Scottish GENES: June 2023

Friday, 30 June 2023

Further occupational records added to TheGenealogist

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

New Occupational Records reveal biographical details of those in The Arts - Find out more about ancestors who were writers, artists, actors and more

A new release of records by family history website TheGenealogist allows English, Scottish and Welsh family historians to discover useful information on a myriad of people. From ancestors who were writers, artists, actors and many other professions, this collection opens up the lives of these people for the researcher.

Using entries recorded in a number of biographical resources Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist can fill in gaps with tantalising facts about the person. Facts which can lead on to all sorts of other records and avenues for investigation.

The name rich resources that make up this release augment TheGenealogist’s already extensive Occupational Records. Fully searchable by name or keyword from TheGenealogist’s Master Search, the new records come from a variety of publications, including:

●    Contemporary Biographies at the Opening of the 20th Century, Volume I
●    Contemporary Biographies at the Opening of the 20th Century Volume II
●    The Green Room Book 1907
●    The Dramatic List 1879
●    The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 1908
●    The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography 1863

Researchers can use these records to fill in gaps in the lives of individuals, discover stories and anecdotes about the person, read facts which may lead you on to research other records and point you towards more avenues for investigation.

To learn more about how this collection of records helped us in the research of A Child Actress who Managed The Prince of Wales’s Royal Theatre read our article here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/a-child-actress-who-managed-the-prince-of-waless-royal-theatre-2051/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

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 the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

The Bible has been translated into Doric

If you're from the north-east of Scotland, and in need of a little religious instruction, help is at hand in the form of a new edition of the entire Bible translated into the Scots dialect of Doric for the very first time!

The translation has taken retired Aberdeenshire solicitor and church elder Gordon Hay some 17 years to complete, with the New Testament initially published in Doric in 2012 (http://www.doricbible.com), and the Aul' Testament to be published imminently.

For more about the new translation, including its formal launch this evening at Longside Parish Church at 7.30pm, visit https://doricboard.com/news/launch-of-the-doric-aul-testament-by-gordon-m-hay/ and https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/news/aul-and-new-testaments-translated-into-doric-317885/.

Chris

Free access to Canadian records on MyHeritage for Canada Day

From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):

As Canada Day approaches, I’m thrilled to share that MyHeritage is offering free access to all our Canadian records from June 29 to July 2, 2023! Our vast range of Canadian records includes 176 featuring 103,662,055 records, including immigration documents, military records, census data, and more.

This limited-time free access provides an unparalleled opportunity for those with Canadian heritage to explore their roots and learn more about their ancestors.

To access the collection, visit https://www.myheritage.com/research/category-Canada/canada-genealogy-vital-records

(With thanks to Daniel Horowitz)

Chris

RIP to my uncle Michael Graham (1955-2023) in Carrickfergus

Today sees the funeral of my uncle and godfather Ernest Michael Graham, who passed away in hospital back home in Northern Ireland earlier this week on Monday 26th June 2023.

A resident of Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, Michael was my mum's wee brother, born on July 12th 1955 to Martha Jane Bill Elisabeth Watton Smyth and Ernest Graham. My Protestant grandfather named his new son after his father and a Catholic friend of his in the shipyards, quite possibly to make a point, as he despised sectarianism! The earliest documented story I have concerning Michael in fact comes from a letter written by my grandfather in 1955, a few weeks after Michael was born, who was despondent that he had to sell his beloved camera, brought back from Saudi Arabia, in order to buy a pram for his new son - and commenting that his son had to have been born "on July 12th, of all days"! He was one of seven children born to Martha, with siblings Ernest (1943-1943, died in infancy), Edna, Bill, Charlotte (1950-2013), Mark (1962-1976), and Nicolle.

Michael was educated at Sunnylands Primary School and then Carrickfergus Intermediate Secondary Modern School, although spent much of his time mitching off classes! This was Michael as a teenager at Salia Avenue, in Sunnylands, Carrickfergus:

At the age of 16, in January 1971, he made his way to Helensburgh, Scotland, for my christening, where he became my godfather, alongside my aunt Sheila as godmother from my father's side:

Upon leaving school, Michael worked at the local Crazy Prices superstore, before taking up work at Standard Telephones in Whiteabbey. From the 1980s he was based in the Castlemara estate of Carrickfergus, living with my grandmother, and looking after her until her death in July 2001.

Michael spent most of his life in Carrick, where he worked as a painter and decorator. When I lived in Scotland as a child he visited on a couple of occasions, and I would regularly bump into him on my visits back home to Carrick in later years, and occasionally have a drink with him in the town, as on this occasion (below) in 1999 at Dobbin's Inn, with my mum in tow also. My youngest brother also fondly remembers Michael buying him his first pint, when he turned 18.

The most extraordinary bumping into Michael story, however, was not in Northern Ireland, but here in Scotland. About 18 years ago, when living in Largs, I walked out of a shop one day and saw him getting off a tour bus. It turned out he had decided to go on a tour of Scotland for the weekend, and the first stop was Largs, with the first person he bumped into on the street being me! He had no idea I was based in Largs (we had only moved there a year or two before), and the tour of the town he thought he would be doing rapidly changed into a visit by him to see my eldest son, who was at our childminder's, followed by me taking him to a local pub for a quick catch up, before he then had to jump on the bus again a couple of hours later to resume the tour.

It's been a few years since I last saw Michael, at my mum's funeral in 2013. He was a nice auld lad, never the "big I am", and he will be sorely missed.

RIP Uncle Michael, from all the Patons, and don't let my mother and Martha chew the ears aff ye when ye get upstairs!

Chris

Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Ancestry adds NLS Scottish Post Office Directories collection

Ancestry has added a new searchable version of the National Library of Scotland's Post Office Directories collection, or at least, some of it. From the site:

Scotland, Postal Directories, 1825-1910
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62491/
Source: Scottish Post Office Directories https://digital.nls.uk/91047488. Edinburgh, Scotland: National Library of Scotland.

General collection information

This collection contains postal directories from Scotland between the years 1825 and 1910. Many types of directories are available, including:

Street directories
Trade directories
County directories
Outlying district directories

Directories are most often organised alphabetically, although some may be organised by street name and house number. All records are typed in English.

Using this collection

Records in the collection may include the following information:

Name
Occupation
Street Address
Town
Year

Records in the collection may also occasionally include the following:

Employer Name
Employer Address
Occupation Title
Names of Coworkers

Comment: This collection is also available for free at the NLS website, at https://digital.nls.uk/directories/, with more volumes available here covering publications from 1774-1911, about 700 in total. However, the volumes were originally digitised in partnership with the Internet Archive, with the exercise going well beyond 1911, and thus at the Internet Archive NLS site at https://archive.org/details/scottishdirectories you will find over 1000 volumes going up to the 1940s for many Scottish cities.

It is regrettable that Ancestry has stopped at 1910 for now, but a third party index is certainly very useful for the volumes presented here, as searching on the NLS can be a little awkward. I actually find it easier to browse through directories, rather than rely on keyword searches, and Ancestry does also provide this as an option.

Chris

Live streaming from Scotland's Court of Session commences

The Court of Session in Scotland, the country's highest civil court, has commenced a new live streaming service of cases. At this stage, appeals to civil cases heard in the Inner House are being streamed only.

Civil cases could be heard from 1532 in the Court of Session, after it was established by James V, with cases presided over by the Lord Chancellor of Scotland. In 1810 the court was divided into two, with an Outer House (a court of first instance) and Inner House (a court both of first instance and appeal). In 1815 a Jury Court was also created to allow trial by jury for civil matters for the first time, though this was absorbed into the Court of Session in 1830.

The Court of Session oversees many civil actions, including issues such as debt recovery, divorce actions from 1830, sequestrations (bankruptcies), the appointment of guardians to oversee the estates of the sick or insane, and cases of defamation. It also has the most prominent series of registers of deeds, and could hear services of heirs cases.

If your ancestors were tried in the Court of Session, had cases prosecuted on their behalf, or acted as witnesses, the live stream can give you a flavour of the sort of experience they may have gone through. For more on the announcement of the streaming service, visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66020408, whilst the stream itself is available at https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/supreme-courts/about-the-court-of-session/court-of-session-livestream-hearings.

You can find more about the role of the Court of Session, as well as other courts in Scotland, and their relevance for genealogical research, in my book Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, details below!

Entrance to the Law Courts, Parliament Square, (c) Kim Traynor, Creative Commons

Chris

Friday, 23 June 2023

ScotlandsPeople introduction session in Edinburgh on July 20th

From ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk):

Are you starting out on family history research?
Join our experts in Edinburgh on 20 July for our popular free introduction to researching your ancestry.
Reserve your seat now using our contact form
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/contact-us

Chris

NLS exhibition: Sgeul / Story - Folktales from the Scottish Highlands

A new exhibition at the National Library of Scotland (www.nls.uk) seeks to share the Gaelic folklore of the Highlands:

Sgeul / Story : Folktales from the Scottish Highlands

Sgeul | Story is an exhibition in Gaelic and English about stories and storytelling traditions.

People share stories every day. A story is kept alive by a storyteller telling it to others. Folktales have survived all over the world, passed on from generation to generation.

Scotland is rich in stories but once upon a time, Scottish Gaelic folktales were almost unknown beyond the Highlands. In 1859, folklorist John Francis Campbell began to collect Scottish Gaelic folktales. He found a treasure trove.

Campbell worked with a team of helpers to gather folktales. They travelled from place to place across the western Highlands and Islands of Scotland meeting with storytellers.

See the manuscript diaries kept by Campbell and the watercolours he painted. In the storytelling area, you can read and listen to some of the folktales given by the storytellers in Gaelic and English.

Find out what stories and storytelling mean to Gaelic speakers of all ages today.

Tha Sgeul | Story na taisbeanadh ann an Gàidhlig agus Beurla mu sgeulachdan agus traidiseanan seanchais.

Bidh daoine ag innse sgeulachdan gach latha. Tha sgeul air a cumail beò le sgeulaiche ga h-innse do dhaoine eile. Tha beul-aithris ann air feadh an t-saoghail, air a thoirt seachad bho ghinealach gu ginealach.

Tha beairteas de sgeulachdan aig Alba ach uair den t-saoghal is beag gun robh fios aig mòran dhaoine air beul-aithris na Gàidhlig taobh a-muigh na Gàidhealtachd fhèin. Ann an 1859, thòisich an t-eòlaiche beul aithris Iain Frainsias Caimbeul (Iain Òg Ìle) air sgeulachdan Gàidhlig na h-Alba a chruinneachadh. Lorg e mòr-ulaidh dha-rìribh.

Bha an Caimbeulach ag obair còmhla ri sgioba de luchd-cuideachaidh gus sgeulachdan a chruinneachadh. Shiubhail iad bho àite gu àite air feadh taobh siar na Gàidhealtachd agus Innse Gall a’ coinneachadh ri sgeulaichean.

Faic na leabhraichean-latha ann an cruth làmh-sgrìobhainnean a sgrìobh an Caimbeulach agus na dealbhan dath-uisge a pheant e. Ann an àrainn nan sgeulachdan, faodaidh tu cuid den bheul-aithris a thug na seanchaidhean seachad ann an Gàidhlig agus Beurla a leughadh agus èisteachd riutha.

Faigh a-mach na tha sgeulachdan agus seanchas a’ ciallachadh do luchd na Gàidhlig de gach aois san latha an-diugh.

The exhibition continues until April 20th. The exhibition space is open during the following hours:

Monday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Tuesday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Wednesday: 10am to 7pm.
Thursday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Friday: 9:30am to 5pm.
Saturday: 9:30am to 5pm.
Sunday: Closed.

Admission is free.

Tha mi'n dòchas gun còrd an taisbeanadh ribh! (I hope you enjoy the exhibition!)

(Source: https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/sgeul-story/)

Chris

Register for the September 9th Scottish Indexes conference on Zoom

A quick heads up that Graham's and Emma's next Scottish Indexes conference will be held on September 9th – details of speakers are yet to be announced, but you can pre-register now to attend the event via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1016870363174/WN_ceRAW8tfS3iVxfWzU_hs0Q#/registration. Registration is free.

For more on Scottish Indexes visit www.scottishindexes.com.

Chris

New Irish records added to FindmyPast

Added this week to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Ireland, Genealogical Office Manuscripts, Marriages

First up, we have a 9,010-strong new collection of marriage records. Covering between 1732 and 1800, this set contains marriage licenses from the Dublin diocese as well as marriage notices that appeared in Exshaw's Magazine and Hibernian Magazine between 1771 and 1800.

These were compiled by Irish genealogist Denis O'Callaghan Fisher (1809-1869), and transcribed for the first time by the team here at Findmypast. Given that both marriage announcements and licenses (compared to banns) were costly in the 18th century, these records recount the unions of Ireland's affluent upper classes.

Ireland, Genealogical Office Manuscripts, Wills

This week's second brand-new collection is this set of Irish Wills, which contains transcriptions of 10,501 rare records that were compiled by Sir William Betham and Denis O'Callaghan Fisher in the 18th and 19th centuries. These records cover almost 300 years of history, from 1596 to 1866.

Ireland Census 1911

But that's not all for this week's Irish additions. We've also bolstered the 1911 Irish Census, adding 5,483 new records that were missed during the original transcription process. If you've hit a brick wall trying to trace your ancestor in this census, we may have added their record this Findmypast Friday.

As well as adding new records, we've improved the searchability of the entire set. It's now easier to browse and search the 4.3 million records within this key census, which is the most complete census available for the country. They are transcription-only, but don't let that hold you back from exploring the originals - images of each record are available on the National Archives of Ireland's site, via the link attached to each transcription.

For further details and links, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/ireland-wills-marriages-census

Chris

Thursday, 22 June 2023

Northern Ireland's PRONI archive is 100 years old today - Happy Birthday!

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni) - 'PRONI' to those of us who regularly use it - is one hundred years old today. In 1923, one year after the devastating destruction at the original Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin in 1922, an act of parliament facilitated the creation of a new public record office for the new state of Northern Ireland (established just two years earlier in 1921 following the Partition of Ireland). PRONI's mission was to not only act as the state repository for Northern Ireland's tiers of government, but to also seek out surrogate material from private repositories that might replace much of the losses in Dublin. Today it has over 3 million items in its repository in Belfast, a staggering amount of material for a country that is so wee!

It was a point alluded to by many at today's centenary event in Belfast, which I have just finished watching online, that PRONI is based in a building completely fit for purpose, with the sheer friendliness and helpfulness of its staff making it an absolute pleasure to visit. In my 20 years of family history research, it remains unparalleled anywhere else in the UK or Ireland in providing the research experience that it does (although a tip of the hat here to many local archives and archivists here in Scotland and in Ireland most definitely drinking from the same cup!). Comedian Tim McGarry's comment at today's event (not repeated here to protect the innocent!) comparing PRONI to TNA was made in jest, but was all the funnier for it, but I pray that Tim never has to experience the level of service we do in Scotland from the national repository here, the National Records of Scotland, which has so much yet to learn.

There are many ways to do things in archives, and then there is THE way to do it. PRONI gets out to its user base across Northern Ireland, it is opening up its archives further through online access (it was great to see Ancestry's representative in Belfast, announcing the now name searchable Valuation Rolls on its site, committing to more Northern Ireland releases as part of the archive's centenary over the next few months), and it is serving the public in documenting and chronicling the times we continue to live in (did any other national archive initiate a Covid lockdown census, for future generations to learn by?!). PRONI has the most difficult political environment to work within, with Northern Ireland's politicians continuing to work part-time after being elected to a full-time roll, but it does so by just getting on with it - even the pandemic was a period in which PRONI served its user base with distinction, constantly pushing to open up as much as was possible, and putting other organisations to shame in how it succeeded.

Over the years I have made many discoveries within my own family history at PRONI, as well as for clients, that have made me leap for joy. The privilege of being able to just handle such documents, and the archive's microfilm and computerised resources is something I have never taken for granted. PRONI doesn't always get it right, nobody ever does, but PRONI always makes damned sure that it tries to get it right, and that is so appreciated.

PRONI, you are one of Northern Ireland's greatest success stories, and here's to another one hundred years and more of archival excellence. Continue to serve your user base in the way that you do, and in return, it will always have your back.

Happy 100th birthday PRONI!

(And if you have never been to PRONI, do yourself a favour and visit some day!)

Chris

Wednesday, 21 June 2023

Updates on access to GRONI terminals in PRONI's search room

From the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni), an update on the General Register Office of Northern Ireland terminals that are available in the PRONI search room to access civil birth, marriage and death records (via https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk), including more recent records not available online:

We are pleased to announce that the 4 GRONI machines situated in our Search Room have now been replaced and are available for customers.

We ask that due to the potential demand that customers limit use during busy times to 20 minutes per person.

Thank you for your cooperation

I provide a detailed description on how to access these records at both PRONI and GRONI, as well as online, in my new book, Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, details below! In summary, however, you still need to pay £2.50 per record, and you can't see the records when you go home, or print them out at PRONI, so you'll need to transcribe them. But having access to them in the same room as so many other records, is a godsend for those researching their Northern Irish ancestors!

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 the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Update from NRS on the kirk session records additions delays

I requested that the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) add two particular kirk session volumes from the early to mid-19th century onto ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk). The following response from one of its team outlines efforts to resolve the ongoing delays in getting the rest of these records online:

NRS are in the process of readying a substantial number of CH2 volumes for addition to the Virtual Volumes area of ScotlandsPeople. After the initial release of church court records in 2020/21, it was hoped that remaining in-scope CH2 records would be added during late 2021/early 2022. Unfortunately, limited resources and other priorities haven’t allowed this work to begin until earlier this year, but an archivist is now in place to supervise this work.

The records of other Presbyterian churches that later joined or re-joined the Church of Scotland (catalogue ref. CH3) are a priority candidate for upload and release after the CH2 records have been completed to a satisfactory level. Once we have completed adding the records of Church of Scotland kirk sessions, presbyteries and synods (a process that will be ongoing for several months), we anticipate that CH3 will be the next record series to be added and that work on this will hopefully begin before the end of the year.

Comment: So we can hopefully see more Church of Scotland volumes added this year, they 'anticipate' that the kirk session records from dissenting presbyterian denominations will be next, and that work will 'hopefully' begin before the end of the year...

Chris

Sunday, 18 June 2023

Ancestry adds name index for PRONI's Valuation Revision Books

Two more of PRONI's collections have now been indexed by Ancestry, as follows:

Northern Ireland, Valuation Revision Books, 1864-1933
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62658/
Source: Valuation Revision Books. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).

About Northern Ireland, Valuation Revision Books, 1864-1933

This collection contains land valuation records from Northern Ireland between 1864 and 1933. Revision books wtook the form of chronological ledgers and tracked changes to a property's original valuation. Valuations were conducted annually.

Using this collection

Records in the collection may contain the following information:

Names of property owners
Names of occupants
Description of property
Changes in acreage
Changes in property valuation
Name of street
Name of city, county, parish, and townland
Name of affiliated poor law union
Date of notation

This collection contains a wealth of useful information to help trace your ancestors. As valuation revisions were conducted yearly, you can use them to create a chronological family history. There are no surviving censuses for Ireland prior to 1901, which makes the collection even more useful. Records can even be used to confirm dates of emigration or death, as you can seamlessly trace your family member's address. If you wish to trace your family back even further, you may wish to pair this collection with Griffith's Valuation.

Web: Northern Ireland, Freeholders Records
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70955/
Source: Freeholders Records. Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. https://apps.proni.gov.uk/freeholders/default.aspx: Accessed February 2023.

About Web: Northern Ireland, Freeholders Records
All data in this third-party database was obtained from the source’s website. Ancestry.com does not support or make corrections or changes to the original database. To learn more about these records, please refer to the source’s website.

COMMENTS: Note that both collections can be consulted on the PRONI website at https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/public-record-office-northern-ireland-proni, but this is the first time that the Northern Irish Valuation Revision Books (known as the Cancelled Land Books in the Republic of Ireland) can be searched by a person's name, with the records previously browse only by the name of a county, parish, townland or street name. So this is a major new finding aid for the records, which act as the'sequel' to the mid-19th century Griffith's Valuation records, continuing to provide information on land holdings up to about 1930 for the six counties of Northern Ireland. I have to admit that I am not sure yet whether I will use the Ancestry indexes, as there is often a great deal of value in browsing the relevant record books, but I suspect I will likely use both to pursue transfers of land ownership.

On the free holders records, these were previously name searchable on the PRONI website, but on Ancestry you can use wildcards for names, increasing the research flexibility there also.

You can find a great deal more about these and other Irish land records, with worked up examples on how to use them, in my book, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283, and from the USA at https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.

Chris

Friday, 16 June 2023

Watch the PRONI Centenary Event live on June 22nd

Next Thursday 22nd June sees an event which can be attended in person, or viewed online, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni):

PRONI Centenary Event

22 June, 12pm-1.30pm

Join us as we celebrate our 100th anniversary at an event highlighting our past, present and future, and hearing our guest speakers reflect on their PRONI experience.

Speakers include Tim McGarry (writer and comedian), Stephen Walker (former BBC NI political correspondent), Sam McBride (Northern Ireland editor of the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Independent), Professor Marie Coleman (historian, Queen’s University Belfast), Bronagh McAtasney (private depositor and NI Screen access and outreach officer), Rhona Murray (Ancestry content and acquisition manager).

To sign up, please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/proni-centenary-event-tickets-660417896707

COMMENT: I am looking forward to this one - PRONI is simply the best national archive in existence! (I'm biased!)

Chris

In Search of a Knockloughrim Son in Bridgeton

I have an article in the latest journal from the Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society (issue 127), entitled 'In Search of a Knockloughrim Son in Bridgeton'. It follows the story of my great grandfather Robert Currie, who was born in Termoneeny, Co. Londonderry, in 1867. He made his way to Glasgow in the 1890s, had a brief spell in the Police, and then worked for the City Corporation. However, a real personal barrier to me researching Robert for many years was his membership of the so-called 'loyal orders' (the Orange Order and the Royal Black Preceptory), which I personally have no time for. The article discusses how I overcame this to work out his story, and how I eventually located his gravestone in Glasgow, in a different graveyard to that which the city council told me he was buried in.

There is actually an extraordinary coincidence on the cover of the journal. The picture at the bottom left is Robert's grave, to help promote the article on him. The picture of the church beside it is actually there to illustrate another article entirely, but in fact that church is where Robert's daughter, my Nan, Jean Paton (Currie), workshipped! It's Joymount Presbyterian, Carrickfergus, and is also where my parents married in 1969, and where I attended BB for a year before we moved house. Just out of shot from the church is a row of six houses called Robinson's Row, where my nan lived for over 20 years, and where I lived as a kid for 2 years after my dad inherited the place. I was very surprised, but delighted to see it - I have a lot of great memories from that part of Carrick as a kid!

To join Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS visit https://www.gwsfhs.org.uk.

Chris

Two Crimean Wars (Dà Chogadh a' Chrimea)

There's an interesting story on the BBC Alba news page, entitled "Two Crimean Wars" ("Dà Chogadh a' Chrimea") outlining some possible similiarities between the Crimean War 150 years ago and the current conflict in Ukraine. The article, in Gaelic, looks at the contemporary writings of a poet from the Isle of Mull, Dùghall MacPhàil, about the causes of the first Crimean War, and tries to compare with today's conflict.

To read the article, visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/naidheachdan/65816874 - you can run it through the Google Translate facility at https://translate.google.co.uk for a handy enough translation.

Chris

How to access 20th century Glasgow newspapers online

For whatever reason, the British Newspaper Archive seems incapable or unwilling to add more content to its site for Glasgow in the 20th century, perhaps because of rights issues. Only three years of the Glasgow Evening Times are available (1966, 1967, 1973), and some early 20th C editions of the Glasgow Observer and Catholic Herald.

However, you can access 20th century content online from the Bulletin and Scots Pictorial, the Glasgow Herald and the Glasgow Evening Times via the Google News Archive at https://news.google.co.uk/newspapers, as well as the late 18th century Glasgow Advertiser, free of charge. The coverage is as follows:

Bulletin and Scots Pictorial (1951–1960)
Glasgow Herald (1806–1990)
Evening Times (1953–1990, plus three earlier editions in 1914 and 1933)
Glasgow Advertiser (1783–1801)

The Bulletin and Scots Pictorial is listed simply on Google's list as Bulletin, but notes that coverage is apparently only available from 2 Jan 1957–28 Feb 1957. This is incorrect – a run of the paper is in fact available online from 1951–1960. The easiest way to access the entire Bulletin collection is to simply click the following link: https://bit.ly/BulletinScotsPictorial.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the search facility of this Google site is truly appalling, and to be honest, in my opinion you're actually better off just browsing for content. But at least it is there, and that's better than no access!

Chris

Scottish Reseach Online course starts July 3rd

The next Scottish Research Online course from Pharos Tutors (www.pharostutors.com), taught by myself, starts on July 3rd.

Scottish Research Online (102)
Tutor: Chris Paton

Scotland was one of the first countries to digitise its major family history records collections for accessibility online, and continues to this day to use such resources to promote a worldwide interest in family history for those with Caledonian connections.

This course describes the major sites and record types that you will encounter in your research, and how to analyse the results. It compares and contrasts many of the key websites available for Scottish research, drilling down to key features within each to help improve a users knowledge of what is contained within the presented records, and equally important, what is not. It explores the key resources for vital records such as births, marriages and deaths, as recorded by the state from 1855 onwards, and the usefulness of the decennial censuses from 1841-1911 in connecting family members and branches together.

Prior to civil registration there are the records created by the Church of Scotland as the state church, with the course exploring access to its Old Parish Registers (OPRs) on ScotlandsPeople and through FamilySearchs various finding aids. In the final lesson, wills and inventories generated by Scotlands confirmation process are explored, with some of the many differences flagged up between the records of Scotland and the rest of the UK, thanks to the distinctly different legal system north of the border.

Most importantly this course will inspire you to actively pursue your interest in Scottish genealogy and take it to the next level.

Lesson Headings:

    * Understanding Scotlands People, FindmyPast, Family Search, Ancestry, and FreeCen
    * Essential Maps and Gazetteers
    * Civil Registration and Census Research
    * Searching in Church of Scotland Registers
    * Scottish Wills and Inventories

Note: it is recommended but not required that students in this course sign up for the basic search option, 30 units/seven days, at ScotlandsPeople (cost is £7.50 for 30 credits)

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chats See How Courses Work.

STUDENTS SAID:

'I particularly liked the fact that the course didn't just focus on the well-known BMD resources available, but on a much wider range of websites, including many which give extremely useful background information on the geography and history of the localities where our ancestors lived.'

'Excellent tuition from Chris Paton; very good course materials; well-paced; excellent value for money. I very much liked the opportunity to work at my own pace.'

Relevant Countries: Scotland
Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 3 July 2023
Cost: £58.00

For a wee video introduction to the course, see below or visit https://youtu.be/DtTKwjACAm8

To sign up for the course, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/scottish-research-online

I hope to maybe see you there!

Chris

First phase of the Ulster Settlers 1609-1641 database launched

From the Royal Irish Academy (www.ria.ie), news about the first phase of the Ulster Settlers Database:

The Ulster Settlers Database was developed by Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick as part of the R.J. Hunter Digital Fellowship.

As is the case for most early modern populations, biographical information on Ulster Settlers is partial, incomplete and, from a data viewpoint, unstructured. This complicates research and can limit the range and ambition of research questions. The Ulster Settlers Database is a digital humanities project that responds to the challenges involved in working with incomplete biographical data. It does this by modelling existing data into life events and then digitally linking all these related events to reconstruct a searchable prosopography or biographical map of the entire settler cohort.

The project uses historical data relating to the English and Scottish men and women who settled in the six escheated counties of Ulster in the period, c.1609-1641. In the first phase, we have drawn on some of the key sources for the study of the Ulster plantation: grants of forfeited land issued to grantees, military muster lists, surviving court records and the secondary literature on the plantation.

Future plans include the inclusion of information from other archival collections include the 1641 Depositions, additional court records, family papers and data relating to land transfers and sales in the course of the seventeenth century.

The initial phase of the project was funded by the Royal Irish Academy through a Hunter Foundation research grant. Beginning in early 2022, the project was co-hosted by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queens University Belfast and Maynooth University’s Arts and Humanities Institute.

The Royal Irish Academy and the project team are very grateful to Bob’s daughter, Laura Houghton-Hunter for her continued interest in her father’s research and for her sponsorship of the database project.

The database is available at: https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie/ (link is external)

(Source: https://www.ria.ie/news/grants-and-awards/ulster-settlers-database)

COMMENT: Just brilliant, with the promise of more to come!

Chris

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Irish Lives Remembered issue 59 now online

The latest Irish Lives Remembered issue is now available online from Eneclann:

Welcome to the Spring 2023 issue

We're delighted to announce the latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered is now available to enjoy!
As always, we offer you a wealth of articles on Irish lives, recent and distant, and a trove of genealogy tips to help you with your research.

Articles:

Helen Moss & Fiona Fitzsimons – Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA, Roots in Ireland
Brigit McCone – Gaels Who Sail: The Irish in the Caribbean, Pacific and Antarctic
Brian Mitchell – The Shipwreck of the Faithful Steward: The Importance of Family Information
Eamonn P. Kelly – Here Be Dragons: Áine's Fiery Form
Donna Rutherford – Unlocking Secrets with DNA: My Unexpected Result
Conor Curran – Outstanding Families of Dublin Soccer
Elizabeth Cowan – Bride of MacBride: Catalina Bulfin
The Four Courts Press Photo Feature – Launch of “The Irish Defence Forces 1922-2022” (2023) By Eoin Kinsella
The Four Courts Press Book Excerpt – Leitrim:The Irish Revolution 1912-23 (2020) by Patrick McGarty

The Genealogical Publishing Company Book Excerpt – A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. Second Edition (2002) by Brian Mitchell

Regular columns:

Heritage Highlight – Michael Collins House Museum, Clonakilty, county Cork
Dear Genie 1 – Questing for Quinns of Quebec! [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
Dear Genie 2 – Nun Braver: Tracing Heroic Sister Anthony's Tree! [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
Photodetective – Canadian Celtic Connections! [Jayne Shrimpton analyses a reader’s photograph]
Emerald Roots Interview – Fiona O'Mahony, head of the Irish Family History Centre at EPIC Museum

The magazine is available at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/product/irish-lives-remembered-issue-59-spring-2023/

Chris

Monday, 12 June 2023

Pharos Tutors launches brand new website and branding

From Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com):

Brand new Pharos Tutors branding, website and student experience

Pharos Tutors offers short online courses and certificate programmes in family history, local history and related topics. We are delighted to announce that we have today launched the brand new Pharos Tutors website and online course experience.

The new system better serves the current Pharos Tutors business, which now has twenty tutors and over fifty courses, with more in development. The key features are:

•    Updated look and feel
•    An easy to navigate website featuring the brand new Course Finder: The default view shows all courses and may be ordered by start date or course title. However, the course list can also be filtered by course type, e.g. just courses in the Intermediate Certificate programme, by level of difficulty, e.g. beginner’s courses, by Tutor or by start month. There is also an option to search by keyword, e.g. ‘parish registers’
•    Updated and modernised platform and technology
•    A single login for all Pharos Tutors systems - only one password to remember!
•    Technology used to run our courses brought ‘in house’ to run within the Pharos Tutors website
•    A totally redesigned Student interface, our Student Area, in keeping with a modern LMS (Learning Management System).

The Student Area is now organised by course, as we know many of our students take more than one course simultaneously and wanted things more easy to find. Lesson notes and other course documents are now located in the Course materials area. Messages from the tutor are in the Messages area and students can also contact their tutor directly from here. We also have a brand new forum and chat room system. Times for chat sessions and the links to them will appear in the Chat / Zoom area. Many of our tutors are now running some of their tutorials using the Zoom video system, and the links to those can also be found in the Chat / Zoom area.

The new Pharos Tutors website has been developed as an intuitive system with simple navigation, providing a much enhanced visitor experience for both current students and those considering taking a course with us. We look forward to seeing you on a Pharos Tutors course in the near future.

NB: If you'd ike to try out the new site, there's no better time than today with the launch of my my brand new course Researching Scottish Ancestral Crisis - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-scottish-ancestral-crisis.

Chris

(With thanks to Karen Cummings)

Friday, 9 June 2023

Anderston weavers and Scottish freemasons included in latest TheGenealogist release

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

New Records for Guilds, Societies and People of Note released by TheGenealogist
Family history website TheGenealogist has just released a new collection of name rich records of interest to English, Scottish and Welsh family historians.

The Guilds, Societies and People of Note collection includes records that reveal names, dates and information about ancestors who were Freemen, Liverymen, Aldermen, members of the Masons and Oddfellows, or people classed as Worthies.

The various records in this collection have been gathered together under TheGenealogist’s extensive Occupational Records and adds 65,000 names from fourteen new resources to this collection. Fully searchable by name or keyword from TheGenealogist’s Master Search. The new additions include records from a variety of sources, including:

● Freemen Registers: These records list the names of people who were granted the freedom of a particular town or city. The freedom of a town or city gave its holder certain privileges, such as the right to trade within the town or city walls.
● Liverymen Lists: These records catalogue the names of people who were members of a particular guild. Guilds were organisations of craftsmen or merchants who banded together to protect their interests.
● Aldermen Rolls: These records list the names of citizens who served as aldermen in a particular town or city. Aldermen were elected officials who served on the town or city council.
● Masons and Oddfellows Records: These records list the names of people who were members of the Freemasons or the Oddfellows. The Freemasons and the Oddfellows are two fraternal organisations that have been around for centuries.
● Worthies Records: These records list the names of people who were considered to be “worthies” of their community. Worthies could be anyone from prominent politicians or successful businessmen to renowned military personalities.

Use these records to reveal names, dates and information about ancestors who were Freemen of various towns and cities, Liverymen, Aldermen, members of the Masons and the Oddfellows, or who were Worthies in their circle. Gathered together under the Guilds, Societies and People of Note section of TheGenealogist’s Occupational Records, this diverse collection can reveal fascinating research clues to work with.

This release includes the following resources:

– A Calendar of the Freemen of Great Yarmouth 1429-1800
– The Aldermen of Cripplegate Ward 1276-1900
– Yorkshire, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, Volume I [1905]
– Yorkshire, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, Volume II [1906]
– London Worthies by William Kent [1939]
– Freemen of Lynn 1292-1836
– Record Of Unitarian Worthies
– Rules and Regulations Office-Bearers and Members Weavers' Society of Anderston 1901
– Register of Freemen of the City of London
– Cornish Worthies, Vol. I, 1884
– Cornish Worthies, Vol. II, 1884
– A List of The Wardens Members of The Court of Assistants and Liverymen of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths since 1688
– The Masonic Directory and Cyclopedia of History 1885
– Directory of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, 1908-1909

To learn more about how this collection of records helped us in the research of Captain Bligh read TheGenealogist’s article: A veritable Bounty of information found in the Occupational records.
https://thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/a-veritable-bounty-of-information-found-in-the-occupational-records-1866/

COMMENT: As well as the Anderston weavers records, there are Scottish freemasons included in the masonic collections here.

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

Possible service disruption in Edinburgh on July 5th

Those wishing to access the National Records of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, and in particular Edinburgh City Archives, on July 5th, should take note that as Charles and Camilla are up on that day for a royal ceremony (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65854216), there is every possibility of disruption to services, for security reasons.

I would advise keeping an eye out on the websites of the respective organisations for details of any possible closures - www.nrscotland.gov.uk, www.nls.uk, and www.edinburgh.gov.uk/managing-information/edinburgh-city-archives-1/3.

Chris

Highland Memorial Inscriptions site is down

The massively useful Highland Memorial Inscriptions site at https://sites.google.com/site/highlandmemorialinscriptions/home is currently showing as a dead link.

I've had a look on the Internet Archive, and have found that some of the material has been preserved - for example, the burials at Tomnahurich Cemetery in Inverness, whereas others are not fully available, e.g. the Invernessshire page is only show listings for burials with surnames beginning with the letters A-E.

The latest time the site was saved was March 30th this year, available at https://web.archive.org/web/20230330183615/https://sites.google.com/site/highlandmemorialinscriptions/home.

If anyone knows the fate of this site, and whether this is just a temporary glitch, I would be grateful to learn about it!

Chris

1931 census of Canada now online

The 1931 Census of Canada is available at Ancestry at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62640/ and via Library and Archives Canada at https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census2/index1931.

At present the records are mainly browse only, with LAC working in partnership with Ancestry and FamilySearch to make indexes available in the immediate future.

Some of the records are already name searchable on Ancestry, and once the index is complete it will also be made available on Family Search, with images (see https://www.familysearch.org/en/info/1931-census-of-canada)

Chris

Pages

Friday, 30 June 2023

Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Friday, 23 June 2023

Thursday, 22 June 2023

Wednesday, 21 June 2023

Sunday, 18 June 2023

Friday, 16 June 2023

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Monday, 12 June 2023

Friday, 9 June 2023