National Library of Scotland adds Signet Library maps and Finding Placenames guides

The following are recent additions to the National Library of Scotland's digital mapping platform at https://maps.nls.uk:

Finding placenames research guide
Ten searchable lists of placenames (or gazetteers) dating from the 1580s through to the present day, including national surveys and mapping initiatives by Timothy Pont, William Roy, John Thomson, and the Ordnance Survey. The guide is available in the Research Guides section at https://maps.nls.uk/guides/placenames/.

Signet Library maps of Great Britain and the World, 1640s-1930s
This set of 137 maps relating to Great Britain and the World, comes from the library of the Society of Writers to HM Signet (www.wssociety.co.uk) in Parliament Square, Edinburgh. Additions include 402 Signet Library maps of Scotland, as well as maps of England, Wales, Ireland, and overseas. There are also 20 Ordnance Survey One-Inch to the mile Old Series maps of England and Wales included. The collection is available at https://maps.nls.uk/collections/signet/.

The latest news and developments from the mapping department can be found at https://maps.nls.uk/additions/.

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.

Christchurch and Auckland Family History Expos

Kia Ora New Zealand! 

In just under three weeks time I will be boarding a plane from Edinburgh to make my way to New Zealand, where I will be speaking at the Family History Expos in both Christchurch and Auckland. 

I am very much looking forward to returning to New Zealand for the first time since 2017. Auckland is a fave city of mine in the world (this will be my third trip there!), and I have never had the pleasure before of visiting Christchurch, which I am very much looking forward to - the Unlock the Past cruise that I spoken on in 2011 was intending to visit, but the devasating earthquake there forced us to re-route to another port, due to the damage at the quay.

The following are the two events I will be speaking at next month:

Christchurch Family History Expo
Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2025, 
Tūranga, Cathedral Square, Christchurch
https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/family-history-expo/ 

Other speakers will include Ian James, Sophie Kay, Andrew Redfern, Jason Reeve, Duff Wilson, Annabel Ahuiriri-Driscoll, Valerie Anderson, Fiona Brooker, Lyndon Fraser, Sonia Gray, Seonaid Harvey, Sarah Hewitt, Fiona Lees, Arapata Reuben, Sian Smith, Natasha Wells, Whakapapa Ngāi Tahu, Amy Ryan and Amy Duff, Ngapiu Tainui-Maclure and Julia Keogh-Cope, and Annette Williams. See the above link for the programme.

Auckland Family History Expo
Friday 8 August to Sunday 10 August 2025
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Road, Three Kings.
https://genealogy.org.nz/Auckland-Family-History-Expo/11491/ 

On the first day, Friday 8 August, there will be an AI for Family History workshop with Fiona Brooker, in the afternoon, followed by an Opening Event in the evening with keynote talks from Sarah Hewitt, chair of the New Zealand Society of Genealogist, and then myself. (I will update details in due course once the full programme is announced).  

I really hope that you can join us in Christchurch and/or Auckland, I am very much looking forward to both events, which promise to be epic, packed with fascinating talks, and above all, great fun! 

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.

The National Archives (Kew)'s oldest document featuring the Anglo-Saxon language

There's an interesting post about the langiuage of Old English on the English based National Archives website, concerning their oldest item containing the language, a charter from 974 AD for the Anglo-Saxon king Edward. Now the history of Edgar has nothing to do with Scotland, but it is interesting to see vestiges of Old English which later evolved into the English language that we use today in Britain, including Scotland, albeit our dialects here have been heavily influenced by Scots and Gaelic through the centuries!

Most of the document is actually in Latin, but a tiny part detailing lands in question are written in Old English. You can read the article at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/edgar-charter/ and see the document itself at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/whats-on/exhibitions/stories-unboxed/.

Incidentally, there is a Teach Yourself Old English (Anglo-Saxon) course available, as written by Mark Atherton - you can see further details via Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yourself-Complete-Anglo-Saxon-Aug-27-2010-Paperback/dp/B00C47KOOO/.

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.

Irish Lives Remembered 63 now available

The latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered is now available at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/product/irish-lives-remembered-issue-63/.

The issue contains the following:

Articles: 

• Eamonn P. Kelly – St Brendan: The Seafaring Saint Who Found Paradise
• Brigit McCone – Irish on Ice: Arctic Explorers of Erin
• Fiona Fitzsimons – Shania Twain: the Celtic Pedigree of Canada's Queen of Pop
• Brian Mitchell – Alexander Ector Orr: “Father of the New York Subway”
• Fiona Fitzsimons – ILR Interview: Sandra Delamere and Maeve Foreman on Dublin's AIDS Crisis
• Helen Moss – The Diceman Cometh Home: Tracing Thom McGinty's Wicklow Ancestry
• Katharine Simms – Saints and Scholars: the O'Hickeys and Other Hereditary Medical Clans
• Deirdre Powell – Kathleen Mary O'Rourke – Health and Fitness Pioneer
• Donna Rutherford – Cousins bythe Dozens: Managing DNA Matches Without Losing Your Mind!
• Rob Flanagan Stieglitz – Chronology of a Chromosome 2: My Matrilineal Journey from Africa to Ireland!

Regular columns: 

• Heritage Highlight – Craggaunowen Castle & Crannóg
• Dear Genie – Can Grandfather Brownless' Birth Family Be Found? [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
• Dear Genie – Finding a Family Member's Final Resting Place [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
• Emerald Roots Interview – Helen Moss, Senior Researcher, Irish Family History Centre

Books and Films:

• Brigit McCone reviews Frontier (created by Rob and Peter Blackie, 2016-18)
• Four Courts Press Book Excerpt – Irish Nurses in the NHS: An oral history, by Louise Ryan, Grainne McPolin and Neha Doshi (2025)

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.

More Scottish content added as British Newspaper Archive passes 93 million pages

The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) has passed 93 million pages of added content, with the current count at the time of writing being 93,195,529 pages. 

Over the past 30 days there has been a fairly significant amount of Scottish material added, and some Irish content, as follows:

Scotland

St. Andrews Gazette 
1914-1915

Glasgow Evening Times 
1882-1883, 1885-1887, 1889-1893

Highland News 
1916-1977, 1979-1985, 1987-1990

Ayrshire Express 
1880-1881, 1887

Glasgow Property Circular and West of Scotland Weekly Advertiser 
1880

Border Standard 
1886-1887

St. Andrews Times 
1937-1940

Huntly Express 
1921-1985, 1987-1989, 1991-1992

Weekly Scotsman 
1891-1892

Lerwick Times 
1872-1873

Edinburgh Advertiser 
1850-1851, 1855

Fifeshire Advertiser 
1901-1904, 1920-1945, 1957-1965

Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express 
1988-1989, 1991-1992

Fraserburgh Advertiser 
1858-1869, 1875, 1884-1941

Glasgow Saturday Post 
1845-1859

Portobello Advertiser 
1879-1881, 1883, 1887

Kelso Chronicle 
1832-1843, 1873-1881

The Scots Magazine 
1924-2000

Largs & Millport Herald 
1883-1884

Shetland Times 
1980-1985

Banffshire Journal 
1872-1875, 1980-1989

Dundee Weekly News 
2003

Northern Chronicle and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland 
1930-1939, 1950-1952

Kilmarnock Herald and North Ayrshire Gazette 
1955

Forres Elgin and Nairn Gazette, Northern Review and Advertiser 
1917-1933, 1991-1992

Northern Times and Weekly Journal for Sutherland and the North 
1905-1906, 1913-1917, 1919-1921, 1930-1939, 1950-1952, 1986-1989

Linlithgowshire Gazette 
1952

Illustrated Berwick Journal 
1880-1889, 1900-1909, 1920-1927

Inverness Courier 
1928-1930


Ireland

Roscommon Herald 
1863, 1872-1878, 1881, 1883, 1900-1906, 1908-1909, 1920

Cork Examiner 
1856, 1877-1880, 1887-1893

Irish Church Advocate 
1876-1878

Newry Telegraph 
1923, 1926, 1929, 1945-1949

Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser 
1904-1909, 1911-1914, 1920-1925, 1939-1950 

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.

New additions to the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland project at https://virtualtreasury.ie has added further records to tie in with the 103rd anniversary of the destruction of thre Four Courts in Dublin. The following are amongst the new releases, as detailed on the site at https://virtualtreasury.ie/2025-new-releases :

• Explore new discoveries shared by more than 75 partner archives and libraries  across the island of Ireland and around the globe.
• View a total of 350,000  historical records telling Ireland’s story — from medieval rolls to the pre-Famine census.
• Start your research though three new Portals – doorways to periods in Ireland’s story:
• Age of Conquest Portal – five million words of Anglo-Norman (1170-1500) Irish history translated into English.
• Age of Revolution Portal – these documents illustrate the drama of the 1798 Rebellion and Ireland’s links to the American Revolution.
• Population Portal – these genealogical riches include 50,000 names from the 19th-century census destroyed in 1922. 
• Focus on the fascinating new Gold Seams.
• View ‘The Royal Revenue, 1270–1450’ — the culmination of five years’ work to fully digitise and translate the largest series of late-medieval Irish documents in The National Archives (UK).
• Discover our Knowledge Graph, a powerful new tool for identifying people and places, and the links between them, in the records.

The 50,000 census names made available through the Popularion Portal are from the destroyed 1821 census, with many surrogate copies made from the original records prior to their destruction. 

Have fun!

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.