An Evening Out

On Thursday evening after a busy week of resesarch, we had dinner together as a group at Deacon Brodies.

The tavern is named after William Brodie, a city Deacon and businessman (carpenter) who by night was a thief to support his gambling habit. Brodie and his double life were the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson writing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The meal was a great way for us to share our findings and ancestral stories.

Following dinner some of us went on a trip down Mary King's Close and into the Edinburgh Vaults.

 

 

Historic Edinburgh Resurrectionist Tour of Greyfriars Kirkyard

On Wednesday night, we enjoyed a fantastic guided tour of Greyfriars Kirkyard. The tour is run by Historic Edinburgh Tours. Our guide for the Resurrection Tour was Robert. And it was terrific!

 The tour is called the Resurrectionist Tour, not because they dig up bodies, but because the guides resurrect the stories of some of the more interesting characters whose bodies are buried in Greyfriars.

We learned about cemetery symbolism

 These are all symbols of death

Note the ring in the middle of the stone. This is the memorial for George Heriot, a jeweller

We also learned about the importance of Greyfriars in terms of Scottish history and it being the place where the National Covenant was signed. There is a Martyrs Monument dedicated to those who perished for their beliefs

 

 

We peered into a couple of mausoleums

 

 

 

Including the mausoleum for the infamous McKenzie Poltergiest

 

 

 

 

We learned about different forms of torture including thumb screws

 

 

And we learned about body snatchers and mortsafes

 

 

 

In spite of the cold, it was a very enjoyable, very informative tour of old Greyfriars and I look forward to bringing another group next year. Thank you, Robert & Paul and Historic Edinburgh Tours!

 

 

 

 

Great Sucess, Great Craic, Great Research This Week

We have had a busy but successful week in locating and connecting our Scottish ancestors.

Participants have had two full days at ScotlandsPeople Centre where some were able to make the connections they needed to prove a direct line. This was done through the use of the Old Parish Registers, Wills and Testaments. Others were able to read and transcribe births marriages and deaths more recent than the privacy laws allow for online viewing. Yet others were able to flesh out some of the personal stories of their ancestors through the Kirk Session records. We found evidence of irregular marriages, fornication and banns read then cancelled.

The participants have also spent a full day at the Scottish Genealogy Society. Although there wasn't a lot of headway made here, it was a great time with lots of laughs and stories shared.

 

And today, we visited the National Library of Scotland. Again some good success here. One participant found a very old published family history that contained here great, great grandparents. Others were fascinated with the maps of the areas where their ancestors lived. Trades directories, emigration guides and estate papers were also consulted with some good success in fleshing out the social history of our ancestors.

And now the weekend is upon us. One couple has gone to Whithorn to see their ancestral village. Others will be doing the same this weekend with Ian Walker of Borders Journeys. One couple have ancestry here in Edinburgh so hope to get to wander around the streets their ancestors lived on and to visit the churches and graveyards.

This will be an opportunity for me to connect with family and get caught up on all that has taken place in the last year.

Edinburgh's Closes and Courts

While waiting for the accounts keeper at the SGS to have a free moment, I took a wee wander around some of the old closes and courts that run off the Royal Mile

 

I love that the old closes open up into rather magnificent courtyards

A door to one of the old vaults

 

Lady Stair's Close leads to the Writers Museum. There are some wonderful quotes in the stones of the courtyard

 

 

 

 Go back far enough and all humankind are cousins ~ Naomi Mitchison

 Where are the links of the chain...joining us to the past?

~Dorothy Dunnett

 

 Auld Reekie wale o ilka town

~Robert Fergusson

I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness

~John Muir

father of America's National Park System

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Calton Cemetery Edinburgh

On Tuesday I had the chance to indulge my taphophilia and took a wander around Old Calton Cemetery in Edinburgh's east end.

I was amazed at the size of some of the tombs and mausoleums in the old cemetery.

As well, I was amazed at some of the names of people buried here. Some of Edinburgh's important historical figures.

I wandered over to what I thought was a guard tower (to stand guard against the body snatchers) and discovered that in fact this was a rather large monument for David Hume, one of the fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Although tucked away from the hussle and bustle of its Princes Street entrance, this is one old cemetery worth a wander around.

And The Research Begins

Along with the sightseeing and family get togethers comes the real purpose of our trip - genealogy research.

Tuesday saw us going as a large group to the Scotlands People Centre. Here we were given a family history talk by the Centre Director, Iain Ferguson. He is enlightening and entertaining and we were ready to get tucked into the records after listening to his talk.

There were some computer glitches and the first day was a bit of a learning curve since the system in house is a bit different to the web system.

At the end of a very busy day, it was back to the hotel for some personal time.

On Wednesday, the group was split into two to make the best of the research space at the Scottish Genealoy Society. So first off, half of the group was taken back down to ScotlandsPeople Centre. Some were in the research room downstairs and some made use of the Historical Reading Room and the National Archives upstairs.

Then the other half of the group was taken over to the Scottish Genealogy Society. As we wandered through the Old Town and overlooked the Grassmarket, we were able to learn about the history of some of the buildings along the way to the SGS. Here we were met by Charlie Napier who gave us a short talk on the resources available. This was then followed by a tour of the facilities and then we were able to get down to research.

All too soon, it was time to collect the group from ScotlandsPeople Centre. It turned out to be quite a successful day, with many documents being found. There was lots of laughter as we shared the antics of our forebears.

Then is was a quick walk over to the SGS to gather the group  from there. I met up with most of them who were already walking back. They didn't have quite the same success as the group downtown, but enjoyed the day and the stories of the volunteers at the SGS.

Now it was time to grab a quick bite and refresh before heading out on a Resurrectionist Tour of Greyfriars Kirkyard.