Scottish GENES

Friday, 28 July 2023

TheGenealogist adds Scotland's and Ireland's The Jewish Echo newspaper

TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) has just released a significant batch of The Jewish Chronicles from the First World War and The Jewish Echo (Scotland and Ireland’s only Jewish paper from the time) covering years during the build up to World War 2.

These newspapers offer the opportunity to traverse through time and witness the pivotal moments that shaped the lives of the Jewish community throughout the war. Accompanying this great resource are the seatholders for the Crosby Street Synagogue in New York, with fascinating details of how it came to be. These records join the substantial holdings of Jewish records on TheGenealogist, including Seatholders of London Synagogues between 1920 and 1939, The Jewish Year Books from 1896 to 1939 and the Jewry Book of Honour (1914-1918).

●    Researchers can use these resources to find Jewish ancestors in the news
●    Learn what was happening from community notifications
●    Find Births, Deaths, Engagements, Marriages, Obituaries and Wills
●    Unearth dates for Bar Mitzvahs
●    Track down when Tombstones were to be Set
●    Discover relatives that contributed to the many charitable funds supporting victims of the War
●    Learn about ancestors’ Military Promotions and listings in Casualty Lists

Read TheGenealogist’s article on how we used records in this release to set history straight and discover the truth about a WW1 Aviator, Businessman and Playboy:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/setting-history-straight--discovering-the-truth-about-a-ww1-aviator-businessman-and-playboy-3261/

(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 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.

New newspaper viewer coming soon to FindmyPast

Last night I had the pleasure to host a talk by Mary McKee from FindmyPast, as part of Family Tree magazine's webinars series (https://www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/webinars/). The talk was about various tips and tricks to get the best from the site for family history research.

The most interesting revelation, and the one for which most questions were asked, was FindmyPast's newspapers section, which Mary demonstrated. By way of background, FindmyPast has a long running arrangement with the British Library to digitise its newspaper content for the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk), with the same content being added to a FindmyPast premium subscription. Until now it has always been far better to carry out searches on the BNA site, which has a far superior search system, and if successful in a search, to then look for the actual image on the FMP site, if you have a subscription there, rather than having to have two subscriptions. Searches on the BNA are free, you only need a subscription to see the images on that site (although there is a small part of the collection that is available to view for free).

The new FindmyPast viewer should be launched in the next few weeks, and does have many serious improvements. You will be able to view double page spreads, view a thumbnail strip at the bottom of the viewer to go to other pages in the edition being viewed. There will also be a handy cropping tool, to snip articles from pages, and you will be able to switch on and off the highlighted words in the viewer (from the search terms used).

When the new front page for the newspaper search section was launched on FindmyPast I was really unimpressed, it was way to simplistic for my taste, with two simple fields, for names and keywords. However, Mary did state that once into the main search area there are many filters that can be selected, e.g. to select a specific title, and a few tips and tricks there to concentrate searches. These include using a - sign before a word to remove to matches containing that word, a ~ sign to look for words within a range in text (e.g. adding ~5 after a search with more than one word so that it will only return instances of those words appearing within 5 words of each other), and the use of * as a wildcard.

Mary suggested a useful blog post to visit on the topic is https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/help/newspaper-search-tips, with some excellent tips included.

I asked Mary whether even with the new additions, it would be better to stick with the BNA or FMP for more specific research? At the moment, it is recognised that the BNA search facility is the gold standard, but the new enehancements are now making the FMP version a much better prospect. A new 'advanced search' is also currently being developed. As such, it may not be too long before the pain of having to decide on either a BNA or a FMP subscription for newspaper research is finally removed.

I look forward to seeing the new viewer released and to road-testing it soon!

(With thanks to Mary McKee and Family Tree)

Chris

Inverness and Fermanagh records added to FindmyPast

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added two collections very relevant to my own personal research this week - parish records for Magheraculmoney in Fermanagh, Ireland, and poor law records indexes from Inverness:

Fermanagh Parish Records

This week, we added 15,629 parish register records from the parish of Magheraculmoney in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Fermanagh is a Northern Irish county located within the province of Ulster - it borders Tyrone, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, and Donegal.

These records are updates to existing baptism, marriage, and burial sets, and the addition of an entirely new set of congregational records from Fermanagh.

Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists, Inverness

We've added 2,554 records from Inverness to the Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists collection this week.

These records are incredibly detailed, with all sorts of information about your ancestors included.

Alongside the usual name and birth year, you may be lucky enough to find details on their religious denomination, the names and ages of any spouses or children, their mother's maiden name, a brief history of the previous assistance they've received, and more.

COMMENT: I have ancestors both from Magheraculmoney (Morrow, Mitchell) and Inverness (Fraser, MacGillivray, MacFarlane), so look forward to exploring these later.

Further details, and links, at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/fermanagh-parish-poor-law-inverness.

Incidentally, in the Inverness record set, there's a note in FMP's description stating "They take the form of minutes taken by Guardians during poor law and relief hearings.". No, they don't. Scotland didn't have Boards of Guardians...! (We had parochial boards answerable to a Board of Supervision in Edinburgh, with Inspectors of the Poor doing the localised investigations in each parish or combination parish). I've raised this with FindmyPast and they are going to update it.

Chris

Tuesday, 25 July 2023

The Scottish Indexes conferences turn 21 on September 9th

The Scottish Indexes conferences have come of age - 21 in September! First started by Graham and Emma Maxwell during the pandemic in 2020, the 21st conference on September 9th will continue the mix of talks and banter that have made them so popular over the last three years.

I'm delighted to say that I will be giving a talk at the event, on the topic of Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, whilst the following speakers have also been confirmed:

Like All These Country Folks Very Stupid: Glasgow Highlanders in the Poor Law Applications by Alison Spring

The People of Cross House by Kate Keter

Scottish Tax Records for Genealogy and Local History by Robert Urquhart

Crimes of an Heinous Nature by Margaret Fox

You can pre-register to attend the conference at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4416816408113/WN_ceRAW8tfS3iVxfWzU_hs0Q#/registration, with further details on schedules etc to be added on the Scottish Indexes website at www.scottishindexes.com closer to the event.

Should be fun - hopefully see you there!

Chris

The BBC Time Flyers programme that was never broadcast

I once had a previous 12 year career in television documentary production, and I thought that the following story from that period might be of interest to those of you interested in all things Jacobite...!

You may remember that there used to be an aerial archaeology series on BBC2 called Time Flyers, which had two successful runs in 2002 and 2003. It was produced by BBC Scotland for the UK wide BBC network, and yours truly was involved it in right from the start! Having returned to the BBC in Glasgow in November 2000 as a development researcher (having previously worked on the Gaelic series Eòrpa there in 1997, and on various documentaries at BBC Bristol from 1995-1997), I was soon promoted to be an assistant producer or 'AP' (a role I previously held at Scottish Television).

One of the tasks I was asked to look into for a possible series idea, by my creative director, Neil McDonald, was the topic of aerial archaeology, and at the end of the development process we eventually came up with the series format that was eventually presented by Mark Horton, Jo Caruth and Dave McLeod. All three came from various parts of the archaeology world, with Dave in particular an aerial archaeologist, whose very job was to go up into the air to photograph crop marks, formed when the ground is dry, and which hid archaeological treasures beneath with some incredible stories to be told. The series was called Time Flyers.

There were two series of Time Flyers produced, comprised of twelve episodes in total, of which I produced and directed three - The Missing Castle, filmed at Croft Castle in Herfordshire, Clash of the Clans, filmed at Dùn Eistean in Lewis, and my fave, Villages of the Dammed, filmed at the Derwent Dams in England's Peak District. The rest of the programmes were made by Andrew Thompson, Sandy Raffan, and Jane McWilliams, with myself acting as the AP on most of the remaining programmes (basically back up support for the producer/director!); Andrew also acted as the series producer on the first run, with Steve Evanson taking the role on the second, and with Neil acting as our executive poducer throughout. Incidentally, the title of the series, Time Flyers, came from yours truly - I was a huge Doctor Who fan, and there was Peter Davison story called Time Flight, which sounded close enough to what we needed, and which the exec liked as a suggestion (although I don't think I explained the TARDIS connection at the time!)!

What you may not be aware of, however, is the fact that there was an episode of Time Flyers that was not ever transmitted. As part of the development process, we were asked by the network heid-yins in London to produce what is known as a 'pilot programme' - a programme that will test the concept and to give an idea of what might be encountered during its production. If the idea worked, it would be hoped that the programme might even be broadcast in due course, but it was not the main priority - the concept was. So yours truly, as part of the development process, was asked to come up with some possible ideas for stories that could be filmed, soon joined by Sandy, who was tasked with directing the production.

The subject front runner initially was an idea that was to be filmed in the Yorkshire Wolds in the north of England, looking at some neolithic landscaping lines that could still be made out from the air, and trying to determine their purpose. We were all set to go into production on this, when the unthinkable happened, with foot and mouth disease leading to Britain's agricultural landscape going into something of a lockdown in 2001. This forced us to abandon the idea at this stage, although the programme was eventually made when the series was formally commissioned (Reading Between the Lines, very capably directed by the wonderful Jane McWilliams).

We therefore needed a plan B, but fortunately I had another story in the kitty, which was soon adopted as the pilot programme, and which we soon titled The Hidden Garden. This was to be filmed at Castle Menzies in Perthshire, near Weem, which is well known for its gardens close by on the hill to its rear. However, a photograph taken by an aerial archaeologist working in Edinburgh showed that there was a huge crop mark in a field to the east/south-east of the castle that looked something like a giant tennis court.

What could it be? There was only one way to find out, and with the permission of the castle authorities we commissioned an archaeological excavation (via Glasgow University's archaeology service, GUARD), which Sandy filmed for the pilot programme, with myself in tow as the AP. At this stage, the presentation team included Dave McLeod, Jo Caruth, and architectural historian Simon Thurley.

The archaeologists soon uncovered the remains of a garden, including planting trenches and an old well, and with a bit of research we determined that the walls to the garden had been pulled down in 1746, by the Duke of Cumberland's redcoat forces, hot in pursuit of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The prince had previously stayed at the castle, as he and his Jacobite forces made their way to north to their eventual tragic fate at Culloden, and when Cumberland arrived the walls were pulled down to prevent opportunities for Jacobite soldiers to hide and take pot shots at both he and his men in the castle. In the aftermath of the Forty Five the garden was simply left to ruin and grown over.

The following images were taken by me during the filming, showing the mains of the garden that we found, and which I subsequently uploaded to Historic Environmnt Scotland's Canmore site (https://canmore.org.uk), appreciating their historic value:

Upon completion of the filming, the programme was assembled, and the concept found to work to the network's satisfaction. However, at this stage, Simon was appointed to a position at English Heritage, and was unfortunately unable to commit to the filming, which was a real pity, as he was great at it! In the following months the green light was given for the series to be produced, and Mark Horton was brought into to ably complete the vacancy in the presentation team. However, because of the change in the line-up, as well as a couple of other formatting tweaks, The Hidden Garden was unfortunately never broadcast, as happens with so many pilot programmes.

So if you ever make a visit to Castle Menzies (https://www.castlemenzies.org), which I would thoroughly recommend, take a look to the field just to the south-east of the castle building, and be aware that yet another small incident in the story of the Forty-Five happened right there!

Chris

Scottish GENES will be X-iting Twitter at the end of August

Twitter unfortunately seems to now be trying to position itself as an ex-app, which I think can be the only possible reason that it is now called 'X'. For several months, since Musk's acquisition of the platform, Twitter has appeared to be lurching to the right in terms of the levels it wishes to sink to. I am now receiving random follower requests almost on a daily basis with people openly including 'MAGA' nonsense in their profiles, and questionable politics, and to be honest, my own country is currently enjoying its own post-Brexit identity crises, and I'm not really up for getting dragged into another's - but hey Musk, thanks for asking anyway!

I'm afraid that a social media app now using what to me looks like an oppressive black and white cross as its logo, whilst still protesting it is not right wing, is just a step too far for me, and as such, I will soon be quitting my remaining Twitter account, by the end of August. There comes a time when enough is really enough.

But I am still online elsewhere! The following are my other key social media platforms in use for Scottish GENES, beyond the blog itself:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGENESBlog/ - I have 4,600 followers on here, the page having first been set up in December 2011. I post each blog post on here once written, but also share additional news that may be of interest (perhaps from another territory not quite applicable to Ireland or Scotland, but which is an interesting story in its own right, and which may be of interest to followers worldwide), as well as sharing some humour, images from Scotland and Ireland, and other posts from accounts of family history interest for those areas.

Please do feel free to follow me there, as I try to answer as many comments as possible, and with a few giggles along the way! It's also great to get feedback there on the latest news announcements, and to source new stories for folk from other accounts.

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@scottishgenesblog This is the new Meta run Instagram linked social media network app, the fastest subscribed to in history, and where I currently have 208 followers and growing. It is very early days here - a lot of folk have signed up as part of a holding pattern, waiting to see what is happening with Twitter, but I have had a fair few sign-ups in the last few days, as people seemingly appear to be increasingly ready to move away from Musk's new social media Mordor. In the very near future Threads plans to replicate many of the features currently to be found on Twitter, including two key tools - the use of hashtags, and a facility to only see posts from accounts that you follow, without which it is still a bit primitive. If you have not signed up yet, I'd encourage you to do so, to secure the name of the account that you wish to have (so no-one else gets there first!), and await developments (although apologies to those in the EU, where Meta is currently not launching the app as yet).

One tip on Threads - in the morning, I tend to find on the news feed that there are lots of celebrities and folk you really can't be bothered with, but that the posts and news from those you do wish to follow seem to appear more consistently throughout the day. As Threads develops and evolves, I will be posting more there in due course - once you have the app installed, simply look for me at @scottishgenesblog.

Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES I started an account here prior to Christmas, and then took my foot off the pedal for a bit, but am now back on full time again, with some 649 followers. This is a bit closer to the current Twitter experience, and more (e.g. you can edit posts after they have been made), although the structure of the platform, with its 'instances', means that it is not quite as straightforward in terms of looking for accounts to follow.

If on the Mastodon.scot instance, you'll find me at @ScottishGENES, for those on other instances look for me at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

For the 4500 who were following me on Twitter @chrismpaton since 2009 (this account is now deleted as of last week), and the 2500 following me at @genesblog since 2018, I hope you will consider following me on one of these other social media accounts in the very near future. I will remain on Twitter for another month or so to allow as much time as possible for you to explore these other platforms, and to hopefully sign up!

And if none of that floats your boat, don't forget that you can also sign up for the free Scottish GENES Newsletter, sent out every Sunday, via the panel to the right of this blog post! Look for the section that looks like the image to the right here and simply input your email address. This adds you to the subscribers list, essentially giving me your consent to email you the newsletter every week - you can also email me at any stage should you wish to be removed from the subscription list, or if you wish to re-register under a different email address.

(Please check your spam folder if the newsletter does not appear on the first Sunday after, and if so, tell your computer that I am hopefully one of the good guys!)

I am genuinely sorry to be saying goodbye to Twitter. It was a great place to interact with other genealogists, but it is now a relic of another era, and I wish to leave it whilst I still have some good memories from it.

RIP Twitter, and fly free...

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.

Saturday, 22 July 2023

Dunkeld Living History Event

From Dunkeld Community Archive (www.historicdunkeld.org.uk):

Dunkeld Living History Event

Dunkeld’s history comes to life at our “Annual Living History Event”.

An exhibition of Victorian Photography in the Community Archive – £3 Entry, kids free.

STANLEY PARK—SAT 29TH & SUN 30TH JULY, 10am to 5pm **** FREE ****

Events throughout the day

The Erskine Regiment (1689 Battle of Dunkeld); Scots at War, The Great War Society, London Scottish, Elsie Inglis & Canadian Forestry Corp. (Boer, WWI & WWII); 12th/13th C Knight, Jesters; Blairgowrie, Rattray & District Pipe Band; Fire Department Heritage display; National Trust for Scotland; Steven Goodison, Caricature Artist; Local Defence Volunteers .

Concerts will include:

The Lost Witches of Dunkeld – Birnam Arts, Friday 28th July at 7pm

An evening of stories about local women and men called “witch” and their surprising fates.
Told by Lindsey Gibb.

Under the Branches – Re-imagined Tales from the Birnam Oak told through song – Birnam Arts, Saturday 29th July at 7pm
Soprano – Colleen Nicoll, Tenor – David Douglas, Pianist – Andrew Johnston.

The Story of Dunkeld Cathedral with Music – Dunkeld Cathedral, Sunday 30th July at 3pm
The narrated story of the church enhanced with music from the Cathedral Choir, Organist and local Musicians.

A Hilarious History of Scotland
– Birnam Arts, Sunday 30th July at 8pm
David Downie Comedian.

(Original source - https://www.historicdunkeld.org.uk/2023/05/03/dunkeld-living-history-event-2023/)

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.

Kilmartin Museum to re-open September 3rd 2023

From the Kilmartin Museum Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/KilmartinMuseum):

We will be reopening Kilmartin Museum on Sunday 3 September!

We can't wait to welcome you back to experience the newly redeveloped museum. As well as showcasing Argyll and Bute’s rich archaeological history, our recently recognised Nationally Significant Collection of 22,000 prehistoric artefacts, some of which will be on display for the first time

We'll be sharing more about the work that will be on display when we reopen - stay tuned!

For more on the museum visit https://www.kilmartin.org/.

Comment: Kilmartin glen is the former location of Dunadd, the main fort of the ancient Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riada, and is definitely a landscape worth exploring. This was my son being crowned as king of the Gaels there a few years back, by placing his foot in the footprint shaped hole in one of the rocks there...!

You can read a bit more about it, and see some pics, at https://scotlandsgreateststory.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/visittodunadd/.

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.

Key family history repositories in Edinburgh

Edinburgh City Council's Our Town Stories website has a handy page illustrating the key archival repositories in Edinburgh at which you can carry out family history research.

You can find the guide at https://www.ourtownstories.co.uk/story/3965-family-history-research-centres

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 race to record Scotland's closing churches

Scotland's Churches Trust (www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk) has blogged an article describing its work to record the moveable contents of churches that are now closing due to the Church of Scotland selling off much of its property portfolio, some 400 churches. The following is an excerpt:

Rather than concentrate upon the architectural features and built fabric of these buildings, which we must hope will survive their sale relatively intact, our project aims to record the moveable contents of each church – the hundreds of fragile artefacts gathered within each building by their local communities, often over many generations, which will inevitably be removed and scattered after the church is closed.

Initially launching in early 2020, our volunteers attempted to get the pilot project off the ground just as COVID appeared. Over the months that followed, as regulations allowed, our volunteers began to visit some churches and keep the initiative alive. They recorded and produced short reports on Dysart St Clair, Sullom and Uyeasound in Shetland and Viewforth Parish Church in Kirkcaldy.

Due to staff changes at our Trust and the inevitable vagaries of public engagement with such initiatives during a pandemic, it wasn’t until late summer of 2022 that we were once again able to re-boot the project, effectively starting it all over again.

After embarking upon a volunteer recruitment drive and seeking out churches that were likely to close, in August and September our volunteers visited and recorded the contents of Greenside Parish Church in Edinburgh and Innerwick and Oldhamstocks Parish Churches in East Lothian. In February 2023, they visited Portnahaven and Kilmeny in Islay and Morham in East Lothian.

The full article is available at https://www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/blog/recording-scotlands-closing-churches/ which includes the following Zoom presentation detailing their work:

For further details visit the project's website.

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.

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Friday, 28 July 2023

Tuesday, 25 July 2023

Saturday, 22 July 2023