A Clan Map

Scotland is famous for it's clans and often non-natives have a romanticized view of what they are. Learning about clan history in school was not one of my favorite moments because I was not fond of the "blood and guts" aspect of it all. Having said that here's an interesting article http://www.scotclans.com/scottish_history/articles/clan_system.html

Images of Scotland

I went blog hopping yesterday and have decided to add a new section to my sidebar. The links will take me/you to blogs that highlight Scotland in images and some of them also give information that would be useful for writing family histories. Some will be there just because I like them :)

Using YouTube for family research

I bet YouTube is not a source many people automatically think about but there's a lot of interesting information there. When you write a family history it is always good to set your ancestors in context. This means researching the area they came from. Here's a very interesting example about the history of Edinburgh that would be a great start off for further research.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkjEzYaP9Sk "Birth of a City."
Some of my direct ancestors lived in Edinburgh and even though I grew up in Scotland, loved history in school and lived in Edinburgh myself I still learned a lot from this video.

Armistice Day

Today we remember and reflect, give thanks for the freedoms we have gained through the sacrifices of others and pray we never have to endure what they endured.

We should also show appreciation to and for those who are currently fighting and are away from their loved ones.
The photographs show some of my relatives who fought during WWI and lived through a number of experiences.
Horseback - Patrick Lindsay (my grandfather)
Pyramids - (my great uncle) David McEwan (back row)ANZACS
Standing portrait - John Hall (my grandfather)
Two of my McEwan great uncles died at Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli (1915) and Albert, France (1916).

Pitlour House, Strathmiglo, Fife

This is one of the places where my g-g-grandfather William Lindsay worked as a Butler. He was employed by Patrick G. Skene Esq. of Hallyards. The house was located 11/4 miles NW of Strathmiglo.
The Lindsay family occupied East Pitlour Farm during the time William was employed there and appear in the 1841 and 1851 census. I think they moved to Strathmiglo about 1840/41 just after their daughter Margaret was born but for whatever reason the younger siblings were born somewhere other than the local area. They had ties to Edinburgh and Inverkeilor so I'm wondering if Euphemia was visiting family or friends.

A new venture for me

I was working my shift at the Franklin FHC yesterday when who should call but one of the members of the Bellevue Genealogy and Family History group that I belong too. He wanted to make sure I was there before heading on over. We got deep into conversation about one of his ancestors who turned out to have Irish Quaker roots. A new area of research for me and one that is proving fascinating. One of the other patrons got so interested he joined in the discussion too :)

The Quakers, who keep extremely good records, arrived in Ireland about 1660'sh and initially settled in Mountmellick. Now that name bugged me for a while till I realized it's also a form of textile that I had been learning about a few months ago. They expanded out to different communities and then came to America in groups.

I plan on learning more about this interesting group of people.

A day to remember and reflect.

Who Do You Think You are?

Over here we are an issue behind because this is what I bought today at Barnes and Noble.

A lot of my research is centered round Stirlingshire so I am totally looking forward to looking at the free CD that came with the magazine. The magazine itself has a lot of information in it so I know it will take me a while to read through and digest everything :)

I really like the T.V. series and have been able to see one of them and part of another, on visits to the UK. Lots of interesting information.

I also have the book from series I which made for great reading. I highly recommend getting a copy of that or the other series' issues.

If you have not already visited their website go to http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/

Okay, enough gushiness from me :)

Researching With Sensitivity

One of the areas of research that has to be done very carefully is if you have a relative that fought in any kind of war.

WWI, for many, was the first huge one that had an almost global impact in one way or another.

Many participants tried to forget the traumatic experiences they went through. Some on occasion spoke up, others never did. All would probably wish it had never happened. Never force someone to talk about their experiences. Always be considerate of their deeply buried feelings and the grief and pain that can arise. For many time never heals.

I feel greatly blessed that we have a hand written account of my grandfather's 11 months as a prisoner-of-war in Germany. He wrote it well after the event. It is a thoughtfully written account of life in the coal mines and interactions with the local population. In some ways he felt better off than they were because he at least had boots on his feet.

At some point I plan on transcribing it because the pages are now quite fragile. My mother has it so I will either have to wait till I can make another visit or have my dad send me a photocopy. It's not one of those projects you can sit down with and do in an hour.

The title page reads as follows -

"Eleven Months Behind Barbed Wire"

My experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany 1918

John W. Hall

A.B. "Drake" Batt. R.N.D.

In the following pages I have tried to give an account of my experiences while a prisoner of war in Germany in 1918. Most of this account has been compiled from memory but an experience such as this lives in the memory for a long time.

Researching family items

Have you ever researched any of the family items in your possession?

My mother has inherited a number of family pieces over the years and this is one of her favorites.
It is inscribed Helen Margaret Hall Xmas 1897 on the bottom. Given that Helen was born September 1896 I will have to assume that it was made for her by one of her parents or grandparents. What a lovely gift for a cherished baby.
I only ever knew my great aunt as "Nellie" and she had a wooden leg that she let us play gentle drums on when she visited. She died in 1971. By profession she was a teacher and lived in Campbelltown. My parents minister told them that she taught his mother !!!! (Small world). She enjoyed travelling and visited a number of relatives abroad, some of whom still remember her with much affection.

BMD records England

Occasionally I have to do research in English records which is a bit more tricky that Scottish records (I am totally spoiled).
On Tuesday I was working at the family history center and was looking at some of the new data bases. I found a site for Lancashire, where one of my cousins was born. It proved very fruitful and I have now pushed my knowledge about his family back about another 3 generations. It's a basic index , which is free to look at, but some of the family names are unusual so that helped quite considerably. Copies of the original documents can be ordered from the same site for a small fee.

Visiting old haunts

Something that many people like to do when researching their family history is try to visit the homes, workplaces etc. of their ancestors.

While we were visiting my parents in Scotland we had the opportunity to meet a cousin from New Zealand for the first time. His father and my grandfather were brothers and this house is where they and their siblings were born and raised.

The Old Schoolhouse, Drymen used to be where John Hall was schoolmaster and taught school from the late 1890's till 1926. It still looks a lot like it would have done in years past but is now used as a B&B.