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| Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay |
In the last short while, I've come across some great online resources to help me with my genealogical research. They may be well-known to you already, but I'm just discovering them! If they're new to you, too, I hope you find them as useful and interesting as I do.
The Maritime History Archive, created by Memorial University, holds approximately 75 percent of the surviving crew lists (also called crew agreements) and official log books of British registered vessels for the periods 1857-1942 (predominantly 1863-1938) and 1951-1976. I found out about this great resource when a kind friend used it to identify the means by which a relative of mine arrived in the United States. Thanks, Ardis!
Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland
This provides the origins of Scottish locations whose names originate in the Gaelic language. Many other place names derive from Brythonic Celtic, Scots, Norse or English, though. I can highly recommend the excellent book “Glasgow’s Gaelic Place-names” for explanations of the different sources for some of the city's place names.
Birlinn also publish “The Celtic Place-names of Scotland”, in e-book format. This is an older title that covers British, Pictish, and Gaelic place names, and some chapters from it are available on the website of the Scottish Place-Name Society under “Resources”. This site covers the subject in great detail, and it's fascinating to learn about the name origins of the places where our ancestors lived.
Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland
The Registry is described as “a repository of records of wills, land transactions in Ireland and other deeds from 1709”. This website hosts an index and a guide to using the free-to-view FamilySearch digital collection of these records.
This organisation hosts many records, including a freely searchable index of migrant Ulster Scots, and smaller, more area-specific databases. This is a society well worth joining for the member-only records it provides!
Hebrides People (formerly Cò Leis Thu?)
A long-time favourite website of mine has had a makeover. For genealogies of the Western Isles, you can’t get better than this site which draws on oral histories as well as land, church, and state records. Its Croft History series of books is excellent; if your ancestors hailed from any of the Outer Hebrides, these are invaluable for finding detailed information about those who lived and worked there, and those who left for other parts of the world.
Maintenance Alert
Next week, ScotlandsPeople will be offline as the website is "refreshed". The scheduled work will take place from 0001 on Sunday 1st September until 1200 on Tuesday 3rd September (BST). Hopefully it will mean improvements to the usability of the site!
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