I won't be writing any more books for Pen and Sword

Having written a few books for publisher Pen and Sword (https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk) over the last decade, I occasionally get asked by folk if they are worth writing books for, or how to go about it. I was always quite supportive in the past, but in the last couple of years the company has seemingly stopped promoting books as they used to, to the point where new books barely get reviewed, and with sales nothing like what they used to be. 

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, the publisher has also failed to pay its authors their latest due royalties for spring 2026 (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2026/06/continued-delay-with-pen-and-sword.html). On Monday, authors received another update from managing director Charles Hewitt, as follows:

Dear Author

I am writing to provide you with an update regarding the problems we are having with the software that we use to calculate royalties. As per my previous email, royalty payments have been delayed as we have not been able to use the software to process the royalty statements due to issues with the software. We need to use the software to calculate royalties as we have over 9,000 product lines, most of which have over 100 royalty rules to assess.

Whilst we have made significant progress and despite the team working over the weekend, we are still not in a position to run the royalty report. We are much closer to being able to run the report and believe that we will be able to do this by the end of this week.

I apologise firstly for the delay in receiving your royalty statements and secondly because the information I have previously passed on to you has been inaccurate. I do however feel that the target we have now set is achievable. I would like to thank you all for your patience in this matter which I understand has been frustrating for everyone concerned.

With best wishes

Charles Hewitt
Managing Director

This has turned out to be another lie, no such royalty statement has been forthcoming.  

I'm incredibly proud of the family history books that I have written over the last ten years which have been published by Pen and Sword, and would encourage you to check them out (I'm sure I'll receive royalties at some point!) but I won't be writing any more books for the company. For the limited royalties now available, it's not worth it, and combined with them not even being paid, it's really something of a no-brainer.

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Continued delay with Pen and Sword royalty payments

Publisher Pen and Sword (https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk), which publishes and extensive range of family history publications, has still not paid royalties to authors which should have been distributed in March/April. A reason given for the delay by an email from managing director Charles Hewitt on 30 April noted the following:

I am writing to let you know that we continue to experience issues with the software that we use to calculate royalties and this has delayed us in issuing royalty statements and payments during April 2026.

We know what the problem is and we know how to fix it, but unfortunately it’s not a quick fix and therefore payments might not be made until the end of May 2026.

We apologise for this inconvenience and will continue to do all we can to ensure that statements and payments are issued as soon as possible.

I would like to thank you for your patience and understanding with this matter.

I have tried calling last week and today to ask for an update, as well as post messages through their social media channels, and keep getting asked to write to their accounts department, who never answer, and who apparently all work from home - even though last week when I called I was advised that an individual who could answer had gone out to lunch but would call me on his return (and never did).

Fingers crossed a bit more professionalism will kick in at some stage soon.

 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Williams Roulston's Researching Ulster Ancestors 1800-1914 now available to buy

From the Ulster Historical Foundation (https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com):

Great news! Researching Ulster Ancestors, 1800–1914 is now available to order from our bookstore.
  
Researching Ulster Ancestors, 1800–1914 provides a comprehensive guide to the rich range of genealogical sources available for the nine counties of Ulster during the “long nineteenth century,” up to the eve of the First World War. It not only identifies what records exist and where to find them, but also brings them to life through carefully chosen examples—demonstrating how they can be used effectively to uncover your family history.
  
Written by Dr William Roulston, author of the bestselling Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600–1800, Researching Ulster Ancestors, 1800–1914 will become an indispensable resource for Irish family history research. 

To order the book, visit https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/shop/products/ulster-ancestors - an ebook version is also available from https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/shop/products/ulster-ancestors-ebook. 

Comment: I pre-ordered a copy a few months back, when it arrives I will review it. I'm expecting good things! 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Delay with Pen and Sword books spring royalties

This one is for my fellow Pen and Sword book authors:

Dear Author

I am writing to let you know that we continue to experience issues with the software that we use to calculate royalties and this has delayed us in issuing royalty statements and payments during April 2026.

We know what the problem is and we know how to fix it, but unfortunately it’s not a quick fix and therefore payments might not be made until the end of May 2026.

We apologise for this inconvenience and will continue to do all we can to ensure that statements and payments are issued as soon as possible.

I would like to thank you for your patience and understanding with this matter.

Best wishes

Charles Hewitt
Managing Director

Comment: Sigh... The royalties are late this year, so I emailed them yesterday to ask what was going on - this is the first that I have heard of any software issues at the firm. Let's hope this gets sorted asap.

 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Review: Genealogy Methods and Techniques: A Practical Guide to Research, by Dr. Karen Cummings

A huge thanks to Harriet Hurley at The Crowood Press for sending me a review copy of Karen Cummings' new book, Genealogy Methods and Techniques: A Practical Guide to Research. The following is the description for the book from the website: 

This book takes the reader on a journey through a series of research strategies, providing guidance at every step of the way. With clear explanations, real-life case studies and over 100 tables, charts and illustrations, it will equip you to apply best practices to your own research right from the start.

The following is my impartial review.

Genealogy Methods and Techniques: A Practical Guide to Research, by Dr. Karen Cummings (The Crowood Press, 2026; £16.99)  https://www.crowood.com/book/genealogy-methods-and-techniques/ 

Many would-be genealogists believe that family history research involves simply diving into online databases and copying other people's family trees from online resources, letting what can be found with ease guide the research process, rather than the skills and consideration of the genealogist that are actually required for successful research. 

Thankfully, Karen Cumming's new book takes a welcome and thoughtful look at the necessary methodology for an effective ancestral pursuit. As she notes in her introduction, "It is quite easy to create a family tree these days. With such a wealth of material available at your fingertips online you can work back through the generations quite quickly, creating a family tree in no time at all. It is easy to create a family tree, but how do you know it is your family tree?"

Structured across eleven chapters, Karen tackles the subject matter with a welcome non-academic tone, exploring what it means to carry out research, and how to be effective in doing so, with her book packed with tips and case studies to guide the reader along the way. 

The introductory chapter defining the nature of family history research is followed by a step-by-step approach to the basics in the subsequent four chapters, inviting you to lay and check the foundations of your research, how to get organised with your research, how to evaluate evidence (what does a document tell you, but also, what does it not tell you?), and how to identify and record the sources consulted (in both academic and more simplistic formats). In Chapter 6 she then looks at how archives categorise their holdings, and how to effectively look for their records on catalogues and datasites (and how to look for gaps in their holdings), and then from Chapter 7 considers how to effectively plan for research by creating source surveys. 

Chapter 8 is one of the bigger chapters, discussing how to put research together, with many effective case studies to illustrate some of the challenges involved, followed then by a detailed consideration of standards in Chapter 9. This chapter includes considered coverage of two standards codes used to help genealogists work out if they are on the right track with their efforts, one from the Society of Genealogists in London called the 'Standards and Good Practice Guide', and then the American based Genealogical Proof Standard, followed by other useful techniques to help with problem solving, such as family reconstitution and the mapping of ancestors' locations. 

Chapter 10 is then a bit of an oddity, a short and well-written look at the use of DNA in family history research, with some methodological considerations for that as a particular field of research, but which does feel a little bit out of place compared to the preceding chapters. This may simply be a reflection of just how different a research tool it is to the traditional archive based resources used by genealogists covered earlier in the book, and which Karen quite rightly notes must still be considered when carrying out genetic genealogy research. Chapter 11 concludes with a simple afterword to the whole tome. 

Mercifully written in plain English rather than in a more formal academic tone adopted by other works in the field, this is a very effective guide that will help the humble genealogist stay on track with their research. Each chapter is clear, concise, and well illustrated, concluding with a summary of key points and action points to consider in going forward. 

Whilst the book almost exclusively relies on English based records alone for its case studies, the point of the work is to show how to find records - any records - and how to consider them and employ them for your research, and thus the techniques discussed can be just as effectively applied to research sources in Scotland, Ireland, or anywhere else in the world. Genealogy Methods and Techniques is a cracking work which I have no hesitation in recommending to all those wishing to become genealogical researchers rather than genealogical sheep!

(With thanks to Harriet) 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Big discounts on Pen and Sword family history books

Hi folks, 

Pen and Sword Books' Family History imprint currently has a sale on in the UK, with large discounts on many titles. The following are some of my books' RRP and sale prices, as examples:

• Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, RRP £14.99, SALE £7.50
• Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, RRP £14.99, SALE £7.50
• Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, RRP £14.99, SALE £7.50 
• Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, RRP £14.99, SALE £7.50  
• Sharing Your Family History Online, RRP £12.99, SALE £6.50 
• Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland, RRP £14.99, SALE £12.79 

(Prices exclude postage) 

For my books specifically, you can access these via https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Chris-Paton/a/1799. 

For the full range of Pen and Sword titles, visit https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk.

Please note that my titles can also be purchased in the United States via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/author/chris-paton/ although there is no sale on there just now through that site (sorry!).

 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

New edition of J. H. Andrews' Plantation Acres book on mapping in Ireland now available

Newly available from the Ulster Historical Foundation (https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com):

Plantation Acres: Mapping Ireland, the Irish land surveyor and his maps, by J. H. Andrews

Professional land surveyors first appear in Ireland during the Elizabethan period as alien intruders into a system of land reckoning that was still largely medieval, and until the end of the seventeenth century their main role was to measure and map the lands that were confiscated by the government for redistribution to British settlers. 

Later they were chiefly employed in the survey of private estates, but they also contributed to Ireland’s Georgian age of improvement by mapping intended streets and buildings and by laying out roads, canals and drainage schemes, as well as by demarcating many of the proprietorial and tenurial boundaries required by a growing population of farmers. 

While the most extensive surveys of this era came from a small number of wealthy firms based in Dublin, there were also hundreds of country and small-town practitioners, many of them doubling as farmers, school teachers or tradesmen, whose maps seldom depict more than a single townland.

The Irish land surveyor’s most enduring legacy survives in the map collections of Ireland’s major public libraries and record offices, and these have provided much of the material for a book which is intended to interest historians, geographers, and all those concerned with the changing character of both rural and urban landscapes.

Note: THIS IS A REPRINT OF THE 1985 ORIGINAL. THERE IS NO NEW TEXT BY THE AUTHOR, BUT INCLUDES A MUCH EXPANDED INDEX AND NEW PREFACE BY THE LATE AUTHOR AND A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ARNOLD HORNER. 

For further details on the book, and how to purchase, visit https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/shop/products/plantation-acres - the purchase price is £24.99, plus postage.

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.

A special plea to buyers of Pen and Sword family history books

A special plea to anyone who has recently bought any of my Pen and Sword family history books – and indeed ANY recent Pen and Sword family history books, by any author - from https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, https://www.penandswordbooks.com, or other book selling platforms.

In the past, when a new title was published, the publisher would send out review copies to various interested individuals, and those reviews would then help to drive sales. Pen and Sword has seemingly now stopped doing this, and indeed when challenged about it recently, the response was "why don't you write an article about your book for us, and we'll plug it on social media" - which is not really the kind of support you want from your publisher after having already put together over 50,000 words on the topic! They can already promote it on social media without an article - and it's simply not the job of authors to write reviews of their own books.

To highlight the impact, after five months there is but one review on my latest book on the P&S website - and it isn't even the full review - with just one review also on Amazon. By contrast, my previous book had 11 reviews on the P&S website, and the one before that 29. “I didn't think the new one would be that bad Chris” I hear you say! But it's not just me that is being affected. To give another example, the latest edition of DNA: A Guide for Family Historians by Graham Holton, John Cleary, Michelle Leonard, Iain McDonald, and Alasdair MacDonald, published just a month after my book, has similarly only had one review featured (and just three on Amazon) - to put that into context, the previous edition of that same title, published Dec 2022, had THIRTY reviews on the P&S site. When a book on DNA is not even getting some reviews, the most popular subject in the genealogy world (and a bloody good book at that!), then it comes across that the publisher has seemingly decided to abandon its responsibilities on this front. 

So the plea is this! If you have recently published a review on any of my books, or have had one published, please do let me know (I can pass it on to P&S and insist they add it to the relevant page) - but also, if you have bought ANY Pen and Sword genealogy books recently, particularly any new releases, PLEASE, if possible, please let the authors know so they can do likewise. Please also do leave a review on Amazon, or whichever platform you purchased it from, if not from the P&S site. 

Reviews don't need to be an epic as long as the book, it can be as short as “It does what it says on the tin!” (or something more critical!), or just a star-based review (i.e. how many stars out of 5), but believe me when I say that every little helps, and that along with my fellow authors, I will love you all even more for doing so than I already do!!!

It has become harder in recent years for genealogy authors to make money from their publications, but at least in the past the publisher would try to support the work they were producing. I fear those days are fast disappearing, and we'll soon be entering an era where we will also be defending ourselves against AI droids replacing us all anyway (and probably trained on content that we have previously written) - so please do support genealogy authors, whilst they are still a thing, with a quick review.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy all our collective efforts. We're very proud of what we do, and we put a lot of love and work into what we do!

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.

Free access to the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (UK only)

The first edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, published 2016, is currently free to access on Kindle in the UK via Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictionary-Family-Britain-Ireland-ebook/dp/B01N41TEO3/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR29TPLqpnoL8tCXjBMaJhM3a3v0KNeHPl2srv2fYyfg-PSPIPgyRgy6zjI_aem_dVq-Gj5CRh7Au93Z3vCsoQ.

An initial browse through it has found most of my family's ancestral surnames, and I have been impressed with the definitions provided. Irish names are covered, as well as Scottish, although it does seem that more effort has gone into researching the English names. Nevertheless, this is a useful book, so perhaps grab it while you can!

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.

Scottish Baronial Families 1250-1750, by David Dobson - review

The Genealogical Publishing Company has kindly sent me a copy of David Dobson's new book, Scottish Baronial Families 1250-1750, for review.

Under Scotland's old feudal system, baronies were erected as administrative areas in Scotland, with their chief overseers, the barons, being the Scottish equivalent of the English 'lord of the manor'. Barons were not a peerage rank, with a baron only being a baron so long as he retained the barony to which he had been granted a right to oversee - or to be more accurate, so long as he retained the 'caput' of the barony, where the barony courts were held. As a feudal possession. baronies were heritable, and could thus be passed down to an heir. The role of baronies and their barons diminished following the passing of the Heritable Jurisditions Act of 1747.

David's book provides a concise introduction to the topic, summarising the role of the barons in Scottish society, and identifying the limited number of baronies for which records have been published. There then follows the main event, an alphabetical listing of over a thousand baronial familes known to exist over a 500 year period from 1250-1750. The main source used by David is The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, and in the introduction he notes that for more concise information on the families themselves, Margaret Stuart's Scottish Family History (1979, GPC, Baltimore) should be consulted. 

The book does not act as a manorial documents register, as found down south, it identifies the individuals known to have held baronies, and when they were granted the right to do so, with no further source citations noted in most cases, apart from a very general bibliography noted in the introduction. This means that if you wish to chase records for those noted, many of which are in private hands, there will still be some work to do for the reader. In addition, an index of barony placenames might have been a useful addition, which is unfortunately missing. 

Nevertheless, this is still a very useful guide to those known to have held baronies in Scotland, a much under-used source for local records. An appendix at the end also identifies some Scots-Irish baronets, not to be confused with barons, these being created for entiriely different purposes from 1611 as a means to fund the Plantations of Ulster and the settlement of Nova Scotia.  

Scottish Baronial Families 1250-1750, by David Dobson, is available to buy from the Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore Maryland, USA, priced at US $35. For further details visit https://genealogical.com/store/scottish-baronial-families-1250-1750/.

(With thanks to the GPC for the review copy)

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.

Pre-order my new book Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland

I'm delighted to say that my new book is now available for pre-order from Pen and Sword at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Researching-Ancestral-Crisis-in-Ireland-Paperback/p/51770, at an introductory price of £12.79 (RRP £15.99) plus postage. The book will be published on February 28th 2025. 

Entitled Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland: A Guide for Family Historians, the book looks at the moments in our Irish ancestors' lives where things went wrong, and how they were documented. Here's the back cover blurb:

Ireland is an extraordinarily beautiful island from which millions can claim their direct ancestry. But Ireland is also an island which has experienced some truly extraordinary moments of crisis which will have directly impacted our forebears, helping to shape us into the individuals that we are today. Whenever such crises happened, whether on a national scale or within the home, there was invariably somebody standing close to hand with a quill and parchment to document the misfortunes that befell so many.

In this latest book, family historian Chris Paton takes a look at some of the darkest episodes of Irish history over the last four hundred years, as well as the everyday crises that affected everyone throughout their lives. He will discuss the impact of many major events on our ancestors, including colonisation, conquest and rebellion, as well as the various pressures endured from within the family, the church, and the state.

Along the way Chris highlights the records that can help us to show the various trials and tribulations faced by our ancestors, which can help to vividly bring our family histories to life, including those available both online and within Ireland's many local and national archives.

And the following is the chapter breakdown:

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Timeline

1. Irish Family History Research Basics
    Births, marriages and deaths
    Church records
        Roman Catholic records
        Protestant church records
    Census records
    Wills
    DNA
    Gateway sites
    Irish archives
    British archives
    Libraries
    Commercial vendors    
    Newspapers
    Societies
    Commercial research services

2. Family events and relationships
    Births and illegitimacy
    'Fallen women'
    Mother and baby homes
    Foundlings
    Orphans
    Adoption
    Home children
    Marital issues
    Separation and divorce
    Bigamy
    Homosexuality
    Death
    Suicide
    
3. Law and Order
    Brehon laws        
    English law
    The Crown courts
    Local courts
    Grand juries
    Manor records
    Church courts
    Police and prison records
    Transportation
    Execution

4. Poverty and health
    Poor law
    Deportation of Irish paupers from Britain
    Public health concerns
    Hospitals and public health
    Asylums

5. Them and Us
    The Plantations of Ulster
    The 1641 Rebellion
    The Cromwellian Conquest
    The Penal Laws
    The Great Famine
    The Land War
    The Home Rule Crisis
    The Suffragettes
    The Dublin Lockout
    The First World War
    The Easter Rising
    The War of Independence
    The Treaty and the Civil War
    The Legacy of Conflict

I hope you enjoy the book, I've put a lot into it!

** Please note that the book will be available in the United States from April 2025, retailing at US $28.95 - see https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781036110376/researching-ancestral-crisis-in-ireland/ for details.

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.

Place-Names of Carrickfergus and Broadisland

On Saturday 1st June I took the ferry over the Irish Sea to attend the book launch in my home town of Carrickfergus of Philip Hoy's Place-Names of Carrickfergus and Broadisland, a superb book examining the origins of placenames in the East Antrim town, whether derived from the Irish language, Scots, Norman French, or English. 

I had the pleasure to talk to Philip prior to the event, and he discussed how the book was the result of a Facebook project he started a few years ago in 2021, Placenames of Carrickfergus (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069750918867). Philip is from an Ulster Scots background from Carrick, and has spent a few years learing the Irish language, and has applied what he has learned diligently!

The book is broken down geographically into placenames by tuath (a sub-kingdom), then parish and townland, with each entry noting the modern name, its Irish equivalernt, likely meaning, and then a grid reference as to where to find it. A surpise for me was to learn that the village of Eden, where my dad grew up intially on the outskirts of Carrick, had nothing to do with the Biblical Eden, but instead comes from the Irish equivalent of the Scots Gaelic word aodann, meaning face, with the original name being Éadan Gréine, meaning sunny face. You live and learn! 

If interested in obtaining a copy, keep an eye on Philip's Facebook page, and it will also be available on sale locally in Carrick. And it's throughly recommended! 

It was also great to meet Linda Ervine for the first time, who has been doing such great work with Turas in East Belfast in promoting the Irish language - you can find out more about course run there at https://turasbelfast.com.  

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.

Special offer from Ulster Historical Foundation on Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors

From the Ulster Historical Foundation (https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com):

DON’T MISS THIS SPECIAL OFFER! Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600–1800 is ONLY £12.99 until 30 April 2024 (Usual price: £19.99)
https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/shop/products/researching-scots-irish

Running to more than 600 pages – more than double the length of the first edition of the book –Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors is a ‘must have’ resource for Irish family history.

Whether your ancestors are of English, Scottish or Gaelic Irish background, whether their religious affiliation was Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic or other, whether they were farmers, merchants or labourers, this volume will be of enormous value to anyone wishing to find out more about their Ulster roots.

More detailed information is included on the importance of church and land records and new chapters explore the value of records relating to charitable bodies, fraternal organisations and businesses. There is also a discussion of potential sources of information on emigration. A set of parish maps for each county in Ulster has been included and along with a listing of more than 600 places in the province giving the parish location. 

 

Comment: This is an excellent book by William, I'd thoroughly recommend it!

(With thanks to the UHF)

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.

Update on Evidence Explained availability in the UK

After my recent review of Elizabeth Shown Mills' new fourth edition of Evidence Explained (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2024/04/evidence-explained-4th-edition-by.html), I was contacted by Murray Archer from Glasgow of West of Scotland FHS to say that he had been unable to obtain a print copy of the book from Amazon, or from Genealogical Publishing Company's overseas printing partners, who apparently don't cover the UK. 

I've been in touch with Elizabeth, who tells me that she was informed it was due to go onto the UK Amazon site at the start of April, and she is now currently chasing up her publisher about this. I know from my own experience that when my books are published in the UK, it is usually a few months before it then appears on overseas Amazon domains, so I suspect this is just the same thing happening in reverse. 

Hang in there, therefore, it shouldn't be too long before it become available, but if you can't wait, the e-version is certainly available for now (see previous blog post above)!   

(With thanks to Murray and Elizabeth)

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.

Evidence Explained 4th edition, by Elizabeth Shown Mills - review

Elizabeth Shown Mills' book Evidence Explained has now reached its fourth edition. So what is the book, and how can it help genealogists?

When carrying out genealogical research we come across all sorts of soures that can contribute to the narrative being pursued. We need to consider the evidential value of each source - is it accurate (just because it is written in black and white, or found on a website online, that does not necesarily mean it is true!), is it a primary or secondary source, can the evidence in a source be corroborated by other sources, and much more. Or to put it more simply, trust nothing, question everything! When sources are combined, we can create a proof for an argument that something happened to someone at a particular time and place, but along the way we may find that some of the sources used in such a proof conflict with each other. This is why we need to understand how and why particular sources were created, in order to evaluate their efficacy for our research. Even then, the research is never complete - it may take just one new source previously not found to completely upend a previously concuded theory within a proof. In addition to all of this, we also need to be able to create descriptions of where and how our sources are found, using citations that can allow us to easily find them again should we need to, and/or to allow others to also locate the same piece of evidence in due course. 

In this updated edition of Elizabeth's book, long viewed as an essential within the genealogical profession since its first publication in 2007, she initially explains the nature of proofs, sources and evidence, before then turning to the various ways that source citations can be constructed. She then discusses the fundamentals of what makes a citation and how to build one, with various templates - for example, how do you cite a book or magazine article that you have found, or a particular website. 

Subsequent chapters look at particular classes of records that we may wish to engage with - archives and artifacts, business and institutional records, cemetery records, census records, church records, and more. There are particular suggested citation solutions given for sources found from across the world, with Scotland and Ireland included, for example in how to cite Scottish civil registration records, or the earlier Old Parochial Records, as well as sources such as Griffith's Valuation and the Irish Registry of Deeds. 

The book is written from a US perspective, and there are occasional factual errors when crossing the ocean - Scotland did not unite with England in 1607, for example (the Crown of both countries was merged in 1603, with the political union with England in 1707), and there is an odd solitary reference to "Griffith's Evaluations" - however, this is a not genealogy how-to book, but a guide on how to create adequate source citations. Those quoted for this side of the Atlantic are very effective, and there is enough information from other types of sources to allow individuals to construct their own bespoke citations for particular situations which may not be included. 

There are, of course, many possible ways to cite sources. When I studied at Strathclyde University, for example, we were encouraged to use the Harvard style of referencing, which I still use to an extent to this day (although I use a more simplified version when constructing client reports). As Elizabeth herself notes, "Citations are flexible structures. As with any type of structure, certain elements are essential while others are optional. Standard building blocks can be assembled in various ways to fit each need". So whilst some may use Elizabeth's book to try to find a definitive way to cite a source, that may slightly miss the point - the key point is that there are basic elements to consider when citing a source, however you try to structure that, and to train you how to think about the very nature of the sources that you may be attempting to use to create a proof. 

There is a lot to learn from Elizabeth's momentous work, and as such, this latest edition, brought up to date within its 744 pages to reflect the ever changing range of resources becoming available for our research, is an invaluable addition to the genealogist's bookshelf. 

Evidence Explained is available to buy from the Genealogical Publishing Company at https://genealogical.com/store/evidence-explained-4th-edition/; the book is available in both print and ebook formats.

(With thanks to the Genealogical Publishing Company for a review copy)

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.

Two new publications from Moray and Nairn Family History Society

Moray & Nairn Family History Society (http://www.morayandnairnfhs.co.uk) has published two new publications:

Burghead War Memorial & Burghead Cemetery Burial Register 1869-1883 & 1896-1944
Available from Moray & Nairn FHS at only £8 each, p&p extra.
Email publications@morayandnairnfhs.co.uk

1855 Deaths as Reported in Nairn Newspapers 1845-1854
Available from Moray & Nairn FHS at only £5 each, p&p extra.
Email publications@morayandnairnfhs.co.uk

 

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.

New 4th Edition of Elizabeth Shown Mills book Evidence Explained

From the Genealogical Publishing Company (https://genealogical.com):

Announcing the New 4th Edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, by Elizabeth Shown Mills

For today’s family historians, records abound. In courthouses and warehouses, town halls and rectories, archives and attics, we find old records in every form imaginable. Technology also delivers documents and relics through many digital formats. Audio files, podcasts, and YouTube stream insight into past lives. Libraries offer film and fiche, reprints and revisions, and translations and transcripts, alongside digital access to books and journals published previously in print.

However, all records are not created equal, and history is not just a collection of “facts.” Critical analysis is essential, and since 2007 Evidence Explained has been the definitive, go-to guide for those who explore history and seek help with understanding, analyzing, and citing the materials they use.

Evidence Explained has two principal uses: it provides citation models for historical sources—especially materials not covered in standard citation guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style. Beyond that, it enables researchers to understand the nature of each source so that the evidence they cite can be better interpreted and the accuracy of their conclusions properly appraised.

In the six years since the last edition was published, changes at major repositories and online information providers—as well as in the ever-evolving electronic world—have generated new citation and analysis challenges for researchers. As a consequence, Elizabeth Shown Mills has once again updated her citation models and added descriptions and evaluations of numerous contemporary materials not included in the previous edition.

The new Fourth Edition of Evidence Explained significantly re-examines historical resources and simplifies long-standing practices. Highlights of the Fourth Edition include:

• Updated Chapters One and Two (“Fundamentals of Analysis” and “Fundamentals of Citation”) continue to lay the foundations for successful research.
• An entirely new Chapter Three, “Building a Citation,” provides a tutorial for the construction of citations. Here, you learn to work with seven basic building blocks that can be mixed and matched to create a citation for any kind of source.
• Chapter Three’s 14 streamlined templates replace the previous 170 QuickCheck Models, assembling the basic building blocks as needed to create citations for every type of material—whether accessed as an unpublished manuscript, print publication, database, or online image delivered at a specific URL or through a complex path and its waypoints.
• All examples in the twelve “Records” chapters (Chapters Four through Fifteen) are keyed to the specific templates that work best for each source or situation.
• Hundreds of new citation examples emphasize modern modes of access, particularly the layered citations that modern media require.

For further details and to purchase visit https://genealogical.com/store/evidence-explained-4th-edition/

Comment: This is a manual that shows how to create genealogical source citations. Having been trained through the University of Strathclyde's Genealogy programme, we were taught to cite sources using the Harvard referencing style, but I still have Elizabeth's book to hand to offer suggestions in certain circumstances, whilst adopting a slightly different approach within my client reports. The key thing is to understand the needs for, and the discipline behind, genealogical referencing for sources, and Elizabeth's guide is a superb asset to help with that.

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.

The Hebridean Baker comes to Stewarton

Last night I had the great pleasure to meet Coinneach Macleod, the Hebridean Baker (https://hebrideanbaker.com), at two events in Stewarton. Coinneach was invited to the town by local book store The Book Nook (www.booknookstewarton.co.uk) and local Gaelic learners group An Teaghlach (www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550570384292), and at 6.30, about a dozen learners in the town first met him within The Book Nook for an informal session. Upon arrival Coinneach immediately gave those attending a copy of the lyrics to a Gaelic puirt-a-beul (mouth tune) called Seònaid NicGumaraid (Janet Montgomery), which he then spen half an hour teaching us how to sing, which was an unexpected but fun experience!

At 7.00 we all relocated to the library, where Coinneach was then interviewed by Sarah, the owner of The Book Nook, where he shared many stories with us of his life and work on Lewis, as well as his current career. At one point he sang three puirt-a-beul, and the Gaelic group, seated at the rear, were suddenly invited to act as his backing singers for the first of the three, yup, Seònaid NicGumaraid!

There then followed a Q&A, which I managed to ask a couple of questions - the first to pass on my condolences for the loss of wee Seoras, his wee Highland Terrier who recently passed away, asking him to sahre stories about him, and the other to ask about the state of Gaelic today. I told him I had tried thirty years ago to learn the language for a few years, but had felt very unsupported, but that this time, having decided to die on a hill trying to get to fluency, I had found it a completely different experience - I asked him if he had noticed whether here was such a change in Gaelic's fortunes, to which he agreed, stating that he thought so too, there's never been a better time to have a go!

After an entertaining hour we were able to get copies of Coinneach's book signed and to get selfies etc. I managed to have a chat with him for a couple of minutes in Gaelic about Cape Breton, which he had mentioned during his talk, and a place I visited when working for STV in 1999. At one point my wife mentioned to him that I used to work for Rhoda MacDonald at the company (who used to present the Gaelic learners' series Speaking Our Language), to which he responded "I'm having dinner with her tomorrow evening in London!", which was completely unexpected, so I asked him to pass on my best to her. It's a small world...!

Coinneach's new book The Hebridean Baker at Home is predominantly a recipe book, but also contains many stories and anecdotes from his family, as well as the history of the island, covering everything from the Fairy Flag of the Macleods to the sinking of the Iolaire after the First World War. It's a great read, and a worthy addition to your library!  

Mòran taing a Choinneach, bha e math tachairt riut! (Taing cuideachd do Julia Preston aig An Teaghlach, agus dhan Book Nook)

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.

Special 2012 edition of Peter Christian's "The Genealogist's Internet" now available on the Internet Archive

Peter Christian has very kindly made available through a Creative Commons license a version of the last edition of his book The Genealogist's Internet, published in 2012, on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/the-genealogists-internet/.

In this version, Peter has not updated the main text, other than to replace any links that can still be updated - in other words, this is very much a book that describes the online world twelve years ago, rescuing as many of the links as can be that have since changed for sites that still work, but also identifying those that no longer work as being broken. In his email to me he explains the new version as follows:

Please bear in mind that this is not a new edition -- it is the text of the 2012 edition, largely unchanged. Inevitably, a number of sites — mainly the smaller ones — have disappeared, and for major sites the detailed descriptions are now sometimes out-of-date. Usually, though, that is simply because the original material has been moved or reorganized.

In fact, over one third of the links in the original 2012 edition are now broken. But for this version all the links have been newly checked, and several hundred broken links have been updated to the current location of the material. The remaining broken links are marked as such but will still give readers an idea of the sort of material it is worth looking for online.

To give just two examples where the book stands out as being of its time, for Scottish Catholic research, this edition points to ScotlandsPeople for access to the parish registers, which in 2012 was absolutely the place to look, and which still hosts some records. However, today, FindmyPast hosts over twice as many of the available records for Scotland. Similarly, in 2012, the Fianna website is the site referred to for Irish Catholic records, whereas today most surviving pre-1880 records have been made available by the National Library of Ireland at https://registers.nli.ie, with many third party derivatives and indexes also now available. Nevertheless, as Peter suggests, the book will still provide a workable access to some records, and to give an idea of just what might be out there if searched for by other means. 

Despite being dated to 2012, there is still a great deal of additional value in Peter's work, including background information on many of the collections as recorded, with some for Scotland and Ireland, but of course, in particular for English and Welsh sources. One slight issue when looking up chapters is that in the browser based version I have seen at https://archive.org/details/the-genealogists-internet/ there is no internal pagination, and the chapter headings in the contents are not hyperlinked to the relevant page, so there may be a little trial and error if seeking to go to a particular chapter straight away - not an issue, of course, if you simply start at the beginning and work your way through!

Peter has written a new introduction to this online edition, and has very kindly recommended my Scottish and Irish internet themed books within this as being much more recent for those areas, as well as my Sharing Your Family History Online book, which he notes as "particularly recommended as a supplement to the present work because of the major changes affecting social media covered in Chapter 18." You can find my books in the UK via https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Chris-Paton/a/1799 and in the US via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/search-grid/?keyword=Paton. 

With regards to Peter's book, he further suggests that "probably the best format for reading is the ePub version, while the Microsoft Word file is intended mainly for those wanting to reuse or adapt the text. There is also a web version on my own web site at www.spub.co.uk/tgi/."

(With thanks to Peter)  

Update: Peter has contacted me to say that if you download the ePub, all the internal links to chapters and individual pages should work.

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.

David Dobson's Irish Emigrants in North America - Consolidated Edition review

The latest consolidated edition of books from Dundee based historian David Dobson has been released by Clearfield Company through the Genealogy Publishing Company. The volume, at 835 pages in length, is entitled Irish Emigrants in North America: Consolidated Edition Parts One to Ten, and, as suggested, brings together ten volumes on the topic, as originally published between 1994 and 2020.

There were several waves of migration from Ireland to the American colonies, to the West Indies, and to Canada. These included Irish prisoners transported to the colonies by Cromwell in the 17th century, as well as those who deliberately placed themselves in the position of indentured servants, as a means to seek an easier passage to a new life. There were over 200,000 'Scotch-Irish' who migrated from the north of Ireland from the early 18th century, descendants of predominantly Lowland Scots who had migrated as colonists to Ireland in the previous century, and of course, the largely Roman Catholic 'Famine Irish', those fleeing from An Gorta Mór in the mid-19th century on board 'coffin ships' (although some Catholic Irish had already travelled to settle in places such as Maryland, long before this).  

In David's books, he has sifted through and indexed entries from a range of primary and secondary sources, such as the British Parliamentary Papers, the Irish House of Lords papers, newspapers, the national archives of Scotland (NRS), England/UK (TNA), Denmark, the USA and Canada, local archives at home, and in Canada and the USA, muster rolls, prisoner lists, university and library records, and much, much more. Each person's entry provides a brief summary of any genealogical information found, and details of their migration.

The books themselves are produced as facsimile reproductions of the original volumes, and so you will find that the layout of each varies slightly, and some archival resources will be listed under their former names, e.g. the 'Public Record Office' instead of 'The National Archives'. Helpfully though, there is a new consolidated name index for all ten volumes, as compiled by Jana Broglin, and new pagination for the 835 pages included, meaning that you only have to turn to p.765, for example, rather than a specific page number in Volume 10.

The books are, of course, not complete - there are plenty more sources out there! - but if you have not started with David's works, you have missed a very obvious starting point, and as such, this volume is yet another useful finding aid worthy of addition to the bookshelf of any Irish genealogist.   

The book is available to buy from the Genealogical Publishing Company at https://genealogical.com/store/irish-emigrants-in-north-america-consolidated-edition-parts-one-to-ten/, priced at USD $85.

(With thanks to Joe Garonzik at the GPC for a supplied review copy)

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.