Scottish GENES

Friday, 18 June 2021

TheGenealogist adds 1841-1901 Scottish census transcripts

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

Scottish Census takes TheGenealogist’s releases to over 75 million in the last 9 months!

TheGenealogist is launching the complete census for Scotland (1841-1901) at The Family History Show Online on Saturday 19th June. For the first time you can use their renowned brick wall busting search tools on these records. You can find a person using keywords such as occupation, birthplace, year of birth and more, search for a family using their forenames or search for an address.

This release adds over 24 million records from the Census of Scotland 1841-1901 to their already substantial data offering. TheGenealogist provides an extreemly strong package for family historians researching British Isles ancestors with its wide range of data that also includes the advantage of its unique Land Records (Tithe and Land Tax) that give ownership and occupiers down to property level.

TheGenealogist has been extremely busy in the last year expanding its coverage for its Diamond subscribers to cover all areas of the British Isles.

Releases in the last nine months have seen 14.5 million individuals from all the Anglican Parish Records for Wales added. A further 34 million records for England and Wales came with the release of the 1939 Register records. There were 100,000 Irish Will records and now, this week, TheGenealogist is pleased to announce that these have been joined by over 24 million records from the Census of Scotland 1841-1901.

This is the first time that TheGenealogist has released such a large number of Scottish records and it now means that this important data for the most northerly part of the British Isles can now be searched using the comprehensive search features for which TheGenealogist is renowned. Appreciated by family historians researching their ancestors for the ease of use of its powerful Master Search, TheGenealogist gives researchers the ability to select phonetic, exact or standard search filters.

The comprehensive search facilities that are already available when using TheGenealogist’s English and Welsh census records will make this Scottish census release a welcome addition to the family history researcher’s toolkit.

Read TheGenealogist’s feature article: Scottish census records list the homes of Scots from city dwellers to lighthouse keepers. https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2021/scottish-census-records-list-the-homes-of-scots-from-city-dwellers-to-lighthouse-keepers-1421/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Glasgow's 1920 Absent Voters List now online

From Glasgow City Archives via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowCityArchives):

New online resource for family historians!

Following a year-long transcription project, we're delighted to release an index to Glasgow's 1920 Absent Voters List. This fantastic database will be of interest to those whose ancestors served in the First World War and contains the names of more than 13,000 men and women who lived in Glasgow.

The Absent Voters List is a register of those who were absent from home but eligible to vote. This makes it an excellent source of information about those serving in the forces, merchant seamen and other occupations supporting the war effort.

Find out more and search it at: https://bit.ly/3grNWoF

Chris

Scottish 1921 census release delayed until latter half of 2022

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has added an update on the release of the 1921 census - and it is going to disappoint a lot of folk:

We will release indexed images of the 1921 Scottish Census on scotlandspeople.gov.uk and in the ScotlandsPeople Centre in the latter half of 2022. We’ll keep you updated on progress via our digital channels.

(Source: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/census-returns)

I first reported on the possible delay on the census release last month (https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2021/05/delay-to-1921-scottish-census-release.html) on the basis of a news update from Manchester's Anglo-Scots FHS, which was subsequently confirmed by a member of the Aberdeenshire and North East Scotland FHS. They had been informed of a possible delay by the Scottish Association of Family History Societies, following correspondence it received from the ScotlandsPeople Centre, but this is the first public confirmation from the centre itself through its own online channels.

It's worth noting that the ScotlandsPeople Centre never actually gave a date for the census' publication, only that it would be made available after June 2021, but it was widely anticipated that it would be released this year at some stage. There is no point blaming the ScotlandsPeople Centre, as the staff at the NRS have their hands full just now with the coronavirus situation - so please blame the bug folks, and not the staff, who are doing their best in very difficult circumstances.

In a forthcoming edition of Family Tree magazine (https://www.family-tree.co.uk) I have written a detailed guide to 20th centry records that you can get on with in the meantime, as we await the census's release, and I'll announce more on that when it is published.

All good things come to those who wait - we'll just have to wait a wee while longer...

Chris

Ancestry adds Casey Collection Indexes for Counties Cork and Kerry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added the following collection:

Ireland, Casey Collection Indexes, 1545-1960
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62062/
Source: Casey Collection. Albert E. Casey: O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher, and Upper Blackwater in Ireland, 1952-71.

About Ireland, Casey Collection Indexes, 1545-1960

General Collection Information

This collection contains an index and images from a series of books titled “O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and the Upper Blackwater in Ireland” by Albert E. Casey. This 16-volume series, commonly known as the Casey Collection, is a compilation of Irish genealogical and historical records from parts of the counties Cork and Kerry.

This collection includes Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, and Quaker birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial records transcribed from parish and civil registers.

Using this Collection

You can search the database using the indexed fields or browse by volume. The information contained within this collection includes the following:

    Name
    Gender
    Event type (birth, marriage, death, and burial)
    Date range
    Denomination
    Event barony
    Event county
    Event parish
    Birthdate
    Event date
    Marital status
    Age at time of event
    Death district
    Father's name
    Mother's name
    Next of kin's name
    Relationship

More genealogical and historical information can be found by viewing the images.

History of the Collection

Dr. Albert E. Casey, an Alabama pathologist, was born in New York City in 1903 and received his medical degree from St. Louis University in 1927. Dr. Casey created and compiled this collection while researching his family history and published it between 1952 and 1971 by the Amite and Knocknagree Historical Fund in Birmingham, Alabama.

Casey’s ancestors came from the area known as Sliabh Luachra on the border of Northwest Cork and East Kerry. Local Irish researchers, typists, and transcribers assisted Casey in compiling over 3 million names from the area. The books also include maps, photographs, family and county histories.

Bibliography

Patin, Michele. “Casey’s Remarkable Collection of Genealogical Sources for Kerry and Cork ... and How to Use It.” Irish Genealogical Society of Wisconsin. 2001, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlker/pdf/caseyaid.pdf

Goodwin. "Albert Casey Irish Collection." Samford University Library. March 2018, https://library.samford.edu/exhibits/2018/casey-irish-collection.html.

Chris

Saturday, 12 June 2021

Colour charts of ancestral birth places

This is doing the rounds again online just now - a template from 2016 on J. Paul Hawthorne's blog, GeneaSpy, on which you can create a colour chart using Excel to plot where your ancestors were born. You can find it on https://www.geneaspy.com/2016/03/a-little-thing-that-went-viral.html.

This is my attempt using the chart template today for 5 generations:

And an earlier attempt at seven generations which I put together in 2016!

The suggestion is that you create a chart and then use the hashtag #MyColorfulAncestry

It's a bit of fun, and a useful visual aid to see where your research is currently at - have fun!

Chris

Friday, 11 June 2021

Handfasting - marriage or betrothal?

This may be one of those 'where angels fear to tread' posts...!

I've occasionally been asked in the past about so called 'handfast' marriages in Scotland, where it is said that couples could be married for a year and day, at which point they then decide whether to call it a day, or to continue on as a married couple. The reason I have never really bothered to discuss them in talks, lectures and books is very simple - I have never come across them in the records during my client work or my own personal research over the last 20 years. If it isn't something I'm dealing with for my work, it's not as relevant as other things that maybe are - and which will be for others doing their work. And goodness only knows that in Scotland there is already enough of relevance to be talking about with regards to marriage in genealogical research!

In looking through the back collection of The Scottish Genealogist, I have come across a great article by genealogist Donald Whyte, in the December 1994 edition (Vol. XLI No.4), entitled Handfast Marriage in Scotland. In essence, it summarises 'handfasting' not as a form of marriage, but for the most part across Scotland as an act of betrothal prior to a marriage. For the most part it seems to have been a largely pre-Reformation practice in Scotland.

There were three forms of irregular marriage prior to 1940 in Scotland - a marriage by declaration, with an exchange of consent before witnesses; marriage by habit and repute (living together as man and wife, with no ceremony, and accepted by the community as such - and which remained valid as form until 2006), and promise subsequente copula - the act of betrothal, followed by intercourse. As far as the Kirk was concerned, the term 'handfasting' applied to the latter, an act of betrothal, which did not constitute marriage in itself, and for which those so betrothed were to continue to live as single persons until they either were married in the church or completed their marriage irregularly. Whyte's article cites various examples from the kirk session records of Aberdeen and St. Andrew's from the 1560s.

A betrothal, which held some importance to the Kirk, could be demonstrated in Scotland by the joining of hands, with the term handfasting derived from the Anglo-Saxon term faesta-hand. But a betrothal, unlike the existence of a marriage itself, could be easily called off prior to a wedding, and the two prospective spouses could go their separate ways.

In the Western Isles, parts of the Highlands, and Eskdalemuir in the Borders, Whyte describes the traditions of supposed temporary marriages, but considers these to be variations of an act of betrothal. In the Western Isles, Martin Martin noted in 1703 a practice, long abandoned, of at the end of a year and a day, the prospective husband returning his betrothed wife to her father, along with any dowry, if the desire to marry was no longer shared, but with the father keeping any illegitimate children. William Skene noted similar, with a temporary betrothal between the heir of a chief and another's daughter which could be abandoned after a year and a day, unless a child had been borne to them, in which case they were deemed to have become married by promise subsequente copula. Whyte further cites an example of a similar practice on Skye, recalled by Dr Samuel Johnson in 1773, of a calamitous feud following the dissolution of such a betrothal between a branch of the MacLeods and the MacDonalds. This practice appears to have been dissolved during the reign of James VI in 1608.

One area in the Borders where handfasting seemed to be a bit more culturally institutionalised until the late 17th century was Eskdalemuir, where at an annual fair, single men and women could meet and take each other as betrothed spouses who then cohabited for a year and a day. The practice here was noted as having emerged prior to the Reformation due to a lack of clergy in the area, with priests making annual visits to carry out rites of baptism and marriage, but in such a case, those who were so betrothed still had to be married by the priest for the marriage to later become valid.

In conclusion, Whye again cites his belief that despite the variations in the country, handfasting was still just a part of the betrothal custom, and a part of the irregular form of marriage by promise subsequente copula.

You can obtain a copy of the full article from the Scottish Genealogy Society - Scottish Genealogist Journal vol.41 part 4 (1994) - at https://shop.scotsgenealogy.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=1994%20scottish%20dec%20genealogist&PN=Scottish_Genealogist_Journals_%2d_Downloadable%2ehtml#SID=307?a4336, as a downloadable PDF priced at just £1.

(With thanks to Donald Whyte)

Chris

British Newspaper Archive passes 43 million pages

The following titles have been added to the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) in the last 30 days, including some new Scottish content (it's good to see Inverness getting some TLC here!), with the total number of pages available to view now well past 43 million:

Daily Record
1895-1896, 1898, 1901-1902, 1908-1910, 1921, 1931

Morning Herald (London)
1801-1807, 1809-1810, 1819-1822

Staffordshire Newsletter
1907-1915, 1917-1933

Derby Daily Telegraph
1989

Bangalore Spectator
1889-1890

Herts and Essex Observer
1982

West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
1951-1956, 1959-1990, 1993-1999

Newcastle Evening Chronicle
1912

South London Press
1871

Torquay Times, and South Devon Advertiser
1934-1949, 1951-1961

Boston Spa News
1873-1878, 1880-1882, 1884-1895, 1898-1900

Galway Express
1853-1920

Western Star and Ballinasloe Advertiser
1845-1869, 1888-1902

Lynn Advertiser
1926-1928

Middleton Albion
1857-1867, 1869-1880

Ballymena Advertiser
1873-1892

Pontefract Advertiser
1865, 1873, 1889

Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter
1895-1896, 1898-1910, 1913

Beverley Independent
1888-1893, 1895-1896, 1898-1911

Englishman's Overland Mail
1906

Swindon Advertiser
1900

Isle of Wight Journal
1877, 1879, 1889

Weekly Journal (Hartlepool)
1905-1909

Halifax Comet
1895-1897, 1903

London and China Express
1858-1861, 1863-1905, 1907-1919, 1923-1931

Glasgow Weekly Mail
1867, 1869, 1886, 1888, 1890-1892

Sun (London)
1843

Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser
1837

Northern Daily Times
1855

Blackpool Gazette & Herald
1894-1896, 1899-1907, 1913-1919

Teviotdale Record and Jedburgh Advertiser
1855-1872, 1874-1878, 1881, 1885-1910

Weekly Free Press and Aberdeen Herald
1879-1881, 1883-1884, 1887-1888, 1890, 1892

Kirriemuir Free Press and Angus Advertiser
1915-1960

Saturday Inverness Advertiser
1860-1879, 1881-1882

Kirriemuir Observer and General Advertiser
1884-1885, 1915-1949

Inverness Journal and Northern Advertiser
1812-1833, 1835-1836, 1840-1842, 1844-1848

Inverness Advertiser and Ross-shire Chronicle
1849-1885

Glasgow Weekly Herald
1868-1869, 1885

Ripon Observer
1889, 1917-1918

Weymouth Telegram
1886

East Riding Telegraph
1898

Weekly True Sun
1835

Northern Weekly Gazette
1910, 1922-1923, 1925-1928, 1930-1931

COMMENT: It's good that the project is continuing beyond its original goal of 40 million pages, but I hope the BNA addresses one of its biggest weaknesses for its Scottish content at some point, and that is its coverage for 20th century Glasgow, Scotland's largest city.

In the meantime, don't forget that the Glasgow Herald is freely available from 1806-1990 on Google News at https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC, whilst the Evening Times, mainly from 1951-1990, is available at https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2mus-XyGPC0C. The Bulletin and Scots Pictorial from Glasgow is also available for 1951-1960 at https://bit.ly/BulletinScotsPictorial. In all cases the search tool from Google is unfortunately quite poor, but the papers can be freely browsed.

Chris

FindmyPast updates First World War Soldiers' Medical Records collection

There's not a lot added to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) this week, but the following may be of interest:

British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records

After winning 50% of your votes in last week’s community poll, we’ve added over 1,900 new entries to this important Great War collection.

As well as names, ranks and service numbers, the records reveal details you won't find elsewhere, like illness or wound descriptions and how long the injured soldiers stayed at a medical facility.

Some Roman Catholic records for a few regions in England have also been added. For further details, and links, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/english-catholic-parish-records

Chris

Wednesday, 9 June 2021

People, Place and Power: The Grand Jury System in Ireland

I've just carried out three separate research jobs for a client which relied heavily on Irish land records, but the third in particular involved the use also of Grand Jury presentment and query books for County Louth, with many of the relevant query books available online from the Louth County Archives website at www.louthcoco.ie/en/services/archives/online-digital-archives/louth-grand-jury-query-books/.

The books, produced from the late 18th century onwards, are a wonderful resource for the main arm of local administration in Ireland prior to 1899 (before they were replaced with County Councils, Rural Councils and District Councils), with published presentment books and query books from the late 18th century listing jurors, constables and sub-constables, as well as public works to be carried out in the county, and the costs involved.

The Beyond 2022 project (https://beyond2022.ie) has now placed online a new book published by Trinity College Dublin entitled People, Place and Power: The Grand Jury System in Ireland, by Brian Gurrin, david Brown, Peter Crooks and Ciaran Wallace, which can be found at https://beyond2022.ie/the-grand-jury-system-in-ireland. The book is free to download.

The Grand Jury was in use in Ireland from Anglo-Norman times, although for many centuries it largely only had a judical function at assizes and quarter sessions. A lot of Grand Jury records have been destroyed, not least with many of them gathered into the Public Record Office, which was largely destroyed in the Irish Civil War in 1922. A lot of material has survived, however, in published form and at other repositories, and with some resources reproduced online (including for Donegal on FindmyPast).

Enjoy the book - and don't forget that my new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records will be coming out from Pen and Sword later this summer, and is already available for pre-order at Amazon on www.amazon.co.uk/Tracing-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Records/dp/1526780216 (NB: there may be a change to the cover!)!

Chris

Tuesday, 8 June 2021

Old Scottish adds Scottish asylum records and Aberdeenshire Sheriff Court extract decrees

Old Scottish Genealogy & Family History has added an index to all admissions to Scottish asylums 1858-1915 (www.oldscottish.com/asylum-patients.html), and further Aberdeen Sheriff Court entries to its Sheriff Court Extract Decrees index, taking the total to over 42,000 (www.oldscottish.com/sheriff-court-extract-decrees.html).

(With thanks to FergusSmith @oldscotbooks via Twitter)

Chris

Pages

Friday, 18 June 2021

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Saturday, 12 June 2021

Friday, 11 June 2021

Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Tuesday, 8 June 2021