One month until the next Scottish Research Online course

The next Scottish Research Online course from Pharos Tutors (www.pharostutors.com), taught by myself, starts in a month's time on July 14th 2025. 

Scottish Research Online (102)
Tutor: Chris Paton

Scotland was one of the first countries to digitise its major family history records collections for accessibility online, and continues to this day to use such resources to promote a worldwide interest in family history for those with Caledonian connections.

This course describes the major sites and record types that you will encounter in your research, and how to analyse the results. It compares and contrasts many of the key websites available for Scottish research, drilling down to key features within each to help improve a users knowledge of what is contained within the presented records, and equally important, what is not. It explores the key resources for vital records such as births, marriages and deaths, as recorded by the state from 1855 onwards, and the usefulness of the decennial censuses from 1841-1921 in connecting family members and branches together.

Prior to civil registration there are the records created by the Church of Scotland as the state church, with the course exploring access to its Old Parish Registers (OPRs) on ScotlandsPeople and through FamilySearchs various finding aids. In the final lesson, wills and inventories generated by Scotlands confirmation process are explored, with some of the many differences flagged up between the records of Scotland and the rest of the UK, thanks to the distinctly different legal system north of the border.

Most importantly this course will inspire you to actively pursue your interest in Scottish genealogy and take it to the next level.

Lesson Headings:

    * Understanding Scotlands People, FindmyPast, Family Search, Ancestry, and FreeCen
    * Essential Maps and Gazetteers
    * Civil Registration and Census Research
    * Searching in Church of Scotland Registers
    * Scottish Wills and Inventories

Note: it is recommended but not required that students in this course sign up for the basic search option, 30 units/seven days, at ScotlandsPeople (cost is £7.50 for 30 credits)

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chats See How Courses Work.

STUDENTS SAID: 

'I particularly liked the fact that the course didn't just focus on the well-known BMD resources available, but on a much wider range of websites, including many which give extremely useful background information on the geography and history of the localities where our ancestors lived.'

'Excellent tuition from Chris Paton; very good course materials; well-paced; excellent value for money. I very much liked the opportunity to work at my own pace.'

Relevant Countries: Scotland
Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 14 July 2025
Cost: £70.00

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available - Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Extension of British Newspaper Archive project

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) and the British Library (www.bl.uk) have extended their newspaper digitisation collaboration, with more promised content for the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.com). 

The project, which has already passed 90 million pages of digitised content, will deliver another 70 million pages over the next five years. When the partnership was initially created in 2011, the goal was to create forty million pages over ten years, so this will see the initial aspirations more than quadrupled (you can read about the initial launch of the project at https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2011/11/british-newspaper-archive-beta-initial.html).

For further details visit https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/renewed-british-library-findmypast-partnership-70-million-further/.

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Decoding Hidden Heritages site launches

From Will Lamb, Professor of Gaelic Ethnology and Linguistics at The University of Edinburgh, via Facebook.

On this auspicious day - Latha Chaluim Chille / St Columba's Day - we have exciting news for anyone passionate about Gaelic folklore... our brand-new 'Hidden Heritages' website (www.hiddenheritages.ai) is now live!

This unique digital resource presents over 5000 Irish and Scottish folktales from the National Folklore Collection in Dublin and the School of Scottish Studies Archives in Edinburgh. The original paper-based texts have been enhanced using semi-automatic AI transcription. It’s the result of three years' hard work on our AHRC and IRC-funded project, 'Decoding Hidden Heritages', led by myself and Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh at Dublin City University.

Check out our latest blog posts to learn more:

https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/garg/2025/06/09/launching-a-treasure-trove-of-gaelic-folktales-welcome-to-hidden-heritages/
https://www.gaois.ie/en/blog/colm-cille-decoding-hidden-heritages

And please explore the site and share with others. Let us know what you find! Dallaibh oirbh! 

NB: There are a mix of stories in English, Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and Irish (Gaeilge). 

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

National Records of Scotland exhibition to explore railway tourism

The National Records of Scotland will be unveiling a new exhibition to tie in with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Entitled Scots on the Move: Railways and Tourism in Victorian Scotland, the exhibition will be held between 4-29 August 2025 in General Register House’s Adam Dome on Princes Street. It will be free to visit.

For further details visit https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/exhibition-explores-history-of-railway-tourism/.

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Emma Maxwell on WDYTYA

Fans of Emma and Graham Maxwell, the dynamic duo behind Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com), will be interested to know that Emma appeared on this week's Who Do You Think You Are? episode, which followed the ancestry of comedian Diane Morgan. In the programme Emma demonstrated the use of Scottish sheriff court records.

You can find the programme on the BBC iPlayer (UK and Ireland only). 

 If based overseas, a clip is available at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19SQkGriZW/.

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Victorian era books which can cause arsenic poisoning

Do you have poisonous books in your library?! If your very old book has a green cover, you may wish to read this article on the BBC website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2y9xq58no. It seems that in the Victorian era bookbinders used arsenic as well as mercury and chrome to create, which can cause low level arsenic poisoning. The National Library of Scotland has located a few such copies which have now been removed from its shelves.

More details in the article - and happy reading!

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

National Records of Scotland appoints six new non-executive directors

The National Records of Scotland (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk) has appointed six new non-executive directors (NXDs). They are:

• Albert King, Chief Data Officer at NHS National Services Scotland.
• John McDonough, University Librarian at Dublin City University.
• Victoria McGloin, Scotland-based technology consultant
• Karis Raeburn, Chief Archivist at the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
• Bryan Robertson, Chief Operating Officer at the National Galleries of Scotland.
• Jennet Woolford, a senior statistician at the Office for National Statistics.

For further details visit https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/new-non-executive-directors/.

From what I can see on the NRS website's Boards page (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/about-us/our-boards/#), these NXDs will attend meetings of the NRS Strategic Board and will "offer their experience" and "identify opportunities and emerging issues that ought to be taken into consideration by the archive". 

Incidentally, something I have just discovered on the new NRS website is the publication of minutes of various NRS boards, in a welcome sign of transparency - links to these are on the Boards page. Whilst the minutes for the NRS Strategic Board meeting from 11 December 2024 are available, those from the noted meeting on 12 March 2025 are not, but other group minutes are included from this year.

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

US release of my latest book, Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland

My latest book, Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland, was released by Pen and Sword Books in the UK a couple of months ago, but the US has now also made it available from its Pen and Sword distribution base in Pennsylvania. To order a copy in the US, please visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781036110376/researching-ancestral-crisis-in-ireland/ - the book costs US $28.95 for a paperback copy, or US $14.99 for a digital download (various formats).

The following is a great review that has recently been added to Amazon:

"A wonderful resource for Irish genealogy and history research. This is a great resource for learning research basics for Ireland and understanding the laws and different time periods better to get to the records/sources. This slim 160+ page book is a great starting place for Irish family history research as it is not as intimidating as say "Tracing Your Irish Ancestors" by John Grenham with its 600+ pages, but is concisely organized to help its readers get a good working knowledge of the lay of the land at several key historic time periods, the laws and general life events/situations. There are a variety of case studies throughout the volume that can be insightful."

And from Who Do You Think You Are? magazine (July 2025):

"Even if your forebears don't fall into this category, the book is worth reading to understand how those who governed the island of Ireland treated the vulnerable, poor and marginalised over several centuries." 

I hope it helps!

Chris  

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Newmilns Heritage App

The recently launched Newmilns Heritage App has been commissioned by the Newmilns Heritage Association. Developed by the Newmilns Heritage Group, it has been funded from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The app was launched on Saturday, 10th May 2025, at a Heritage event in Newmilns Church Hall.

The impressive app includes a self-guided one-hour walking tour around the East Ayrshire town, a treasure hunt at Loudon Parish Church graveyard, eye spy challenges around the town, audio and video media content, maps, and more. 

The app is free to access via Google Play Store or Apple's App Store. For further details visit https://www.lovenewmilns.org/newmilns-heritage-app.

Chris   

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

FindmyPast's latest vague Scottish records additions

Some very vague Scottish additions this week to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk): 

Scotland, People of the Black Isle, Ross and Cromarty

FindmyPast states this to be a new set comprised of 7,239 records, covering 1338 to 1850. They also note the areas covered include the parishes of Avoch, Cromarty, Killearnan, Knockbain, Rosemarkie, Urquhart & Wester Logie. What they don't do is tell you what the source for the records are, other than the note at the bottom of each entry stating them to be copyright Bruce Bishop. As the following summary shows, FindmyPast's entries alone are not enough to look for additional information on a particular event without further details:

Bruce is a well respected Scottish genealogist who has spent many years working through kirk session records, parish registers, estate papers, and other sources, to identify named indviduals, and has produced many books detailing his findings. In this collection, it looks like the source is kirk session records - these are freely savailable on ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk), but are not keyword searchable, so you will need to browse through to try to find any relevant entries. 


Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists

"We added 739 records to this existing collection, covering over 100 years of Scottish history." Unfortunately there are no further details about what has actually been added.

Come on FindmyPast, you need to up your game.

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.