Great news! A fifth talk has been added to an already robust day of learning. National Library of Scotland Maps Manager, Craig Statham will be sharing his vast knowledge not only about the phenomenal collection of maps and plans within the NLS holdings but also about how to get the most out of the NLS Maps website. This really is a wonderful resource for anyone researching their Scottish ancestry.
Craig's talk will take place mid way through the day, January 27th, 2018. Craig will be providing handouts of his talk as part of the ViC as well.
For more information or to register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/home-1.html
News came yesterday that ScotlandsPeople have released the 1935 valuation rolls. Any new record set is of value, and should be applauded, however, when you consider the lead up to this point, the release was not only incredibly anti-climactic, but also incredibly disappointing.
Most of the diaspora have Scottish ancestors who left the country anywhere from 1650 - 1870. Records from the more modern period (20th century) are fairly useless when it comes to genealogical research. The memory is still fresh and there will most likely be family who can provide the information or who have passed the information along before they themselves passed on.
Of more benefit (and therefore more likely to draw people to the site) would be the long awaited Kirk Session records, High Court records for those whose ancestors were transported, Sheriff Court records to determine paternity. Much more genealogically useful to the diaspora than a modern tax record.
It's disheartening that ScotlandsPeople was once a leader in providing online documentation for the purposes of genealogical research and now they are on the verge of going the way of the Dodo bird. While there was some incredible hopefulness that Scotland was going to be able to compete with larger online databases that is quickly waning and it is looking more like we are going to be wishing Scotland would partner up with the larger databases much the way the National Archives in London have.
For those who want to have a gander regardless, here is the link: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
The 1864- 1931 electoral rolls for Linlithgowshire, held by the British Library, have been added to the Findmypast databases.
Hopefully we will begin to see more electoral rolls for Scotland get added over time.
The University of Edinburgh has a database which "contains all people known to have been accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland—nearly 4,000 of them. There is information on where and when they were accused, how they were tried, what their fate was, and on a wide range of themes relating to social and cultural history"On the search page, you can search by name, you can search for cases of witchcraft by characterisation and date, you can search by trial date or you can search by the people involved. I searched by name. A list of 6 possible ancestors came up (none were mine, sadly). For each person listed, the year they were accused is listed. On the personal details page, the following is given:- last name
- first name
- alias
- sex
- place of residence by parish, presbytery and county
- marital status
- any notes on the accused
On the bottom of each personal details page, you can click on the name of the individual. A new page opens with the details of case, the names of other people involved and their relationship to the accused, trials associated with the case, "qualifications" (what was used to determine the validity of the accusation, including such things as witches meetings, folk culture and diseases/illnesses) and references - where the original information is recorded. Even without witches and warlocks in your tree, the site is worth a look, even if just for the social history of the times. Happy Searching!
I recently had the great good fortune to attend a workshop on Scottish Genealogy. University of Guelph on Friday. The event was hosted by the Scottish Studies Foundation and the workshop leader was Dr Bruce Durie from Starthclyde University in Glasgow. Dr Durie runs a post graduate program of studies in genealogy at the university. His workshop was brilliant and there was so much to learn. First off, there are so many new and exciting things coming soon to Scotland's People. While we are all eagerly awaiting the release of the 1911 census this coming Tuesday at 11 am, many more resources have been digitised and will be made available on the Scotland's People website in the next 12 - 18 months. These include: Valuation Rolls and Kirk Session records. I also learned of a website belonging to Scotland's People called Scotlandsplaces. This is a free resource and includes old maps, gazetteers. The trick here is to search by PLACE, not by person. http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/Other great sites to assist in our quest to hunt down our Scottish Ancestors are:http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/http://www.nls.uk/ (National Library of Scotland)Happy Hunting!!
Old handwriting can be difficult to read (although studies show that those of us who spend hours pouring over old documents trying to decipher what has been written are better at memory retention than those who don't). Penmanship was only available to the educated - clergy or teachers, usually. And in those days, uniformity was more important than legibility. Don't despair. Here are a couple of websites to assist with "cracking the code" on Scottish Handwriting.http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/You can also find a wealth of information on the Scotland's People website under the tab "Help & Resources" In the drop down box on the right, you will find a link to getting help with deciphering Scottish Handwriting.http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Happy Searching!
A little known resource for information, and one to assist in finding your ancestors between census years, is the Farm Horse Tax. This was a tax that was paid for working horses owned by each farmer.
A second resource to look at for farmers is the Land Ownership Commision records (1872-1873). This records parcels of land greater than one acre.
Both resources can be found at: http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/ This is a sister site to Scotland'sPeople. But it is free!
TIP: Search by place, not by name!
When researching Scottish Records, it is important to remember that the heavy Scottish brogue can add a twist to some words making your research a bit more challenging. When the census taker arrived at the door, he was likely the school master and, being literate, was given the task of asking questions of the locals in the village where he worked. It is also likely that the census taker was not raised in the local village, more likely having come from a larger city or burgh. So, his accent would be quite different to that of the locals. And his ear would be trained to hear things differently than the way the locals spoke. For example, I had a terrible time trying to find the marriage record of my great great grandfather, Henry Fowler. I tried every parish surrounding where I knew him to be. I tried a few years either side of the marriage year. Then I tried the "wildcard" I used F*ler. This time I found him! He was listed as Henry FULLER. Once I saw the name, it made perfect sense. I could literally see him standing at the door and the census taker asking, "Surname?" and my great great grandpa answering "Foolur". The "oo" being the brogue when he was enunciating Fowler. And the census taker mistakenly thinking he had said that his surname was FULLER. For more on using wildcards on Scotland's People, visit their website at: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=551&663
