A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Symbolism

 October is Family History month in North America and in the past, I have blogged daily on various topics pertaining to Family History. This year, I decided to do something a little bit different and blog on some of the gravestones I have encountered in my travels to various graves in Scotland. 

To start, let's look at some of the meanings behind the symbolism often found on gravestones. 

The most common are symbols that signify death: the skull with or without cross bones, the bell that tolls for thee, the shovels and scythes used by the grave digger. All of these are to remind us of our own mortality, and really just to say "death is coming" 

Here we can see the bell, the skull and cross bones as well 

as the grave diggers shovel 

Here we see the tools of the grave digger

Another common symbol is the urn, which of course holds the remains of the deceased. Sometimes the urn is draped or partially draped with a cloth. This is to signify that the veil between this life and the after life is thin. 

And of course, there is also the Grim Reaper who is coming for all of us. 

Sometimes there are symbols which alert us to the occupation of the deceased:

In the centre, at the top of the other symbols is a ring, signifying that the deceased was a jeweller

I particularly like this one. The anvil symbolizes that the deceased was a black smith but we can also see a horseshoe at the top of the headstone, telling us he made shoes for horses. The crown in the centre symbolizes glory in death 

This one in the Auld Kirkyard in Alloway is in pretty rough shape however, because it is so decorative and so telling, there is also the "pattern" for it next to it

At the top is the crown, signifying glory over death. We can also see the cross bones. But in addition, we see a wrench (spanner) a horseshoe and the person putting a shoe on a horse. So once again, we know the deceased was a blacksmith

This tomb is found in the Glasgow Necropolis and is a monument to actor John Henry Alexander  who owned and managed the Glasgow Theatre Royal. You can see the curtains of the stage. There are also a number of symbols from his theatre life on the headstone. 

And although this monument looks like it has been vandalized but in fact it symbolizes that the deceased was "cut down in the prime of his life" and died as a young man. 

This gravestone in the old Kincardine Cemetery in Grangemouth is also telling. It appears to me that the man who died left behind a wife and possibly a mother or mother-in-law as well as 10 children: one daughter and nine sons. 

What symbols have you come across on gravestones while wandering through cemeteries that have made you stop and take notice?

Away With the Fairies

While the saying "away with the fairies" actually refers to someone who is not quite right in the head, or off in La-La land, the belief in and fear of fairies has led to the Scots being one of the most superstitious group of people, perhaps on the planet. 

I always understood my dad's logic "if I see you do that again, I'll knock you into next week"  My mum's logic was far less rational and rife with superstitious beliefs. No real explanation was offered, just the fear of death if I didn't comply. 

No shoes on the table

Placing shoes on a table will bring bad luck. This belief stems from the days when, after a miner died, his boots would be placed on the table as a sign of respect. This sign of respect morphed into a fear that placing shoes of a living person on the table would result in the person's death or would invite death to visit the home.

Throwing salt over your shoulder

Spilled salt is considered to bring bad luck. It is thought that this belief stems from Judas spilling salt at the last supper - a subliminal sign of his upcoming betrayal. The bad luck is said to be remedied by throwing a pinch of salt over your right shoulder, and into the eye of the devil. 

First person over the threshold on New Year's Day had to be dark haired and dark complected

This is a key component of any hogmanay celebration. A dark haired man was thought to bring good luck. In fact, it is more likely that one didn't want a fair haired, fair skinned man walking through the door as that was a throw back to the days of the Viking invasions and one certainly didn't want a Viking coming through the door. 

Never give a wallet or piggy bank without placing a coin in it first

A gift of a wallet, purse or piggy bank was always to be accompanied by a coin to ensure that the receiver of the gift would not suffer money woes. An empty wallet might invite debt or loss of income.

Don't cross knives

Crossed knives were thought to once again be a signal of bad luck or death. This one stems back to the time of battle when crossed swords could be followed by serious injury or death of one of the embattled men. 

If you drop a glove, someone else must pick it up

I can't count the number of times I would be summoned to pick up a wayward glove in order to stave off any ill will. Again this harkens back to the days of battle. Many men wore a woman's glove in their helmets (their mother's or their wive's gloves). There was a belief as well that if a woman found a glove, her future partner would have the other glove and this would be sign of destiny that they were to be betrothed. 

Don't mix red and white flowers

This one nearly scarred me for life. It was believed that a bouquet of red and white flowers was a signal that death was imminent. The red signaling blood. I remember being quite young, perhaps 13 or 14 and being in Scotland. I had been to the market and bought my mum a bouquet of carnations. Red and White. When I took them home, there was a gasp. Mum was thankful at the thought, but stated that red and white flowers were a sign of death. My aunt, not wanting to crush my wee soul, said "It's ok, there are some pink ones in there as well" That night, my mum was hit by a car, in front of my Granny's house. Mum was taken to hospital. Gran and I were sitting in her living room. "It's they flooers" I was certain I had caused my mum to be hit by a car. 

The list of superstitious beliefs goes on and on. It really is a wonder I am not a full blown neurotic. 

October is Family History Month

While Family History Month is no an event that is Nationally recognized (see Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell's post 
https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2018/10/01/national-family-history-month/) it does allow us to focus our thoughts and celebrations on our ancestors during the month of October. 

Family History month in Ontario coincides with Foster Family Recognition week. Which is all that is left of what used to be Family Awareness month. In the late 1980s, all of the 1990s and most of the first decade of the millennium, October was a month to celebrate families. Attractions offered special events, cities proclaimed the recognition for family awareness and many of their recreation departments offered events for families to attend together. The OACAS (Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies) declared a Foster Parent Recognition week during October to celebrate the special role that these families have in the raising of the province's children. That then evolved into Child Abuse Awareness Month.

Then along came Dalton McGuinty, Premiere of Ontario from 2003-2013. A number of groups were lobbying for a statutory holiday between Christmas and Easter, to break up the long, cold hibernation of Ontario winters. McGuinty caved in 2008 and in doing so, called the day "Family Day" That then stopped Family Awareness Week in October. The new stat holiday was set aside as a day for families to spend time together. Snow-tubing, skiing, or simply shovelling. 
While the focus on time spent as a family shifted from a full week in October to a single day in February, that hasn't stopped any of us from focusing on families or family history at other times during the year. 

In North America most family history/genealogy societies to continue to focus on family history during the month of October - after the relaxation and time spent with family in the summer, and before the rush of the Christmas season.
I will continue to do the same. 

In October in Canada, we have the added focus on Thanksgiving, a day in which families often come together. Time spent at fall fairs, visiting apple orchards and pumpkin patches or gathered around the dinner table. Unlike the US Thanksgiving, our holiday was created to celebrate and be thankful for the harvest. Not on the arrival of pilgrims. And since most Scots descend from farmers, this is also a fitting time for Canadians of Scots descent to celebrate and give thanks for their Scottish ancestor(s) grasping the opportunity to enjoy a better life in a new land. 

What about you? How are you honouring and celebrating your family - past and present - this month?

Researching Pauper Ancestors

During Victorian times, most of the 19th century, poverty was a scourge and there was tremendous stigma attached to being poor. It was felt that if the poor were shamed and treated poorly, they would try harder to eke out a living, however meagre.  

The Poor Law Act was enacted in 1845 and the caring for the poor became the responsibility of the local councils/burghs through the passing of the Poor Law Act. The Act established parochial boards in the parishes and towns, and ensured a central Board of Supervision which was based in Edinburgh. The Board of Supervision was granted the ability to raise taxes in order to cover the poor relief payments.

Unlike England, where the impoverished faced a life in the Workhouses, Scotland preferred a system of  'out relief’. This allowed for the person in need of relief to remaining in their own home and receive regular small payments. This might allow the person to partially support themselves through work and to receive assistance from family members, charities and friendly societies, rather than becoming wholly dependent upon poor relief payments. Clearly the expectation was that if you were in need, then your family had an obligation to provide assistance. This is clearly seen in the questions that are asked during the application process.

The 1845 Poor Law Act also allowed parishes to operate poorhouses. Sometimes two or more parishes would join together to establish ‘combination’ poorhouses. This meant that the funding for the poorhouse was a combined responsibility of the joint parishes. 

Poor relief was not for able bodied persons who were unable to find work. It was for those who were infirm or incapable of being able to work. This might be men who were injured on the job, people who had a chronic illness, the elderly or perhaps  women of young children whose husbands had deserted them or who were incarcerated.   Other eligible persons would be those with intellectual or mental health  impairments.  In addition, the person who was seeking relief would need to prove that for whatever reason, their family were unable to assist them in their time of need.

Because of the restrictions around eligibility, not everyone who applied received relief. However, the poor law applications followed the applicant for several years and as circumstances changed, they may become eligible at a later time. The records give tremendous insight into the lives of those who applied.

In seeking information regarding the applicant, the council tried to determine not only eligibility by also who ultimately was responsible for the applicant. If the person was deemed not to have lived in the council area for a minimum of 7 years, then they were sent back to their place of origin to attempt to get relief there.

The questions on the application were quite thorough and provide a depth of insight not as clearly seen in other record sets. The information includes:

·         Name

·         Age

·         Sex

·         Marital Status

·         Date and place of marriage

·         Name of spouse

·         Names of any children residing in the household

·         Ages of children residing in the house

·         Status of child - whether working or in school

·         If working, wages of child (in this case, the children would be expected to contribute to           the household and offset any financial need)

·         The applicant's address

·         Monthly rent

·         Occupation

·         Employer or former employer

·         Religion

·         Name of the church

·         Names of parents of applicant

·         Name of parents of applicant's spouse

·         Parent and in law status as to whether alive, working etc. 

   Again the applicant would have been expected to reach out to family for assistance before applying for poor relief.

·         Any insurance companies applicant had a policy with

 The poor relief applications are with the local council archives for the area where your ancestor lived.

Canada Northwest Land Company Settlements

Following the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, the lands in the western part of Canada opened for settlement. The Canada North-West Land Company, incorporated in 1882, provided 11 settlements in the provinces of Assiniboia (Manitoba) and Alberta, 30 miles apart from each other and extending along the CPR lines at the foot of the Rockies.  The settlements each comprised 10,000 acres. 

Unlike the settlement grants in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, the grants in the west came fully stocked. While the grants in the east came with uncleared land, the grants in the west were “systematically” settled. The Canadian Agricultural, Coal and Colonization Company’s plans show this quite clearly.

 In the centre of each settlement, 640 acres were to be dedicated to the “village” including shops, a school and a church.  The outlying areas were to be divided into 1000 acre lots which were to be completely fenced, and were to come equipped with: 

•        A farm house
•        Furniture
•        Stables
•     A barn
•     Cattle and sheep sheds
•      50 sheep
•        5 cattle
•     1 mare
•        1 sow

Each settlement area (village) was to share ploughs, wagons and rakes.

Each farmer paid £100 and was loaned £192 by the settlement company.

The primary purpose in setting these settlements up was to prevent isolation of any one family, having people emigrate with family or neighbours from their community and placing them together. On the new settlements, they were surrounded by people they knew and were able to carry on the traditions and customs of their lives in Scotland.

The purpose in having the farms fully equipped was to alleviate the hardships of the earlier settlement schemes and provide the farmer with a fully equipped and revenue bearing farm whereby he could begin to repay his loan that much sooner and be ready to own his own land that much faster.  

Maps and land grants for the Canada Northwest Land Company are on microfilm and held by the Glenbow Archives:

http://www.glenbow.org/collections/search/findingAids/archhtm/cnwl.cfm

Some of the documents have been scanned and digitized and made available on the Internet Archives:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22Canada%20North%20West%20Land%20Co%22

Settling the Huron Tract

In 1826, a group of London based business men came together to form the Canada Company. The purpose of this conglomerate was, essentially, to sell parcels of land in what became known as the Huron Tract. The Huron Tract consisted of 2,484,000 acres of land in western Ontario, north of Lake Erie, south of Lake Huron and encompassing lands east of Lake St Clair. The Huron Tract covered parts of what are now Perth, Huron, Middlesex and Wellington Counties.

The Huron Tract  was managed by John Galt. Galt saw the Huron Tract as an agricultural settlement with the land owned by individual farmers. Settlers were attracted by the prospect of land. This land comprised some of the richest and most fertile farming country in Ontario.

  

The largest group of settlers along the Huron Tract were from Scotland. In 1833 there were about 685 people living on the Huron Tract. By 1839 the number of settlers had risen to 4,804. The earliest township records are for Goderich and Tuckersmith and date to 1835. Land in Grey County, also part of the Huron Tract, started being settled in 1852.

Land records for the Huron Tract can be found on the Library and Archives Canada website:

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/land-petitions-upper-canada.aspx

Selkirk Settlers

In 1802, Lord Selkirk approached the Colonial Office for a subsidized settlement grant in Sault-Ste Marie, Upper Canada, with the hopes of establishing a settlement where the displaced Highlanders could once again farm their own land. The Colonial Secretary instead offered a land grant in Prince Edward Island, in the Belfast area, near Wood Islandson the southwest shore. Upon receipt of this notice, Selkirk wasted no time in recruiting highland emigrants or in contracting ships and supplies.

In July 1803, three ships, the Dykes, the Polly, and the Oughton sailed to Canada with eight hundred former highland crofters and headed to Prince Edward Island. The Polly arrived in the harbourof Orwell Bay, Prince Edward Island on Sunday, August 7th, 1803, carrying 250 adults and 150 children. Most of these passengers were from Skye. The Dykes, which also brought Lord Selkirk, arrived in Charlottetown two days after the Polly. Most of the passengers on the Polly were from Mull. The Oughton arrived on August 27^th, 1803, carrying another 40 or 50 passengers, this time from Uist.

The land given to these new settlers consisted primarily of evergreen forest. Each family was given between 50 and 150 acres for a nominal fee. The lots were laid out so that four or five families were grouped together. Each parcel of land granted access to the waterfront. Many families spent their first winter in makeshift lean-tos. However, come spring, the new immigrants worked together to clear their lands, build their houses, and settle into their new lives.

Being able to work the land once again became somewhat of a tonic for them. Because these settlers had come with their families or members of their communities, they arrived with their social support system and this made the transition to life in the new world much easier for them. These Highland Scots were a self sufficient community within a year of their arrival.

Later generations moved to the BruceCounty area of Ontario, setting up communities along the SaugeenRiver near Paisley as well as along the south coast of Lake Huron from Southamptonto Kincardine.  

Having used his land on the southwest shoreof PEI for the initial settlers, Selkirk was eager to continue to pursue his original desire to find land in Upper Canada. He was eventually able to purchase land in Southern Ontario, near the junction of Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River, in what is now Wallaceburg. This was a problematic scheme in that the land was very different than that granted in PEI. The first winter saw deaths of 15 people through malaria from the mosquitoes in the damp, forested lands. Selkirk soon abandoned this settlement. However, the Scots remained and became very successful in their new country. The Scottish influence of these early settlers can be seen throughout the south western most part of Ontario.

Selkirk later managed to persuade the Hudson Bay Company that an agricultural settlement would lower their costs since local farmers would be able to produce goods that, at the time, the company was having to import at great expense. Selkirk was able to purchase 116,000 square miles in the Red River Valley and along the Assiniboine River in Manitobaand what is now Northern Dakota and parts of Northern Minnesota. This land mass was five times the size of the whole of Scotland. Selkirk purchased this land at a cost of 10/s ($26.50 in today’s currency).

This settlement was not without its difficulties and there were many physical battles as well as court battles between the early settlers and the Hudson's Bay Company, Canada's largest retail trading post. Many of the early settlers married into the local aboriginal communities, creating the Metis nation.

If you have ancestors who were Selkirk Settlers, here are some resources to assist you in your genealogy research:

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Polly:

http://www.islandregister.com/selkirk_settlers.html

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Dykes:

http://www.islandregister.com/dykes.html

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Oughton:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pictou/oughton.htm

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Spencer:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pictou/spencer.htm

Hudsons Bay Company Archives:

http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/resource/ship_rec/c7.html

There are some archives regarding the men from Orkney, Scotland, who were recruited as indentured workers with the Hudson's Bay Company in the archives in Stromness, Orkney. These are not available online.

Some records are also available at Library and Archives Canada. These records need to be consulted in person.

Feeling Stuck? Create a Research Plan

When you come to what you think is a dead end, or a "brick wall" in your Scottish research, step back, and take a better look at the documents. Scottish documents contain a wealth of information and can make researching so much easier when you really take a look at what the documents are telling you.

Use a spreadsheet or create a chart with five columns:

WHAT I ALREADY HAVE

QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

DOCUMENTS NEEDED

WHERE THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE

NOTES

• Make a list of all of the documents you already have so that you don't waste time searching for them again.
• Think about what you already know from the documents you have.
• What questions are still unanswered?
• What do you still need to know?
• Looking at the documents you have and knowing what you still need to find out, what are the best documents for you to get that might give you the answers you need?
• Next do some online research to determine where you are likely to find the records that will help you fill in the gaps or chip away at your brick walls (newspapers, land records, church records)
• Move forward by starting to look through documents you may have missed in the past. If you can’t access the records online and can’t plan a trip, reach out to a local genealogist who can work on your behalf to access the records and the information you need to help break through your stagnation and move your research forward.  

Packing Your Cemetery Bag

Every genealogist or family historian has a inner taphophile - someone with a love of cemeteries. We might want to visit ancestor's graves, an historic cemetery or we might just enjoy wandering amongst the peace and tranquility of these sacred sites. 

If you plan to go and visit an ancestor's grave, make sure  you pack your cemetery bag before  you go. Here's what your cemetery bag should include:

•         a camera and batteries - take photos of everything. The sign to the cemetery, a wide angle view of the cemetery, the proximity of the grave to a landmark within the cemetery (a fountain, the office, a pond, a church). Photograph all sides of the gravestone. Check nearby stones as they may also be your ancestors. If the names are the same and you are unsure of a connection, take photos of all sides of the gravestone for further research. 
•         pencils and paper - take notes. Write down names, dates and inscriptions exactly as they appear on the stone. It is very easy to make assumptions in the excitement of the moment, and it will be important to have an accurate record once you return home. Take note of any symbols your are unfamiliar with so you can look them up later. These may give important clues about the life of your ancestor. 
•      garden clippers - carefully trim back any overgrowth that covers the stone - especially if the stone is a flat marker. Do NOT dig into the marker to remove moss or growth. Instead, try washing it away
•         water and soft cloth - wash away any dirt or moss that is obscuring  your ability to read the marker. If a marker is hard to read, pour some water over it to see if the wet stone allows for enhancement in reading the marker

  

Was Your Ancestor a Shipbuilder on the Clyde?

At its height, the shipbuilding industry along the Clyde employed tens of thousands of workers who made some of the world’s fastest, biggest and most beautiful ships. In addition to this tens of thousands more were employed in the supporting industries in Lanarkshire. The industries of coal mining, ironworks and steelworks.

With the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), came steam engines creating faster transport across the seas.  As a result, shipbuilding replaced trade as the major form of commerce along the Clyde river and shipbuilding companies soon dotted its banks. Arguably the largest of these companies was the Fairfield Shipping Company in Govan.  In addition to the Empress line (Empress of Ireland, Empress of Britain, Empress of Japan, Empress of Asia and Empress of China), Fairfield was one of the leading suppliers to the Royal Navy. 

As a result of the numbers of shipyards and the quality of the vessels, Glasgow became a world leader in shipbuilding. "Clyde built" soon became the standard of quality. 

If your ancestor worked in the Shipbuilding industry on the Clyde, you may wish to have a look at some of the archival records. These records include plans, photographs, minutes and cost books for the shipyards. Few personnel records have survived. The records are housed at the Glasgow Archives in the Mitchell Library and at the Glasgow University Archives.

Shipbuilding records are at the Glasgow Archives: http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries/the-mitchell-library/archives/collections/shipbuilding-archives/Pages/default.aspx

Shipbuilding records are at Glasgow University Archives: http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_60314_en.pdf

Iron, Steel and Coal mining company records for Lanarkshire, are at the Glasgow University Archives:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_60311_en.pdf

Any company magazines of the various shipbuilding companies are available at the National Library of Scotland. These often include promotions, deaths, celebrations and photos of company gatherings.

Using Findmypast for Scottish Genealogy Research

While ScotlandsPeopleis the necessary site for Old Parish and Civil Registers, Findmypast can help you fill in the details of your ancestor’s life.

Military Records – one of the best resources on Findmypast for Scottish research. After the Union of the Crowns in 1707, everyone who was enlisted was enlisted in the British Army, even if they fought for a Highland Regiment. The good news here is that unlike the National Records of Scotland, the National Archives in London have partnered with Findmypast and made their records available for people researching their family history. In the military records, you get the entire record. If, like my great grandfather, your soldier was a serial enlister, you will get their attestation and discharge papers. If your soldier was a career military man, you will get oodles more.

Newspapers– another fabulous resource is the British Newspaper Archives. The real gem here is that the BNA is not limited to national newspapers, but also includes regional and town newspapers which, of course, hold a wealth of social history news.

Ship’s Lists – another treat from the TNA. These lists are “people leaving the UK”  but will give you the passenger manifest including the name of the passenger, their residence, their age, where they were destined, the ship’s name and where they actually entered North America. For example, my grandfather was on the Cameronian, destined for New York, first docked at Halifax and disembarked there.  

Paternity Decrees – these are listed under “Institutions”  and are a result of the incredible work that have been done by ScottishIndexes who have partnered with Findmypast to have their transcriptions available online. I was able to find the father of my illegitimate great aunt thanks to this database and the transcription which gives you the name and address of the pursuer (in this case, the mother), the name and address of the defender (the father), the date of birth of the child and the sex of the child. I can then order the original record if I wish.

Mental Health Institution Admission Registers – again thanks to the tireless work of the Maxwells at ScottishIndexes, these transcripts provide you with the name, age, sex, d.o.b., residence, occupation, and the year of admission as well as the name of the institution.

Prison Registers – more work from the Maxwells, this transcription gives you the name, sex, age, birth date, occupation, crime and name of prison.

Linlithgow Poorhouse Records – this is a result of the great work of the West Lothian Family History Society and includes Admission registers, death and discharge registers, lunatic registers and discharges, and the poorhouse roll of the sick.

Catholic Heritage Archives – this relatively new collection includes baptism, marriage, burial and congregational records from all eight of Scotland's Roman Catholic Dioceses. These are: St Andrews & Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Argyll & the Isles (where the Catholic faith was strong well into the 19^thcentury), Dunkeld, Galloway, Glasgow, Motherwell and Paisley.

PERSI– what a wealth of information for those with Scottish heritage. There are thousands of records that you can search or browse to learn more about the life and times of your Scottish ancestor. These include family histories, family history society journals and newsletters and magazines. To find these gems, simply enter “Scotland” in the “where” field and “family history” into the “what else” field.

Enjoy getting to know your Scottish ancestors through the resources of Findmypast!

Understanding Scottish Surnames

Spelling was not consistent until dictionaries made it standard in the 1800s. Until this time, spelling was quite fluid and tended to be according to the enumerator or registrar. Often this was done in a manner similar to phonetic spelling. I could not find the marriage for my Henry Fowler anywhere. I was beginning to think that perhaps the couple had had an irregular marriage. Then I decided to use a wildcard search for Henry and lo and behold I found him - listed as Henry FULLER. As soon as I saw the certificate, I realized why I hadn't found him sooner. Henry would have been asked his surname. In his thick Border brogue, Henry would have responded "Fooler" And that became written as FULLER.

It is not uncommon to find that your ancestor's surname changed from Clerke, to Clarke and then to Clark. All three sound the same in Scotland (clark) and yet the spelling has evolved over time. Knowing this will help to ensure you don't rule out people who might be your ancestor, but who you have ignored based on the (mis)spelling of the surname.

As a standard, surnames in Scotland weren't adopted by the common man until about the 1600s. Prior to that, people were known by patrynomics (Donald, son of John or Donald John's son), by physical trait (John the Red - Red John - for someone who might have been a redhead, by location (Thomas by the burn or Thomas Burn) or by occupation (David the miller or David Miller). Once surnames became common practice, many of these former descriptors were adopted as surnames. Others, particularly the Highlanders or border clans, took on the surname of the clan chief, family head or even the landowner for the estate they lived or worked on. For this reason, not everyone named Wallace, for example, is related to William Wallace. Nor is every Mc/MacDonald related to the clan chief.

People often have questions about the Mc vs Mac surnames. Some understand that one is Irish and the other is Scottish, while others understand that one is Catholic while the other is Protestant. In reality, they are interchangeable. Both Mc and Mac are the anglicized spelling of the Gaelic M' or M'hic. M'hic or M' for short, means "son of" in Gaelic. This has been transcribed over the centuries as Mc or Mac, depending on the transcriber and their understanding of how the prefix is spelled. So whether your ancestors were Mc or Mac, don't discount the other spelling in the event you might also be discounting your ancestor and his/her documents!

84th Regiment of Foot: Royal Highland Emigrants

From 1775-1784, 2000 Scots highlanders were recruited to the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)  which defended the lands in the 13 colonies and then fought on the side of the British government in the American Revolutionary War. These men had military experience in the Seven Years War. The 84th Regiment of Foot was divided into two companies. The muster and pay lists for both companies can be found here: 

https://loyalist.lib.unb.ca/node/4722

After the Revolutionary War, the 84th Regiment of Foot disbanded and about half of the men settled in Nova Scotia while the other half settled in Eastern Ontario where they were given land grants for remaining loyal to the Crown. They were given land grants of between 100 acres (for privates) and 500 acres (for Officers).  To search the indexes for these early land grants, consult:

http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/?Search=THlan&List=all

Scottish Post Office Directories

Post office directories are the equivalent of City Directories. These are a terrific resource for following your ancestors between census periods. Not everyone was recorded. Since there was a fee to be included, many of those included had some degree of stature - clergy, educators, doctors, professionals, merchants, etc.

A recent addition to the website are the Post Office Directory Maps. Four hundred new street maps of Scottish towns held within Post Office Directories have been digitized and uploaded to the maps website. These are excellent resources for family and local history. These are quite detailed, providing street names, location of public buildings such as churches, shops and schools, as well as railways, cemeteries and open green space. 

Researching Jacobite Ancestors

The Jacobites believed that being King was a God given right and passed on through heredity and were opposed to parliamentary interference with the line of succession to the throne. They saw this interference as being illegal. People were expected to swear allegiance to their King and his authority. Jacobites wouldn't swear allegiance since William was not a direct descendant of James, while Charles Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was. Hoping to reinstate the Stuart regime, the Jacobites rose in rebellion on a number of occasions, notably in 1715 and in 1745.

Beginning in 1716, Jacobites were rounded up, imprisoned and subsequently transported to the Americas. Approximately 1,500 Jacobite prisoners were exiled to the American Plantations. Since Jacobites were charged with Treason they were tried before the High Court. Documents pertaining to the Jacobites, for genealogical purposes, are Royal Warrants, Letters, and a variety of letters.

While there are some records contained within the High Court records at the National Archives in Scotland, the primary repository is the National Archives in London.

There are also registers of ships that were used for transportation. PDF listings of Jacobite prisoners for various regions of Scotland can be found here: http://www.jacobites.net/lists.html

Hugh Tornabene, a volunteer for the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild has uncovered the

passenger lists for the ships that were used to transport the Jacobites. He has transcribed the lists for the 10 ships that arrived in the Americas. 

There are another 8 ships that went to the Caribbean (Barbados and the Leeward Islands). Here is the website to view the transcriptions of the 10 ships (there are 13 lists, with two of the ships having made the voyage more than once) that Hugh has transcribed: 

http://immigrantships.net/jacobite/indexjacobite.html