Transporting of British Convicts Abolished

On May 22, 1840, the transporting of British convicts to the New South Walescolony was abolished. Do you have convict ancestors? Here are some databases that may be worth a look: 

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/info-guides/convicts 

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/on-this-day-in-history-australias-last-convict-ship-docks.htm

Wordless Wednesday

 

Tombstone Tuesday - Ramshorn Cemetery Glasgow

Many of the City's merchants are buried in Ramshorn Cemetery. In spite of their wealth, their tombstones are incredibly simple:

History From A Genealogy Perspective

We all see the world from our own unique perspective. And much of that perspective is based on life experience: education, career, hobbies, situations we have lived through, books we have read. While trawling about Glasgow and Edinburgh recently, I found that even some unlikely things can be seen as "genealogy". I know that there is an entire specialty in the field of genealogy regarding tracing house histories. It involved pouring over land documents and deeds. But just look at how the genealogy of these buildings can be discovered just by reading the door jamb:

 

 

Similarly, the entire "genealogy"of the Order of the Thistle is documented on these walls in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh:

 

 

Lots of information on the genealogy of both the buildings and the Order of the Thistle. Not quite sure how you cite "written on the wall" as a source, however!

Tracing Your Scottish Rural Ancestors

If you have ancestors who owned or worked on farms here are a couple of databases you may wish to check out. The information you are seeking may not be online, but you can certainly send a query to the archivist for each database.

ROYAL HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND

http://www.scottishrecordsassociation.org/summaries_004.htm 

This database holds History and Accounts for the Society as well as information pertaining to their Shows & Competitions. Additionally, they have records for:

~St Kilda

~Agricultural Statistics

and what they classify as Miscellany:

~Aberdeenshire quarries, manuscript accounts by James Blaikie; 

~Descriptions, memoirs and reports of coalfields;

~Argyll Naval fund accounts and applications;

~Scottish Agricultural Committee for Relief of the Allies letter;

~Scottish Red Cross Agriculture Fund papers  

 

SCOTLAND'S RURAL PAST

http://www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk/ 

This database is looking to compile information about the "vanishing settlements and landscapes" that once dotted the country.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Our Last Day

Today is our last day together as a group. It has been a busy but productive journey. This was also the final day for tying up loose ends in our research. And we capped the evening off with a good old fashioned Scottish Ceilidh at the Taste of Scotland Show at historic Prestonfield. A wonderful way to end our time together and to immerse ourselves in our heritage.