University of Strathclyde lecture by Lord Lyon King of Arms

The Lord Lyon King of Arms, William David Hamilton Sellar, will be giving a lecture at the University of Strathclyde, as part of its "town and gown" lecture series, on Wednesday 18th February 2009. The venue is Lecture Room 1, the McCance Building, 16 Richmond Street, Glasgow, G1 1XQ. Doors will open at 5.30pm for a 6pm start, and the topic will be "Supporters in Heraldry".

Whilst the event will be free, admission is by ticket only, and these will be made available three weeks prior to the lecture from:

The Centre for Lifelong Learning, Level 7, Graham Hills Building, 40 George Street, Glasgow G1 1QE.
Tel: 0141 548 4828 e-mail: mary.mcwhinnie@strath.ac.uk

For those not in the know, the Lord Lyon King of Arms is the head honcho at the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is based in Edinburgh and which is the legal body responsible for all things to do with heraldry in Scotland.

Chris

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

National Archives of Scotland announces files to be released

The National Archives of Scotland has announced the 1470 or so files which it will be releasing on January 1st 2009 as part of statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, which sees the 30 year closure of government files expire, transforming them into 'historical documents'.

The list is available as a PDF file (requiring an Adobe reader) at www.nas.gov.uk/documents/Gfilesopen2009articlelist.pdf .

Chris

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

University of Glasgow course - Researching and presenting local history

A course entitled "Researching and Presenting Local History" is being taught by Dr. Ronnie Scott at the University of Glasgow from January 14th. The following are the details:

Do you have a favourite building, place or organisation you'd like to
know more about? Interested in researching the history of your house?
Come and be guided through the process of researching local history, and
pick up some helpful hints on presenting your results. The course
introduces a wide variety of sources, including official records, maps,
photographs, censuses, directories and newspapers.
Presented by Ronnie Scott BA MPhil PhD, £56.00
19.00-21.00 Wednesdays from 14 January 2009
(8 meetings) St. Andrew's Building, Glasgow University

More details: http://www.gla.ac.uk:443/departments/adulteducation/

To book:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/adulteducation/courses/enrolment.html

Information for students with disabilities:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/adulteducation/students/important.html

Chris

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

Digging Up Your Roots - new series

A new eight part series of BBC Radio Scotland's Digging Up Your Roots returns this Sunday 4th January 2009 at 12.05pm. In the first episode, presenter Claire White, assisted by genealogists Bruce Durie and Billy Kenefick, looks at how centuries of migration have affected Scotland.

Included in the first episode is the story of the Michael Reilly's Coatbridge Irish Genealogy Project and the story of John Millar's Lithuanian ancestry.

For more on the series, visit www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/features/digging_up_your_roots/.

Chris

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

There's been a murrrderrr....!

The website of the National Archives of Scotland has an online case study depicting the records it holds concerning a 100 year old murder. On December 21st 1908, 82 year old Marion Gilchrist was bludgeoned to death in her house whilst her maidservant was out buying a newspaper. A man called Oscar Slater was found guilty of the crime, and served over 18 years detention, in what many belived to be a grave miscarriage of Scottish justice. Amongst those fighting to clear his name was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

To read the story and to examine the holdings of the National Archives, which reveal that story, visit www.nas.gov.uk/about/081214.asp .

Chris

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

Famous Scots exhibition update

The ScotlandsPeople Centre website has provided an update on the forthcoming Famous Scots exhibition:

Starting with Billy Connolly we are exploring the family history of six well-known Scots throughout the Homecoming Scotland 2009 year. We will be looking into their ancestry in a series of six exhibitions, and we will show you how to trace your own Scottish family history in the ScotlandsPeople Centre.

Each of the exhibitions will deal with aspects of carrying out your family search. All the documents we will use are publicly-available, and will reveal aspects of the Famous Scot’s past – their ancestors’ occupations, where they lived, and how their lives were shaped by the changing communities to which they belonged.

An interactive resource provides a step-by-step guide to help you begin your own journey of discovery. That journey can continue in the ScotlandsPeople Centre when you leave the exhibition.

The exhibitions are being staged in the very centre of Scotland’s family history archive – surrounded by tens of thousands of registers in which the lives of Scots from the 16th century to the present are inscribed.

In the meantime, some information on many famous Scots can be found at the Scotland's People records website at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=546&453

Chris

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

Ulster Historical Foundation and IFHF records - rate of exchange

For some time, the Ulster Historic Foundation has bizarrely made available the same birth, marriage and death records at two separate websites, and at two separate tariffs. On the UHF's pages at the Irish Family History Federation website (Antrim at http://antrim.brsgenealogy.com/ and Down at http://down.brsgenealogy.com/) each record costs 5 Euros to view. The main UHF website at www.ancestryireland.com/database.php has the same records available for £4 each, or £2 if you are a guild member (i.e. if you are happy to pay an annual membership of £30).

For a considerable time I had advocated a boycott of both the IFHF and UHF sites on cost grounds and on the lack of fields to help narrow searches down. However, with its considerably improved search interface and its reduction in prices, I recently came around to the much improved IFHF site, but with the rate of Sterling now plummetting fast against both the Euro and the Dollar, I should advise that it is now unfortunately much more expensive to use the IFHF sites to search for records for counties Antrim and Down. Five Euros is now worth about £4.80, which means if you use the IFHF site, each record will cost an extra 80 pence compared to the UHF site.

This is a real pity, as the IFHF have made considerable leaps and bounds with their site in recent months, and until just a couple of months ago, it was much cheaper to use than the UHF site. The reality of the credit crunch is that the exchange rate has unfortunately undone a great deal of the organisation's recent good work. It is to be hoped that the IFHF may look again at its rates in light of recent developments, as it is becoming increasingly more difficult to afford from a British point of view.

Chris

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

Wanlass family history mystery

I have been contacted by Jay Wanless Southwich concerning a family mystery of his, which he has asked me to share with readers, to see if they may have a connection. Jay is trying to find out about a Scottish ancestor, James Wanlass (1825 – 1895), a miner who didn’t know his parents, but who shares a Y-chromosomal DNA profile with a baker named James Wanless (1827 – 1877). They both lived in the Edinburgh area, and Jay thinks they may have been cousins.

Jay has created a blog on the subject at http://www.jameswanlassmystery.blogspot.com/ , so if you fancy a challenge, or if you have a connection, do pop along to have a look!

Chris

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

Memorial to Ayrshire postman who died in blizzard in 1908

A memorial service to Robert Cunningham, a postman who died whilst out delivering mail in a blizzard near the Ayrshire town of Ballantrae a hundred years ago, is to be held at Ballantrae Parish Church. A wreath is also to be laid in his memory on the moor where he died.

For more on the story, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7801303.stm

Chris

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

Plea for return of William Wallace letter

A Scottish MSP has made a plea for the return to Scotland of the only known document issued by William Wallace. Held by the City of Lubeck, the letter, written in 1297, was addressed to the mayors of Lubeck and Hamburg, and informed them that Scottish ports were no longer under English control.

The full story is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7796121.stm

Chris

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