I need a shove in the right direction!

[sonjainoz]

for Ratho? I have it as being Edinburgh? I will blame the great stretch of ocean from Australia to Scotland for my geographical embarrassment!
I am chasing the Kelly ( family (abt 1780) and some Clarkson family as well.
Many thanks

Sonjainoz

[RJ_Paton]

I can't help you with the names but as regards ratho itself

Ratho stands on a ridge on the south east side of the plain of the River Almond. The name is thought by some to come from the old Gaelic for fortress, and while no remains of an ancient fortress exist, it is clear that the village dates back at least a thousand years.

Try undiscovered Scotland at http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/ratho/ratho/index.html 

PS I wouldn't mention the edinburgh bit to any locals if I were you 

[JAP]

Hi Sonjainoz,

I guess you are not too far astray ; )

If you look up Ratho in a map - perhaps on Multimap at:
http://www.multimap.com/
- you will see that Ratho is not very far from the city of Edinburgh itself.  And that it is in the county of Midlothian which has at times been referred to as Edinburghshire.
Indeed, the extract re Ratho on Genuki (always a good place to look) at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/MLN/Ratho/
has an extract from an 1895 Gazetteer which refers to "Ratho, a village and a parish of Edinburghshire."

A search on the Hugh Wallis site at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/index.htm
lists the following IGI batches for Ratho:
Marriages
M116984  1741-1855
M116981  1855-1875
Births/Christenings
C116982  1682-1689, 1738-1820
C116984  1820-1854
C116981  1855-1875

If you go to the IGI on FamilySearch at:
http://www.familysearch.org
and enter last name KELLY, select British Isles as the region, and enter any one of the above batch numbers, you will get quite a few entries.  And, for most of those batches, you will also have success if you enter last name CLARKSON.

Good Luck,

JAP

[sonjainoz]

Thank you both for the wealth of information!

I really needed to know exactly where Ratho was as I have been given the village accompanied by a string of other names after it at times. Very confusing!
I enjoyed the Scottish site no end Falkyn and am staying up in Inverness for a couple of days in October. I now have even MORE things to see and places to explore!

Once again, many thanks. Very much appreciated!

Sonjainoz.

[ADP]

I have 5 generations of ancestors who stayed in and around Ratho. I am familiar with a number of the place names local to Ratho. It is about 5 miles from home. What place names are you looking for?

ADP

[sonjainoz]

Thanks ADP,

All I have is Ratho. It is usually written as "Ratho, Edinburgh, Scotland". So up until now, I thought it was actually part of Edinburgh!! (said in a whisper behind a hand!)

I found whoever gave me the info also did the same with Fife. It was written down as "Fife, Inverkeithing, Scotland". Very confusing for some of us 'colonists'! Probably confusing for some of the Scots as well! 

I have found a bit more info on the Kelly, Clarkson, Philp families after following the leads previous!

Sonjainoz.