The earliest records I have of Harriet are of her life in Ayrshire or Wigtownshire, but the name sounds English to me. She may have married a man called Job Palmer in 1841, but in 1853 she married John Hutchinson and later died in Barnhill Poor House in 1899.

Come someone help me find out further info about the father, Joseph Sporton and his military career? Even a birth record for Harriet or a marriage record for Joseph and Agnes would be helpful.

Looking for a bit of information on illegitimate births and what the conventions around them were in the past.

My ancestor was Annie Johnstone. Her birth records reads:

Annie Hutcheson
Born : 30th November 1869.
Father Not listed - Illegitimate Birth
Mother: Mary Hutcheson

Her mother Mary Hutcheson marries Alexander Johnstone on 29 April 1870.

Annie is known as Annie Johnstone from this point in time. On her death record in 1938, her husband wrote her parents to be: "Mary Hutcheson afterwards married to Alexander Johnstone". Instead of listing the father and mother in the normal fashion. Perhaps implying Alexander was not the father?

Although I see on Annie's brother's birth certificate in 1871, that Alexander Johnstone and Mary Hutcheson wrote down their marriage date as 29 April 1869, one year before their actual marriage, and around 9 months before the illegitimate birth of Annie. Inferring that he was the father.

Annie's 1889 marriage certificate lists Alexander as her father.

So what is happening here? Is it highly likely Alexander is the father or not? What were the pressures in society towards illegitimate births at this time? I can well imagine that the Kirk in Ayrshire would have wanted to know why there was a single mother, and pressure the father to enter into marriage.