Thank you so much for responding!
1. Yes, I have the 1841 census of George, Mary (Kyd, daughter of George Kyd and Ann Gibson), and George. That is the George Nicol I am trying to identify. All three went to the US about 1843. George Sr died shortly after arriving in US. He and Mary Kyd are my 3rd great-grandparents.
2. I have the handwritten baptismal records from the Scottish Archives for George Nicol's son George and for Joseph Kyd's son Joseph. No witnesses are named in either. Are there other records that might show witnesses?
3. Joseph Kyd, Isabella, and son emigrated and went to the same place in the US that George, Mary, and George went. Young Joseph died either en route or shortly after arrival.
4. In the 1841 census, Joseph, Isabella, and Joseph were living with Ann (Gibson) Kyd (the mother of Joseph and of Mary Kyd, George Nicol's wife - their father was George Kyd) on Keptie Street. George Duncan, age 12, was also living in the household. Young George was the son of George Duncan and Ann Kyd. I can’t find a baptismal record for Ann Kyd, so can't say how she is related to Ann Gibson Kyd and her children.
5. After emigrating, young George Duncan married Ann Nicol, the daughter of the other George Nicol I mentioned and his wife Ann Doig. I have marriage records for this George Nicol and Ann Doig, plus baptismal records for all their children and see no apparent connection between them, “my” George Nicol, or Isabella Nicol.
6. Ann Doig Nicoll and her children, including daughter Ann (who married George Duncan in the US), emigrated in 1853 (which is why she is not mentioned in the death records). They went to the same place in the US as the others I've mentioned. Note the correct Ann Doig Nicol is listed in the 1851 census in St Vigeans, Inverbrothock Parish on West Mill ? as Ann Nicoll, age 62, born Forfarshire, Arbroath, with children Betsy, William, Alexander, and Ann.
7. Young George Duncan and Ann Nicol had a son named Joseph Kyd Duncan, born in the US. After his mother Ann died in abt 1859, Joseph lived with Joseph Kyd and Isabella Nicol (by that time, their only son Joseph, discussed above, had also died). When Isabella Nicol Kyd died (after her husband), Joseph Kyd Duncan was her sole heir. She referred to him in her will as “my beloved nephew.”
8. Thank you for looking in the book of monumental inscriptions. That’s something I’ve been wondering about.
9. I didn’t know that ages in the census were rounded - that is very helpful information.
I hope this response isn’t too confusing! The similar names can make clarity a challenge.
Thank you again for responding.