Abernethy and Auchtergaven 1832 electoral rolls online

The electoral roll for the Perthshire parish of Abernethy is the latest to be transcribed for the county and placed online by Colin Mayall of Caledonian Connections at http://caledonianconnections.com .

UPDATE: Auctergaven, including the villages of Banfoot and Stanley is also now online.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

1911 Ireland census site updated

A further five counties have been added to the National Archives of Ireland's 1911 census website. Returns for Cork, Donegal, Wexford, King's County and Galway can now be searched at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search .

For further plans on the next stages of the release schedule, visit my earlier blog entry, 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses - offical update on release.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

Walking tours of Belfast's 'Hidden History'

A series of free walking tours is being promoted by Belfast City Council, exploring almost 800 years of the city's history through various archaeological excavations, as part of the city's archaeology month. The tours take place every Wednesday in June.

For more information visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8072395.htm

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

Ulster Scots centre opens in Donegal

A new Ulster Scots tourism centre, funded by the Irish Government, has been opened in County Donegal. The Monreagh Manse heritage centre seeks to explain the story of the Ulster plantations and the subsequrnt history of Scottish settlers in Ireland, as well as their descendants in Canada and the United States. The centre was initiated by the Insititute of Ulster Scots Studies at the University of Ulster.

For more information read the university's press release at http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2005/1948.html . The manse also has its own website at http://monreaghheritagecentre.ie/ .

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

Borders Festivals through the years

The BBC has a selection of pictures, courtesy of SCRAN, on its website depicting various festivals in the Borders down the years, such as the Lauder Common Riding. They can be viewed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/8072129.stm

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

Society of Genealogists workshop - My Ancestor was Scottish

A big thanks to the Society of Genealogists in London, and in particular to Mike and Lori, for their hospitality yesterday when I was down giving a couple of talks. Also thanks to everyone who turned up for the talks!

It was my first visit to the SoG, and I was extremely impressed with the set up, and in particular at the amount of Scottish material that is held in its library, which ranges from compiled Scottish pedigrees to copies of vital records, as well as an impressive range of books. The society's holdings can be viewed via its online catalogue, SOGCAT, accessible through www.sog.org.uk.

The Society is running a day long workshop on Saturday 30th May, from 10.30am to 5.00pm entitled "My Ancestor was Scottish", essentially an introduction to how we do things differently up here genealogically. The programme is as follows:

10.30 A look at vital BMD records, census and OPR records found at ScotlandsPeople, both online and at the centre in Edinburgh (Alan Stewart)

12.00 Wills and Inventories, and other records currently being digitised (Alan Stewart)

2.00 Scottish nobility and heraldry (Peter Beauclerk Dewar)

3.30 Scottish sources held at the SoG (Else Churchill)

4.45 Q&A (Else Churchill)

The cost for the day is £24 for members, £30 for non-members, and tickets can be booked through the website. (Bring a packed lunch!)

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

Heraldry - New Ormond Pursuivant of Arms appointed

An official announcement from the website of the Court of the Lord Lyons, the body responsible for regulating heraldry in Scotland:

Ormond Pursuivant of Arms

The Lord Lyon King of Arms has offered Mr. Mark Dennis the office of Ormond Pursuivant of Arms with effect from 1st June 2009 and he has been pleased to accept.

For more on the Court of the Lord Lyon, visit www.lyon-court.com .

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

How to Say That Name

A new website provides a pronunciation guide to certain surnames, which might help with your research. The site at http://howtosaythatname.com at first glance seems to be useless for Scottish names. The first name I typed into the search box was MacGillivray, the surname of my 2 x great granny. It gave a beautiful rendition of the name, so I decided to look up the Scottish surnames section to see how many surnames it had. Bizarrely, it had one - MacGillivray!

In fact, there are other Scottish names on there - Campbell and MacDonald are both apparently Irish surnames, for example, and others appear in the American surnames section - so best bet is just to use the main search box and forget the way they have been categorised. Even so, the list is limited at present, but will hopefully expand over time.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional genealogical problem solving and research

Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides

An interesting new book has gone online at Electric Scotland, Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides, by Alexander Carmichael, first published in 1884. It contains some interesting info on the old runrig system in the Western isles and alos some old hymns and other miscellany. The book can be viewed at www.electricscotland.com/history/grazing.htm.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Limerick city to be given coat of arms

The city of Limerick in Ireland is finally being granted an official coat of arms. The arms used by the city for hundreds of years were never formally registered, which will now be corrected at a service later this month.

For more on the story, visit the Limerick Post's coverage at the following link: Limerick to have coat of arms confirmed

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving