Macmillan Ancestry Tour Scotland

This evening, I am posting a record of a Macmillan themed ancestry tour which started and ended in Glasgow.

Macmillans have their origins in Knapdale in the West of Scotland. Castle Sween (below), possibly the oldest castle in Scotland, boasts a Macmillan tower. Close by is the Kilmory churchyard in which can be found the 12 ft Macmillan cross, an elaborately carved 15th century monument inscribed 'Haec est crux Alexandri Macmillan'. An image of this cross can be found immediately below.

The Macmillans lost control of the lands of Knap which were purchased in 1775 by Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverneil.

An interesting and rewarding tour in magnificent countryside.

Tracing Glasgow Emigrants

This evening, I am presenting some information on data sources to assist with tracing emigrants from Scotland, viz:

• Port of New York at Ellis Island: www.ellisisland.org
• A record of 6,900 extant shipping registers: www.immigrantships.net
• The ships list website which contains passenger lists, etc: www.theshipslist.com
• The London based National Archive website which contains links to on line sources and archives in North America, Australia and New Zealand: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
• A list of Scots who emigrated and travelled abroad with substantial Canadian content: www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/scotsabroad
• Hudson's Bay company www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/index

Hope the foregoing will help with what could prove a daunting task.

Help with Scotland Ancestry Research

This evening, I am presenting a list of Scottish related websites which may prove of help in searching family history:

• www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk online source of parish register, civil registration and census records.
• www.scottishdocuments.com 520,00 Scottish wills and testaments (1500-1901)
• www.scan.org.uk-an electronic catalogue to the holding of more than 50 Scottish archives.
• http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/description.shtml accounts of Scottish places during the 18th and 19th centuries.
• www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl electronic editions of the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots language.

Help With Ancestry Research Glasgow

This evening, I am provide more information to assist persons researching personal ancestry. Local authority records can be of help, in particular:

• Valuation rolls will provide information on on owners of property and their tenants back to 1855.
• Plans of schools and registers of students joining and leaving.
• Police or burgh courts will pick up offenders back to the 16th century.
• Poor Law records from the 1840s to 1930.
• City Jail records and bail bond registers.
• Records of businesses.

All the foregoing is, of course, in addition to the main ScotlandsPeople website.

Happy hunting!!

Scottish Ancestry and Clans

This evening, I am posting some more information on Scottish Ancestry Tourism.

Another aspect of identification with both Scottish past and present is via a connection with a particular Clan and places associated with that Clan, e.g

• A particular castle
• Battle site
• Important power centre such as Finlaggan on Islay.

This connection provides persons with a tangible link with Scotland ( possibly even a de facto second citizenship) which some follow through with membership of a particular Clan. Some clans are in fact run from the U.S.or other countries such as Canada or Australia reflecting the long tradtion of emigration dating back to the Highland Clearances and other people movements..

Exploring Scottish Ancestry Glasgow

This evening, I am providing more information on my experiences of providing ancesry themed tours from Glasgow.

In the desire to connect with the past lives of ancestors,visitors will spend many hours searching through cemetries. Also, the rural nature of Scotland's lanscape facilitates identification with the past.There are many isolated Clearance Villages which are accessible, These date back to a dark time in Sotland's history when whole communities were ruthlessly ejected at a time when a shift from traditional agriculture to sheep faming occurred.Many of the inhabitants were effectively deported to places like the Carolinas and Canada which in turn leads to vistors keen to investigate their past..

Researching Scottish Ancestry Glasgow

This evening I am focusing on a key Scottish website which should prove of great value in reseaching personal ancestry, namely Scotland's People. This is an offical site which provides on line access to births, marriages and deaths.This site affords the researcher with access to authentic records and is a superb aid to ancestry research.

Scottish Ancestry Glasgow

This evening I am focusing on the notion of personal identity which is important to certain people, particularly those of Scottish/Celtic descent who reside in melting pot societies like America and Australia.To facilitate personal ancestry reseach it is recommended that reseachers visit such places as the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and the Scottish National Archives in Edinburgh. There are also worthwhile specilaist websites which can be of help, e,g, the excellent site run by the Mormon Church.