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The modern day C of S church in Ballater is Glenmuick church.

The old parish church of Glen Gairn was restored at some stage and although I do not know if it still operates, in the 1970s and early 80s at least it was operating throughout the summer months. If I remember correctly the minister from Ballater came and ran the services on a Sunday afternoon. My family had a cottage in Glen Girnoc near Ballater and we used to go there most Sundays. The three main things I remember were being proudly shown the visitor book signed by both the Queen and Queen Mum, a harvest thanksgiving service where the church was so full I and the other children had to sit on the steps below the pulpit, and most memorable of all, the pan drops you were given as you went in, to suck on during the sermon.

Judging by the map earlier in the thread I suspect the restored church was near but not in exactly the same place as the ruins shown.

I have found numerous odd, unusual and fascinating little titbits, but I will restrict myself to just two.

My grandfather was the youngest of 13 children, but as my mother and aunts mentioned to me on a number of occasions, he didn't even know all his siblings' names, since several died in infancy before he was even born. Thanks to Scotland's People, I now have found all 13 - the most heartbreaking being four children all born in the same year and who all died that same year.

In January 1873, my great grandmother Esther Shannon gave birth to twins George and Marion Grant. George died the next day, and Marion five days after that. Even worse, in December, a second pair of twins, named George and Richard were born, prematurely, and again both died within a few days.

Perhaps understandably, there is some confusion over George's name since his death register gives his name as John, but since there is an elder, surviving John, George seems likely to be correct. Esther Shannon's father was a George Shannon (and my first impregnable brick wall). whilst her husband John Grant's father was Richard. In all John and Easter had three sons called Richard and three named George, all of whom died young, and Esther would outlive all but 3 of her 13 children.
When my grandfather was born, perhaps in hopes of breaking the pattern, he was given a name which does not fit the Scottish naming tradition. Obviously, it worked. Even allowing for the fact that infant mortality was much higher in those days, I cannot imagine how terrible it must have been to lose 4 children in one year, and can only admire her strength of will.

My second example is much more of a genuine surprise and a happier WOW moment. One of the brick walls in my tree was a Mary Danskin married to James More. We had the names from their son John's death register, but that was all. No births for either parent and no marriage either.

Without a paper trial, I resorted to trawling Ancestry and Ancestry family trees suggested the possibility that Mary was the daughter of a William Danskine and Ann Main, but still without any concrete evidence that I could see. As a trial, I added them to my private "experimental" tree, and started following some of the siblings of William, when lo and behold up popped a scan of a page from a family bible which gave a potted history of the family and specifically mentioned that William and Ann's daughter Mary married a James More, described as "an elder of the kirk." It transpired that the More family were both members of the free church who walked from Airdrie to Cowdenbeath every Sunday rather attend the services of the minister of the established Church of Scotland in Airdrie (hence the lack of parish registers).

Although I have not found Mary and James themselves I have subsequently found "other church" registers for siblings, and now have at least 12 DNA matches through siblings of Ann Main or William Danskine. Ancestry hints can be complete rubbish, as we all know, but just now and then you find a real gem.

I have 18 DNA matches that Thrulines connect to my 3G Grandfather Thomas Donald, 12 of which I have confirmed myself.

5 are through his two sons by his first wife Martha Steel (my 3G Grandmother) whilst the other 13 (12 confirmed) are through his second wife Janet Brown.

I had already seen Thomas appearing in other trees married to Janet Brown, but prior to the DNA evidence I had no "proof" that the Thomas Donald married to Janet Brown was indeed the widower of Martha Steel.

So my answer would be that DNA can provide evidence alongside the usual paper trails to confirm a match

Spam filters work in mysterious ways - and are not infallible.

On at least two occasions, my salary notification has been sent to the spam folder.

Common surnames only go back ten generations, and only show if the surname appears as a direct ancestor on both your linked tree and the match's linked tree.

Thrulines (and hence common ancestors) only go back to 5XG grandparents.

Ancestry does periodically rescan trees to update Thrulines. I just happened across a family marriage by accident a few weeks ago (It was on the same page of the register on Scotland's People as another family member that I was researching at the time.) Recognising the name (or more accurately the bride's parents' names) I checked and sure enough it matched a daughter I currently had in my tree, so I added the spouse. Two days later I had a new thruline through one of the daughters of the couple I had just added.