Exciting New Resources

 

This past week has seen the launch of two new exciting online resources. The first is Trove, the revamped portal for Historic Environment Scotland. It also includes information from SCRAN and Canmore.  

Describing itself as "the key to Scotland's past", it hosts over a million images and thousands of records and culturally significant objects. Not all of the site is complete yet, as I discovered when trying to use a link to explore objects. However there is a feedback facility which hopefully will help inform HES on how to improve things. Early days yet but a promising site.

The second resource, which I just heard about today, is Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies' (SIGS) Papal Dispensations for Marriage Database.  Although I haven't yet discovered an ancestor in its records, I did stumble across a couple who were King and Queen of England.

Dispensation from the Pope was required when those marrying were related by blood. For instance, the royal couple I found had a fourth-degree relationship - meaning a third cousin, parent's second cousin, grandparent's first cousin, or a great-great uncle or aunt. Even "spiritual" relationships could be problematic. An example cited is if the groom's mother had been the bride's godmother at her christening.

The database will be most useful for those researching medieval genealogy but also provides fascinating insights into family life and religious practices of that time.

(Header image created using Bayeux Historic Tale Construction Kit)

Marriage, Slavery, and RootsTech

This week's helping of free family history events -

 ☙ As a nod to St. Valentine's Day, MyHeritage is giving free access to its marriage record collections - all 279 of them - from 13-16 February. You can find them here, and sign up for an account if you don't already have one (it's completely free to register).

☙ On Saturday 22 February, the Southern Ontario group of Aberdeen & North East Family History Society are hosting a Zoom presentation on the topic of slavery and its impact on family history. The speaker is Sally Low, an experienced researcher who just recently discovered links to slavery in her own family. She will share what she learned and how, which should make for a very interesting talk. The meeting is open to non-members of the Society and you can sign up for it on their website.

☙ Coming up at the beginning of March is the annual family history fest that is RootsTech. Now firmly in hybrid mode, a great deal of its content is available online. Advance registration allows you to browse the schedule of classes and talks and decide which ones are of most interest. Previous years' presentations are available on-demand including a few by myself 😊

Black History Month

To mark Black History Month in the USA (the UK equivalent is in October), there are plenty of free resources on offer. Here are just a few:

Legacy Family Tree Webinars are showing five themed presentations on African-American research from the days of enslavement up until the present day. Find out how to reconstruct an enslaved family, use plantation and court records, and learn about the origins of Juneteenth.

Ancestry, as well as hosting webinars to help those starting out on researching African-American ancestors, have other talks to help you get more out of your DNA results and building your tree on the website.

The U.S. Family Tree magazine's website also features plenty of helpful articles on topics like Freedmen's Bureau Records, and case studies in tracing enslaved forebears. The site also offers free genealogy charts and forms to help you record and plan your research. You may have to sign up to an e-mail to receive the downloads, but you can always unsubscribe immediately afterwards if you don't want the e-mails.

To begin tracing African-American ancestry, a great place to start is the FamilySearch Research Wiki, with loads of ideas for online resources you can explore and helpful tips.

Finding Your Scots Ancestors - Free Resources

 

Dundee Courier, 1921

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. This is an updated version of a previous blog post from 2021.

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.

ScotlandsPlaces  In 18th-century Scotland, if something moved (or even if it didn’t), it got taxed. Horses, carts, dogs, clocks, watches – oh, and people, too. Household and farm servants may be listed under their employers’ names. You can also trace the history of a place through time, even a relatively small place, using Ordnance Survey records as well as property and business tax ledgers. And there are plenty of maps, plans, and photos, too.

Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-1845  Background information for the entire country, parish by parish, in the 18^th and 19^th 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 who were planning to emigrate to different parts of the world.  Get a flavour of what life would have been like for people taking the big step 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.

Kirk Session Records  Find out what your ancestors got up to when they were hauled before the minister and elders. There are links on this page to resources for understanding the context and social history behind these records, as well as the sometimes-difficult handwriting.

Dictionary of the Scots Language  Also handy for reading older records as well as Burns' poetry is this online dictionary of Scots. It is a separate language, ye ken.

Some free discoveries this week

 

While staying at home during the latest Scottish weather instalment (Storm Éowyn), I've spotted a few interesting things for frugal family historians…

First, an offer from MyHeritage: they're celebrating Australia Day this weekend - 25-28 January - with free access to many of their Australian records. You can read the full details at their blogpost, but note that their recent additions from OldNews.com are not included. 

Just this morning I came across an old blog post by the Knowles Collection about accessing their records of Jewish families from around the world. These are available on FamilySearch.org in its lesser-used Genealogies section, and the Collection's blog gives step-by-step screenshots to help you find and search these databases. Using this, I found a family I've researched in the past listed in the UK records.

In the past week I’ve begun contributing to a very worthwhile but straightforward indexing project for Arolsen Archives - #everynamecounts.  This is working to compile a database of those whose names are recorded on twentieth-century prisoner registration and displaced person cards. Almost 190,000 volunteers are currently working on this, and once you’ve read the Help notes to understand what’s required, it only takes a minute or two to complete one entry.

Finally, what are you doing tomorrow? If you'd like to stay home but are itching to attend a family history event, East Surrey Family History Society have the answer. They're holding a virtual family history fair which is free to attend. Many different societies will be "attending" and you can visit them on Zoom, ask questions, and find out what resources they offer. Why not pop along and have a chat? Among those holding virtual stalls will be 

• Aberdeen & North East Scotland FHS

• East of London FHS

• Glasgow & West of Scotland FHS

• FIBIS (Families in British India Society)

• Manchester & Lancashire FHS

• Romany & Travellers FHS

Support Your Local Family History Society

 

Family history society publications

Happy New Year! and welcome to another twelvemonth of family history money-saving tips. Not all frugal resources are completely free, but there are some that are definitely a good investment. Take family history societies, for example...

Over the past few years, these organisations have really upped their game and taken to online meetings with gusto. This has opened access to a worldwide audience for society events, particularly those with guest speakers or special discussions. 

Different societies operate in a variety of ways: some open their online and/or in-person meetings to everyone, not just members; some offer free entry for members and a small entry fee for non-members; for others, attendance is free to all; some vary their meetings between online and in-person; some regularly offer hybrid meetings, combining both remote and present audiences.

For example, this month I'd been invited by a family history society to give a talk via Zoom, and this was an online-only meeting, open to members at no extra charge (other than their annual membership fee), and just £2 for non-members wishing to attend.  And later this month, I'll be giving an in-person talk at a meeting of the Renfrewshire Family History Society, which will be a hybrid event. Any non-members who want to join this meeting can find the contact details on the society's website.

Other than meetings, family history societies around the world support their members in many ways, including

• Online databases compiled by members, such as indexes to local burial or poor relief records
• A register of members' surname interests
• Regular journals or newsletters, both in print and electronic formats
• Operating a research centre in the local community
• Research services for those living in other parts of the world
• Projects like graveyard surveys - these often end up as monumental inscription books (MIs)

Access to society research facilities and remote research services may also be open to the general public, usually for a small fee.  

If you've visited a family history fair or conference, you'll have seen some local societies at work, with their member volunteers staffing a stall. This normally has publications for sale: monumental inscription books, historic maps, works authored by members, and sometimes titles of local or general history interest that relate to the society's area. And of course the volunteers are delighted to enroll new members who wish to join.

For those who live at a distance from their ancestors' parish(es), society websites now have a greater role to play. Some record Zoom meetings for members to watch at their leisure. Society journals can be downloaded, and this can give members the choice of a lower-cost subscription - a society I belong to has a sliding scale of membership fees which includes a £7 reduction to members opting for electronic delivery of their journal (hats off to the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland FHS!).

I've also found that where you're not familiar with an area but want some tips or pointers on sites or records, dropping the relevant society an e-mail can work wonders. Members often have excellent local knowledge and can advise you on the best research strategies.

Society publications - MIs, church records, military history and many other subjects - can be ordered via the society website. These are of tremendous value and often contain information about ancestors that isn't readily available elsewhere, especially if you're not local to the area.

There are also umbrella organisations which include societies from across the world. The Family History Federation is the largest such group in the UK, with 160 member societies. It hosts educational resources for genealogists - this list of free family history websites is very useful - and keeps a calendar of some society meetings, although this isn't exhaustive. Its associated online shop will keep you browsing for a while, too.

Additionally, Scottish genealogy and heritage groups come under the auspices of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies. Check out their list of members if you have Scots heritage. One of these is the Scottish Genealogy Society, which has research premises in Edinburgh. Its website has an online shop selling an excellent range of publications from many other societies. Some of these are available as instant downloads, cutting down on postage costs.

My feeling about family history societies is that although they involve a (relatively) small expenditure to join, they are well worth it. They provide a network for people with very similar interests, which may even lead to finding a distant cousin; offer opportunities to contribute through volunteering on committees, projects, and events; and have a myriad of resources including courses and classes to guide you as you work on your family tree. A search of the Internet for a society that matches your interests should help you identify what groups are available. Go on, give it a try.