The Scottish GENES Blog (GEnealogy News and EventS): Top news stories and features concerning ancestral research in Scotland, Ireland, the rest of the UK, and their diasporas, from genealogist and family historian Chris Paton. Feel free to quote from this blog, but please credit Scottish GENES if you do. I'm on Mastodon @scottishgenes and Threads @scottishgenesblog - to contact me please email chrismpaton @ outlook.com. Cuimhnich air na daoine o'n d'thàinig thu!
On May 8th 2024 I will be giving an online talk via Zoom to the Onatrio Genealogical Society's Scottish SIG (Special Interest Group), entitled Scottish Research Resources Before 1800. The session will be held from 10.00-11.00 a.m. Ontario time, so from 3.00 p.m. in Scotland - registration is free.
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 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
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.
So my Kiltwalk effort (https://www.justgiving.com/page/chris-paton-stewarton) on Sunday 28th April 2024 to raise funds for the An Lòchran Scottish Gaelic arts and cultural centre (https://www.anlochran.com) in Partick has raised an incredible £2205 – over four times my original target of £500 – whilst our Gaelforce team has managed to reach its goal of £5000, raising a whopping £5155 in total!
A huge thanks from me to all of those who have shown their support for the work of An Lòchran to help encourage the continuing use of Scotland's oldest language, Gaelic, in Glasgow, it's truly appreciated – particularly to my sponsors, to Coinneach Clements, Gayle Ross, Nan Marshall, Vivienne Dunstan, Rosemary Morgan, Lauren Neary, Michelle Leonard, Marina, Majella, Maggie, Karen Hunter, Misty Denson, Scott Dinwiddie, Paul, Diana McGirr, Dougie Anderson, Eilidh Nic Mhidhachain, Sylvia Tracy Doolos, Sarah Williams, Stephanie Jane, Pamela B, Pam, Kathryn Anne Henry, Stephen Daglish, Seamus Burgon, Craig Taylor, Mrs Shopping, Dawn Carey Henry, Shona Kyle, Pat Stanistreet, Allan, Angela, Mandy Geary, Chris, Emma Jolly, Michael McGinty, Susanna Paradis, Gordon, Celia Lewis, Lynn Watt, Evelyn, Ian Barker, Kiwi Support, James Carcary, Elaine Sim, Mary Larson, Susan Best, Anita, Audrey McKeown, a Glaswegian, Ailidh, Nany A., K. McMahon, Shannon Musfelt, Duncan MacCallum, Sharon Guthrie, Kevin McLauchlin, Brian, Dai, Coco, Keith and Lorraine Stewart, Dot, Margaret Murchie, Margaret, Julie-Anne, Sue Craig, Lynn Pateman, Caitlyn, Roise McArthur, Donna, Seonaidh Dòmhnallach, M. Cohen, Allison Beard, John Gavin, Amy & Mick Murray, Shane Giles, Nancy, Steffi, Sìleas Preston, Donna Jones, Alison Spring, Graham-Slater Clan, Joy Murdoch, David Ryan, Zoe Stevenson-Cooke, Val Shearer, Ger Giles, Kirsty Wilkinson, Claire, Jamie, Jill W, Yvonne, Amy Devlin, Gary, Emma and Graham, Peterea, Rob Paton, Adam, to my twenty-two anonymous donors, also to my amazing wife Claire who did the Mighty Stride from Glasgow to Loch Lomond along with myself and the Gaelforce team, and to Ilse Alim from An Lòchran for organising the team!
Mòran taing / many thanks! And remember, if you have an interest in learning Gaelic, An Lòchran is located next door to the Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS library in Partick, with regular events for learners to get together to practice the language.
Some pics from the big day:
And the video of our crossing the line!
Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!
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.
From Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society (www.gwsfhs.org.uk), news that may be of interest to members with family buried at Tollcross Cemetery:
Photographs and transcriptions of inscriptions on monuments in the Tollcross Cemetery, Shettleston are now available to view on our website www.gwsfhs.org.uk.
According to the Glasgow City Council, the first burial at Tollcross Cemetery 114 Corbett Street was 1897. There are some earlier dates on a few of the grave stones but they may just be recording information of folks buried elsewhere.
In 2013, we photographed over 2,081 grave stones that were face up and recordable. There were quite a few that were face down and far too heavy for us to get upright. Many were illegible due to vandalism and severe weather. The Old Churchyard is also within these grounds in the walled area where the Old Church also stood. We have also recorded that section.
We have name indexed all 7,890 persons mentioned in the inscriptions (married women are indexed by both their maiden and married surnames).
Previously we sold a CD of these photographs and transcriptions (since withdrawn from sale).
Access to this data is a benefit of membership of our society.
(With thanks to Murray Archer)
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 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni) has released a newly updated publication online, entitled Ulster and Slavery. From their site:
This updated PRONI guide to archival sources is an essential resource for reflecting on slavery in the past and its influence on the present day. The original guide was published in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the United Kingdom. It was published as part of the wider Hidden Connections programme which also featured workshops exploring archival sources, performances and lectures.
To mark #DouglassWeek in Belfast in April 2024, PRONI has produced a much expanded second edition of this guide with additional documents including one written by American abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. The revised guide also includes a foreword by Kenneth B. Morris, Jr., the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass, co-founder and President of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives.
Ulster & Slavery: The Story from the Archives helps us to locate and understand the place of slavery, the slave trade and its abolition in the UK’s public history, commemorative traditions and popular memory.
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.
United Kingdom, Red Cross Volunteers During WWI, 1914-1918 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70927/ Source: Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs). Red Cross. https://vad.redcross.org.uk/ Accessed Feb 2023.
This collection contains records of over 90,000 Red Cross volunteers from Britain between 1914 and 1918. Documents in the collection were handwritten on index cards. All records are in English.
Using the collection
The collection may include the following information:
Name
Age at enrollment
Address
County
Date on enrollment
Name of hospital
Rank
Date of discharge
Honours
Description of duties
The records in this collection contain a wealth of information and usually span multiple images. Registrars often added comments on the backs of the records. While not always filled in, comments can be personal in nature and can often contain anecdotes or details about your family member's personality. Be sure to click on the arrow to the right of the image to browse the entire record.
Although British women couldn't join the military during the First World War, they were accepted into the Red Cross. Records for both men and women can be found in this
Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, World War I Memorial Records, 1914-1918 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62787/ Source: Names of the Fallen. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/war-memorial-records, accessed 2023.
After the First World War, plans were drawn for a memorial to commemorate all the soldiers of Derry City who fought and died in the conflict. Servicemembers from both the Army and Navy were included. This collection contains the forms (or Memorial Registers) sent out to the soldiers' families to confirm their name and rank.
If you have a Derry ancestor who died in the War, their name may be inscribed on the War Memorial (also known as the Diamond War Memorial) located in the heart of Derry City, Northern Ireland.
Using this collection
The forms include the following information:
Soldier's name
Rank
Company or ship
Regiment and regimental number
Military honours
Birthplace
Death date
The Memorial Registers can offer important insights about your ancestor's service in the First World War. They may provide the soldier's regiment and regimental number, which can help you find his service records or other military documents. The Register asks for the soldier's "native place," which can tell you where he was born. It may also tell you whether the soldier had received military honours, and what kind. Additionally, you may find details about the soldier's death and if he was killed in action. At the bottom of the form is the signature and address of the person providing the soldier's information. This was often a close family member.
Further details via the links.
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 Scottish Society for Northern Studies (www.ssns.org.uk) is holding its Oor Mickle Simmer Collogue: Aberdeen Summer Conference from 26th-28th June 2024 at the Royal Northern and University Club (9 Albyn Place, AB10 1YE), with a day trip to Elgin also included.
The following is the conference programme:
Wednesday 26 June
10.30-11.00: Registration
11.00-11.15: Welcome remarks
11-15-12.45: Session 1
Professor Marjory Harper – Navigating New Worlds: Emigration from the Northern Isles, 1770-2000
Professor Robert McColl Millar – Founder Populations? Internal and External Forces at Play in the Dialects of Scots
12.45-14.00: Lunch
14.00-15.30: Session 2
Dr Jackson Armstrong – ‘All thingis covntit’: Government and Accounting in Fifteenth-Century Burghs
Dr Hannah Burrows – Emotional Language in Medieval Law
15.30-16.00: Coffee/tea
16.00-17.30: Plenary Lecture
Professor Gordon Noble – The Development of Kingship in Pictland, AD 300-900
17.30-19.00:
Walking tour of Aberdeen with Catherine Simpson (Historic Environment Record, Aberdeenshire officer)
Thursday 27 June
10.30-12.45: Session 1
Dr Shane McLeod – The Siege of Alt Clut: Implications
Dr Stephen Harrison – Forgotten Vikings? Reassessing the Role of Women in Early Scandinavian Migration to Britain and Ireland
Professor Clare Downham – The Kingdom of the Isles and Munster c. 950-1150
12.45-14.00: Lunch
14.00-17:00: Session 2a
Creative writing workshop with Dr Ragnhild Ljosland (based on Aberdeen witchcraft trial)
17.00-17.30: Coffee/tea
17.30-18:30: Session 2b
Dr Irene Watt – Traditional music (talk and performance)
19:00: Conference dinner
Friday 28 June
Day trip to Elgin, including Elgin museum, Glen Moray Distillery, and a tour of regional Pictish stones with Dr Lynda McGuigan.
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.
WeTransfer (https://wetransfer.com) is a useful site for transferring large data files for free, a site I use regulalrly for transferring PowerPoint preseantations, and client research. I've received the following notification of changes coming soon on May 6th 2024, which I though might be worth sharing as many folk also use the platform for their own genealogy needs:
Current free plan:
Send and receive up to 2 GB
No account storage
Fixed transfer expiration
7 days default expiration
No download limits per transfer
This will change to a new Basic plan (free), offering the following:
Send and receive up to 3 GB
20 GB of storage
Controllable transfer expiration (max 7 days)
3 days default expiration
Up to 100 downloads per transfer
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.
I'm giving a talk this Saturday 27th to the London based Society of Genealgists (www.sog.org.uk), on the topic of The Godly Comnmonwealth - Discover Scottish Church Records. Here's the blurb:
From 1560 until the mid 19th century, the Kirk was Scotland’s shepherd, moral guardian and disciplinarian, its records today providing one of the key resources for genealogical research. But in trying to establish a Calvinist Godly Commonwealth on Earth it defied the Stuart monarchs for well over a century, and through its democratic and Presbyterian zeal constantly split into denominational factions over endless points of doctrine. In the immediate aftermath of its greatest crisis, the ‘Disruption’ in 1843, its ancient theological enemy, Roman Catholicism, was once again back in force in Scotland, as a consequence of the Irish Famine. By this point the dream of the Godly Commonwealth was finally over, with the state taking many of the Kirk's former functions, including poor relief, policing, and the registration of vital events. In this session family historian Chris Paton will provide a broad sweep of three hundred years of church history in Scotland, and discuss its impact for the family historian in locating relevant records for research.
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.
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.
