More About Glasgow 2023 Tour

The Glasgow 2023 tour is happening in April and is only 7 months away. Research spaces are limited to 10 so that we can safely be accommodated in the Family History Centres. Once the 10 spaces are filled, no more will be added. I am not planning a fall tour for 2023 and there will be no Edinburgh tours for the foreseeable future.  

While in Glasgow, we will be visiting the Mitchell Library, the Glasgow & West of Scotland FHS and the Lanarkshire FHS. The visits to the FHS are exclusive use with volunteers available to assist you. 

Non-researching companions are more than welcome, and the additional fee for the hotel should be covered in the estimated tour fees. Companions can accompany us in the evenings for meals and a guided walking tour. 

If you have ancestors from Lanarkshire, Renfrew, Glasgow, or the west of Scotland, this will be the only tour on offer. Those with ancestors outwith Glasgow can spend additional time at the Family History Centres and less at the Mitchell, although the Mitchell also has access to the ScotlandsPeople Database, which covers the whole of Scotland and offers access to documents to recent to be available publicly. 

For more details or to register: https://www.genealogytoursofscotland.ca/glasgow-research-tour-april-2023.html

Planning A Genealogy Research Trip to Scotland? Prepare a Research Plan

If you are at the point where you think a trip to Scotland might be the best way to further your Scottish genealogy research, it is important to create both a research plan and an itinerary in order to have a successful trip.  

Traveling to the home of your ancestors takes planning. It is not enough to show up in the village where  your ancestors lived, head to the local pub and start asking questions. You need to do some research ahead of time. Learn about what repositories are available, what archival materials they hold, who can access them and what identification is required to access the repositories. Remember many archival records are held offsite, so plan for retrieval times as well.  

Here is an example of a genealogy research plan for use in preparing for your genealogy research trip to Scotland:

Remember, the more preparation you do at home before you go, the greater your chances of successful research in Scotland

I've Made My Lists - Now I'm Checking Them Twice

In just 4 short weeks, I will be in Glasgow as I get ready for the research tour. I am looking forward to my guided tour of the Necropolis at 2 pm. And I’m looking forward to my short time in Glasgow. I’m usually in Edinburgh when I am home, and although in the Glasgow “area”, really spend very little time in Glasgow itself. And I’m looking forward to introducing people to the rugged beauty and rich heritage of my homeland.  

In preparation for the research, I have made my lists and now it’s a matter of checking them twice to make sure I get the most out of my time at the repositories. For the most part, I have the BMDs and census records. My lists are a bit different this time. Records that will help to re-build the story of my ancestors and less about the dates and places that the BMDs, OPRs and Census records provide. This time I am in search of rounding out some of the stories and of gathering records from some of the more obscure archives.  

I want to spend some time trolling the Kirk Session records and the OPRs of course. But I also want to get into the Nursing Archives in Edinburgh, and to the Archives at the University of Glasgow for the NHS records. Getting these records will provide some of the missing gaps of the social history parts of my family history.

I am looking forward to spending time with my older aunties and getting their perspective and recollection of the stories that have been passed down over the generations.  

And I'm looking forward to sharing my research with you while I am in Scotland. Check my Genealogy Tours of Scotland blog for the details of the trip: http://genealogytoursofscotland.blogspot.ca/