 |
| Burns Monument Centre, Kilmarnock |
To
celebrate the birthday on January 25th of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, I’ve put
together a selection of free websites that may help you to grow your Scottish family tree a bit.
Ayrshireroots Lots of links to explore including
maps, reference books, and a surname database for the parishes and towns of Burns' native county.
Glasgow Valuation Rolls,1913-1914 Learn about and search these lists of
Glasgow owners and occupiers, with the value of their properties, to locate
your early 20th-century relatives living in the city.
SCAN – Scottish Archive Network Identify useful genealogical sources using a
keyword search of over 20,000 historical records in dozens of Scottish
archives.
Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-1845 Background information for the entire country, parish
by parish, in the 18th and 19th centuries. These books were compiled from contemporary accounts
written by locals about their own area, with descriptions of the parish, its history, its natural features and industries. Excellent
for learning about the times and places your ancestors lived in.
Scots Abroad Whether your relatives went abroad to work, live, or visit, they may appear in these databases hosted by the National Library of Scotland. These include correspondence from emigrants and guides for those planning to emigrate to different parts of the world. Get a flavour of what life would have been like for people making their first trip away from Scotland.
Scottish Emigration Database Search by the name of a person or the
ship they sailed on. Thousands of entries from 1890 to 1960 list the address from which they were emigrating
and their destination overseas.
And of course, a post about Burns Night wouldn’t be complete without a link to
Happy Haggis which has a great index to over 30,000 historical
newspaper articles from 1848 to 1854, covering that crucial period just before
civil registration began in Scotland.
Enjoy exploring these websites as you nibble on your Scottish treats or haggis-flavoured crisps and sip your choice of national drink.
 |
| Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash |
No comments:
Post a Comment