Good morning Lesley on another wonderful day in Central Scotland, although the Highlands are having atrocious weather. That's a whole week of magical cloudless skies. Is this a Scottish record?
First, please excuse my "have took" in my prevous message. I had typed "have taken" and decided to change it to "took" but failed to delete "have" !
Thank you for the additional information. I can detect no immediate connection with my own Chisholm branch, but you never know.
1855 was significant in Scotland just as 1837 was significant in England ie the introduction of a statutory requirement to register births marriages and deaths. Before then, deaths were extremely diificult to find because the OPRs concentrated on baptisms and marriage Banns. They were also haphazard and the quality of recording depended on the whim of the recorder ( usually the parish clerk, perhaps the local schoolmaster). So, because you cannot find a Mary born to John and Christian doesn't necessarly mean that she wasn't born in Urray. She might not have been recorded, she might have been born in an adjacent parish, eg Fodderty, her surname may have been so distorted that a search of Chisholm variations failed to pick her up. The only Mary Chisholms (Chisolms) recorded as born in Urray before 1855 are :
16 November 1774 to parents Kenth Chisolm/Kath MacKenzie
13 April 1774 Donald Chisolm/Margaret MacDonald
14 December 1777 Kenneth Chisolm/Cathrine MacKenzie
12 October 1786 John Chisolm/Margt MacKenzie
1 April 1827 Duncan Chisholm/Mary McKay
2 July 1830 Kenneth Chisholm/Mary Chisholm
There are 3 Marys born in Fodderty up to 1854, but none with suitable parents. None in the neighbouring parishs of Dingwall and Urquhart/Logie Wester.
I don't know how familiar you are with the parish geography/system in Scotland ( I presume that you are Australian?) but if I can help please let me know.
Regards, Matthew