Dikeray

[AndrewP]

The Spence line that we are following is from Keith which I think is in Banffshire? Or is it Aberdeenshire? I'll have to go look now. My cousin's Spence family has a Munro in it and my grandmother's Munro family was from Belhelvie which isn't far from Keith.

Hi Carol,

Keith parish was primarily in Banffshire, but had a small area over the boundary into Moray (aka County of Elgin). The Moray portion transferred from Moray into Banffshire in 1891, following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. That act included a lot of tidying up parish and county boundaries to try and make whole parishes fit within single counties - it mostly succeeded in doing so. For registration purposes, Keith was always considered as being in Banffshire. When you look at a parish map, you find Keith at a narrow piece of Banffshire, touching two other counties, touching its eastern and western boundaries, with Moray to the west, and Aberdeenshire to the east. Belhelvie is as far across Aberdeenshire as you can get from Keith. Belhevie is on the North Sea coast, just north of Aberdeen city.

See: http://www.scotlandsfamily.com/parish-map-aberdeen.htm

All the best,

AndrewP

[speleobat2]

Thanks, Andrew. It's been a while since I looked at a map of the area.

Carol

[speleobat2]

Just had an email from my cousin and she says that several family trees on Ancestry have our girl's parents as William Springer and Sarah Dykeman of New Brunswick. I know that I have seen the Dykeman name before so I'm off to do more digging!

Carol