Cancer gene traced back to Shetland island of Whalsay pre-1750

There's an interesting story on the BBC about how a DNA propject, Viking Genes (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/10/viking-genes-project-seeks-volunteers.html), has allowed scientists to determine that a particular cancer cauing gene has been traced back to the island of Whalsay, and to a family living there prior to 1750.    

For more on the story visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrryqx4v51o

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.

British Newspaper Archive approaches 77 million pages, with Shetland and Lewis content recently added

The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) is now fast approaching 77 million pages of content, with 76,977,219 pages available at the time of writing. 

Most of the Scottish and Irish additions of the last 30 days are from recent years, but of interest to readers with Western Isles connections will the fact the Stornoway Gazette is now available for much of the period from 1967-1988, whilst Shetlanders will be happy to see much of the Shetland Times from 1912-1979. 

The following are the recent additions for Scotland and Northern Ireland (there's nothing added for the Republic):

Scotland:

Buchan Observer and East Aberdeenshire Advertiser
1985, 1987

Banffshire Herald
1918

Shetland Times
1912-1931, 1933-1947, 1951-1979

St. Andrews Citizen
1872-1874, 1969-1984, 1986-1988

Falkirk Herald
1986

Motherwell Times
1983-1985, 1989

Mearns Leader
1975, 1993

Broughty Ferry Guide and Advertiser
1981, 1983-1986

Fife Herald
1986-1988

Forfar Dispatch
1953-1984, 1986

Brechin Advertiser
1984-1985

Montrose Review
1818, 1839, 1844-1845, 1960-1986

Edinburgh Evening News
1993, 1995

Fife Free Press
1958-1970, 1983-1986

Arbroath Herald
1964-1980, 1983-1984, 1986

Kirriemuir Herald
1971-1974, 1977-1979

Glenrothes Gazette
1986-1993

Deeside Piper
1986, 1988-1994

Fraserburgh Herald and Northern Counties' Advertiser
1993-1994

Stornoway Gazette and West Coast Advertiser
1967-1971, 1975-1985, 1988


Northern Ireland:

Ballymena Observer
1994

Banbridge Chronicle
1980-1984, 1986-1991, 1996-1998

Belfast News-Letter
2002

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.

Shetland Family History Society gravestones project

There is an article in a recent edition of Shetland News about a project by Shetland Family History Society (www.shetland-fhs.org.uk) to photograph every surviving gravestone in the islands.

You can read more about the project, already three quarters complete, at https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2021/12/09/family-history-project-aims-to-photograph-every-gravestone/.

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Sharing Shetland online conference - November 27th 2021

From Shetland Family History Society (www.shetland-fhs.org.uk):

We are pleased to announce that the Shetland FHS will be holding a free Virtual Conference on Saturday the 27th November (UK time). This will be on Zoom and hosted by Scottish Indexes.

We have three speakers lined up – Laughton Johnston talking about Shetland Captains 1850-19; Jon Sandison giving a guide to the Commonwealth War Graves in Shetland; and Professor Wendy Wickwire talking about James Teit, the renowned Shetland anthropologist. We are waiting confirmation of our fourth speaker, who will be announced in due course. We will finish with a live open question and answer session on Saturday evening (UK time).

The talks are being pre-recorded so that they will be available online enabling people in every time zone to see them over that weekend.

Registration is online and now open, you can do so by clicking here.The event is completely free but if anyone would like to help us offest the costs of hosting, a small donation can be made if you wish via the red "Donate" buttons on this website.

(With thanks to Emma and Graham at Scottish Indexes)

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.