Scottish GENES

Sunday, 6 July 2025

The National Archives (Kew)'s oldest document featuring the Anglo-Saxon language

There's an interesting post about the langiuage of Old English on the English based National Archives website, concerning their oldest item containing the language, a charter from 974 AD for the Anglo-Saxon king Edward. Now the history of Edgar has nothing to do with Scotland, but it is interesting to see vestiges of Old English which later evolved into the English language that we use today in Britain, including Scotland, albeit our dialects here have been heavily influenced by Scots and Gaelic through the centuries!

Most of the document is actually in Latin, but a tiny part detailing lands in question are written in Old English. You can read the article at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/edgar-charter/ and see the document itself at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/whats-on/exhibitions/stories-unboxed/.

Incidentally, there is a Teach Yourself Old English (Anglo-Saxon) course available, as written by Mark Atherton - you can see further details via Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yourself-Complete-Anglo-Saxon-Aug-27-2010-Paperback/dp/B00C47KOOO/.

Chris

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.

Irish Lives Remembered 63 now available

The latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered is now available at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/product/irish-lives-remembered-issue-63/.

The issue contains the following:

Articles:

Eamonn P. Kelly – St Brendan: The Seafaring Saint Who Found Paradise
Brigit McCone – Irish on Ice: Arctic Explorers of Erin
Fiona Fitzsimons – Shania Twain: the Celtic Pedigree of Canada's Queen of Pop
Brian Mitchell – Alexander Ector Orr: “Father of the New York Subway”
Fiona Fitzsimons – ILR Interview: Sandra Delamere and Maeve Foreman on Dublin's AIDS Crisis
Helen Moss – The Diceman Cometh Home: Tracing Thom McGinty's Wicklow Ancestry
Katharine Simms – Saints and Scholars: the O'Hickeys and Other Hereditary Medical Clans
Deirdre Powell – Kathleen Mary O'Rourke – Health and Fitness Pioneer
Donna Rutherford – Cousins bythe Dozens: Managing DNA Matches Without Losing Your Mind!
Rob Flanagan Stieglitz – Chronology of a Chromosome 2: My Matrilineal Journey from Africa to Ireland!

Regular columns:

Heritage Highlight – Craggaunowen Castle & Crannóg
Dear Genie – Can Grandfather Brownless' Birth Family Be Found? [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
Dear Genie – Finding a Family Member's Final Resting Place [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
Emerald Roots Interview – Helen Moss, Senior Researcher, Irish Family History Centre

Books and Films:

Brigit McCone reviews Frontier (created by Rob and Peter Blackie, 2016-18)
Four Courts Press Book Excerpt – Irish Nurses in the NHS: An oral history, by Louise Ryan, Grainne McPolin and Neha Doshi (2025)

Chris

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

New additions to the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland project at https://virtualtreasury.ie has added further records to tie in with the 103rd anniversary of the destruction of thre Four Courts in Dublin. The following are amongst the new releases, as detailed on the site at https://virtualtreasury.ie/2025-new-releases :

Explore new discoveries shared by more than 75 partner archives and libraries across the island of Ireland and around the globe.
View a total of 350,000 historical records telling Ireland’s story — from medieval rolls to the pre-Famine census.
Start your research though three new Portals – doorways to periods in Ireland’s story:
Age of Conquest Portal – five million words of Anglo-Norman (1170-1500) Irish history translated into English.
Age of Revolution Portal – these documents illustrate the drama of the 1798 Rebellion and Ireland’s links to the American Revolution.
Population Portal – these genealogical riches include 50,000 names from the 19th-century census destroyed in 1922.
Focus on the fascinating new Gold Seams.
View ‘The Royal Revenue, 1270–1450’ — the culmination of five years’ work to fully digitise and translate the largest series of late-medieval Irish documents in The National Archives (UK).
Discover our Knowledge Graph, a powerful new tool for identifying people and places, and the links between them, in the records.

The 50,000 census names made available through the Popularion Portal are from the destroyed 1821 census, with many surrogate copies made from the original records prior to their destruction.

Have fun!

Chris

Friday, 20 June 2025

FindmyPast adds incoming UK passenger lists and naturalisation records

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added two new databases that may assist those with ancestors who came to Scotland and Ireland, as well as the wider UK.

Britain and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-and-ireland-incoming-passenger-lists-1878-1960

These records were digitised from the original series held at The National Archives as BT 26, Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successor: Inwards Passenger Lists.

Britain & Ireland Naturalisations
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-and-ireland-naturalisations-1603-1700

The blurb notes that this second dataset will cover the years 1844-1990, with 413,558 new records, although the dataset actually linked to still states the coverage to be 1603-1700, with no sign of the records from 1844-1990 - perhaps someone has still to press a button somewhere!

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/incoming-passenger-lists

Chris

Tuesday, 17 June 2025

The Scots and Gaelic languages gain official status in Scotland

A major development has just happened concerning Scotland's indigenous languages, Gaelic (Gàidhlig) and Scots. As an Ulsterman with a Scots background, and as a speaker of Scottish Gaelic, I was properly impressed by the dignity and unanimity of our parliamentary representatives in Holyrood this afternoon at the third and final debate stage of the Scottish Languages Bill (https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/s6/scottish-languages-bill). The final bill, as passed, is available to read at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/legislation/bills/s6-bills/scottish-languages-bill/stage-3/spbill39bs062025.pdf and gives both languages official status in Scotland.

Its new measures include:

introducing educational standards for Gaelic and Scots
establishing Gaelic and Scots as official languages
supporting the creation of areas of linguistic significance in Gaelic communities so that ministers can better target policies to support the language’s growth
enabling parents in every part of Scotland to apply for Gaelic nursery and early years places for their children
ensuring that more qualifications are available in Gaelic
introducing targets on the number of people speaking and learning Gaelic

(Source: Scottish Government https://www.gov.scot/news/scottish-languages-bill-passed/)

About three quarters of the Bill covers Gaelic, and a quarter Scots.

As well as establishing Gaelic as an offical language of Scotland, the new bill extends current provisions for Gaelic, including the ability for local authorities to create areas of linguistic significance (with parliamentary oversight), which can apply to areas where there is a population of whom at least 20% have Gaelic language skills, or where the area is historically connected with the use of Gaelic, or is an area is one in which teaching and learning by means of the Gaelic language is provided, or if the area is one in which significant activity relating to the Gaelic language or Gaelic culture takes place. To an extent the measure is a nod towards the concept of Irish 'gaeltachts', where the Irish language is given special status in Ireland. There is also a requirement for our Government to have a national Gaelic strategy. Scottish Ministers may give guidance to relevant public authorities relating to Gaelic language plans (how about a Gaelic Language Plan at the NRS?!). There are also significant amendments to the 1980 Education (Scotland) Act with regards to Gaelic education provision.

As someone who has just passed a year long Gaelic immersion course at the University of Glasgow, and well supportive of the language, I am equally as proud of the fact that Scots is finally to be recognised as an official leid of Scotland. For many years it has been ludicrous that the only place in the world where the language had any legal status was my home country of Northern Ireland, where the Ulster dialect of Scots has a degree of legal protection, alongside the Irish language. Whilst the Bill is weaker on its commitment to the Scots language - something which was clear in the debate today also - it has its foot on the ladder at long last, and is long overdue. It is not bad English, or 'slang' - it's a centuries old Germanic language which has been compromised by its proximity to English, but which has survived.

If you're a die-hard bore of a monoglot English speaker who can only say how "the money can be spent better elsewhere", all I can say to you is either "thalla gu Hiort" or "awa' an' boil yer heid"! Scotland is the sum of its parts, and none are more integral to its very soul than Gaelic and Scots.

It's a good day for Scotland, its history, its culture, its languages, its soul - and its future.

Chris

National Records of Scotland seeks to create 'customer advisory panel'

The National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) has announced that it is seeking to create a 'customer advisory panel', with representatives from the general public. I have no idea if this is a genuine effort to become more transparent, or an effort to create a body with which it can say that something has already been run past its customer advisory panel, should further criticisms be levelled its way, but I would sincerely hope that it is the former.

From the archive's blog post at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/customer-advisory-panel-applications-open/ the following is what they are seeking representation for:

The purpose of the panel is to give our customers the opportunity to get involved in planning and decision making at a strategic level. Panel members will also provide vital feedback to inform improvements across a wide range of services.

The panel should represent a wide range of NRS services from statistics, extract services, historical search room, archive depositing, Scotland’s Census, the Scotland’s People service and the Scottish Register of Tartans.

There are no further details as yet on how the panel would work, how frequently it would meet, or indeed where it would meet (i.e. online or at the archive). Compared to the archive's former ScotlandsPeople user group, which dealt with the platform and search room exclusively, the remit does seem much larger, and so it will be interesting to see whether concerns for the family history and academic communities will be adequately catered for. For what it is worth, the following are issues that I would wish to see it deal with:

NRS and ScotlandsPeople search room issues
Website issues (functionality, advance testing, new releases)
Customer service issues
Archive cataloguing and deposit updates by NRS
Key stakeholder engagement - the general public, academia, ASGRA, SAFHS, the media, the Scottish archive sector
Implementation of a Gaelic Language Plan (it doesn't seem to have one, unlike the National Library of Scotland).
How the archive plans to promote itself to the public - and not just from the comfort of Edinburgh (it is a national archive after all - the NLS can illustrate good practice here)
Regular publication of minutes

This is a great opportunity for NRS to try to mend some of the reputational damage that it has endured in recent years, and I wish it the best in achieving that goal.

The closing date for applications is August 8th 2025 - please click on the NRS blog link above for details on how to apply.

Chris

New Tipperary records added to RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

We are delighted to announce the addition of almost 9000 new Roman Catholic baptismal and marriage records from South Tipperary to the Roots Ireland database! They are as follows:

6,393 baptisms, 1834-1905 (Knockavilla RC parish);
2,404 marriages, 1834-1905 (Knockavilla RC parish).

For an up to date list of sources for South Tipperary and to search these records, go to rootsireland.ie/tipperarysouth and login or subscribe as required.

Yours Sincerely
rootsireland.ie

Chris

Monday, 16 June 2025

My university has confirmed I can speak Gaelic!

I'm delighted to announce that I have been awarded a Cert HE with Distinction in Gaelic with Immersion, from the University of Glasgow (a Cert HE is equivalent to the first year of undergraduate study, i.e. first year of a degree), with three A/Excellent grades for reading and writing, listening and speaking, and community. The course, which I have been studying full time since last September, was taught through the medium of Scottish Gaelic, with me attending the Gaelic and Celtic Department in Glasgow every day from 10am-3pm to study. In addition to thirty-six assessments, the course included me having to contribute to a Gaelic speaking tour of the University for World Gaelic Week, and concluded with three weeks on the island of South Uist, where we were immersed with the local Gaelic speaking community. This was my eighth year of attending a university in the last thirty-five years, and I can honestly say that it was by far the most enjoyable - but I think that's me now sorted on the academic front for a bit!

Scottish Gaelic is a part of me - my grandfather's family were from the Highlands (Highland Perthshire, Invernesshire and Rossshire), and I have evidence of several ancestors having spoken the language - and it has been an absolute pleasure to reclaim it as one of my ancestral tongues, one which I now use on a daily basis, alongside English. I'm hoping to explore some Gaelic opportunities in the coming months, in addition to continuing my genealogy work. Whilst I now consider myself functionally fluent, I still have a hell of a way to go, but it's going to be fun now to find and create opportunties to push myself even further!

A big thanks to Kathleen Reddy, Ruaraidh Mac an t-Saoir, Alasdair Mac Gille Bhain, and Eilidh Nic Carmaig for their tuition over the last year, as well as to Sara Robertson and Ruairidh Greumach, and especially to all my fellow students. Chòrd a h-uile rud rium gu mòr!

For information on the Gaelic Immersion course at the University of Glasgow, visit https://www.gla.ac.uk/study/cpd/gaelicwithimmersion/.

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

Chris

Friday, 13 June 2025

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

Scottish GENES

Pages

Sunday, 6 July 2025

The National Archives (Kew)'s oldest document featuring the Anglo-Saxon language

Irish Lives Remembered 63 now available

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

More Scottish content added as British Newspaper Archive passes 93 million pages

New additions to the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland

Friday, 20 June 2025

FindmyPast adds incoming UK passenger lists and naturalisation records

Tuesday, 17 June 2025

The Scots and Gaelic languages gain official status in Scotland

National Records of Scotland seeks to create 'customer advisory panel'

New Tipperary records added to RootsIreland

Monday, 16 June 2025

My university has confirmed I can speak Gaelic!

Friday, 13 June 2025

One month until the next Scottish Research Online course