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Researching your
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PHOTO GIFTS
Calendars - Postcards - Greetings cards - Stickers T-shirts - Mousemats - Drinking mugs All customised with photos from The Internet Guide to Scotland
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Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors: The Official Guide
by The National Archives of Scotland. Very useful 208-page paperback book. In-depth information including Internet resources. To order your copy click for Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
More useful books & videos |
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How to trace your ancestors - online help
Visit Scottish GENUKI which explains how and where to look for information
This is part of the UK resources page at:
www.genuki.org.uk/big/
which gives information about a useful newsgroup for posting messages to ask for information: soc.genealogy.britain and its associated mailing list.
There's also soc.genealogy.surnames.britain
(accessible via Google Groups).
Also visit the Scotland GenWeb Project which has links to many UK resources and GeneaNet.
Birth, marriage and death records are kept by the General Register Office for Scotland which offers paid online access.
Some of the records are available for free online via Origins.net which includes a free surname search
The Scottish database includes 37 million records, dating from 1533-1926, including the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses in Scotland.
Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) - Internet access to the written history of Scotland.
The National Archives of Scotland web site includes details of the National Register of Archives for Scotland (NRAS),
The Scottish Collections Network (SCONE) provides descriptions of collections held in Scottish libraries, museums and archives, and collections about Scottish topics held elsewhere
ScottishDocuments.com provides free access to the index of over half a million Scottish wills and testaments from 1500 to 1901. If you are successful in your search, you can download high quality colour digital images of documents for a small fee. The site also contains wills of famous Scots, an index to over 800 occupations and help with handwriting and unusual words.
You can also access info on UK military records, parish registers, wills, census info, etc. via www.familyrecords.gov.uk
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-99 and 1845 are now available online from EDINA (Edinburgh Data and Information Access). It gives a good idea of what it was like in the various parishes during those dates.
Peter Garwood is compiling a glossary of archaic words and phrases useful for genealogical research in Scotland. This includes terms linked to property and possessions, found in wills and testaments. Click here to visit his site.
Looking for family who left Scotland on passenger ships going to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc? Visit these resources by Alan Tupman, Chris Gaunt, and Harold Ralston.
Visit the Inveraray Jail web site for prisoners who were sent from there in Argyll to the Colonies.
www.theclearances.org offers a rapidly-growing digital archive on Scotland's Highland Clearances. Concentrating on first-hand accounts it tells the stories of where people came from and the places to which they went. Photographs, articles, statistics, people and passenger searches and much more.
For information about heraldry, visit Burke's Peerage & Gentry International Register of Arms or The Heraldry Society of Scotland.
The Surname Profiler Project web site has research on the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic. You can search the databases to trace the geographic movement of family names.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the world's largest family history library.
As for specific places, there are many resources, here is a sample:
- Ayrshire
- Borders Family History Society (includes an archive research facility in Galashiels)
- Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society
- The Lothians Family History Society
- Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society
- North Perthshire Family History Group
- Inverness-Shire GENUKI web site
- Highland Family History Society
- Aberdeen & North East Scotland Family History Society
- Caithness Family History Society
- Caithness (GENUKI)
- Ancestral Orkney
- Isles of Skye & Raasay - by Norma MacLeod
- Bill Lawson's Genealogy Centre specialises in emigrant families all over the world with Hebridean backgrounds. Email address is Lawsonbil@aol.com and web site. Covers the Western Isles only (Harris, Lewis, Uists, Barra, St Kilda). Also sells Hebridean historical books and genealogical research material.
Also try the Scottish Genealogy Society which has a Library and Family History Centre at 15 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL (closed Fridays and Sundays).
Don't know where to start?
The BBC has compiled a guide to Scottish Roots.
And
ancestralscotland.com is the tourist board initiative.
MAPS & PLACE NAMES
If you are trying to identify the location of specific places, check out these sites where you can view searchable maps online:
The Scottish Gazetteer is another useful resource online.
The National Library of Scotland also has various historical maps online including the now famous ones by Timothy Pont made in the 1580s and 1590s.
A Vision of Britain Through Time (between 1801 and 2001) includes historical maps and descriptions, census reports, etc. Web site created by the Great Britain Historical Geographical Information System Project.
Old maps (circa 1850) are available courtesy of Landmark and are currently browsable by county name.
Old photos of various places can be searched for via SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) which is an online database of 1 million heritage records from museums, galleries, archives, etc.
Resources for Learning in Scotland (RLS) is a resource base headed by the National Library of Scotland and SCRAN - involving over 100 Scottish archives and libraries.
CLANS
Leslie A. McRae's site has useful information on not just the McRae family, but also surnames and genealogy.
The Clan Mackenzie has to be mentioned here of course since my grandmother was a Mackenzie.
For other specific clans, see:
- The Gathering of the Clans has various useful sections including messages boards and the clan finder.
- Rampant Scotland has a section devoted to weblinks for Clans and Tartans.
- U.S. SCOTS Links Directory: clans and Scottish family names web sites, Scottish Clubs & Societies and SCOTSGENES - the Scottish Genealogy Web Ring.
- More Scottish clan and history links......
NEWSGROUPS - MAILING LISTS - FORUMS - MESSAGE BOARDS
There are numerous Internet mailing lists covering Scottish surnames and places You can subscribe to these by email via RootsWeb.
There are also several general Scottish newsgroups where you can find answers:
- alt.scottish.clans
- soc.culture.scottish (which has a FAQ file useful to read before you ask questions!)
- scot.general
You should be able to read them via Google Groups which also allows searches on archived newsgroup threads.
As for chat forums & message boards, try:
- TalkingScot - a meeting place for people with an interest in Scottish genealogy, history and culture
- Scotland.com which has 2 forums specifically for clans and genealogy.
- Electric Scotland Clan conferencing systems
- The Gathering of the Clans - Clan Discussion
CONTACTING PEOPLE
The whole of the current UK phone directory is available online - searchable for free via the BT phone web site (click on Directory Enquiries) or try www.ukphonebook.com.
Looking for the exact address of a house? If you wish to mail/post something to someone in the UK, you can find their postcode via the Royal Mail web site (click on Postcode and address finder).
You might be able to find other clan members by searching some of the email databases on the Web, such as:
- SCOTS Online directory
- Yahoo People Search (US)
- 192.com (UK)
TRIPS
- Based in Moffat (Scotland), Scottish Ancestral Trail can organise itinerary, driver-guides and accommodation for those who wish to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors in Scotland.
- Ancestral Journeys can help with genealogy research and tour booking.
PROFESSIONAL RESEARCHERS (a variety of links)
- Ancestral Scotland Search - genealogist Morag Carter is based in the Borders, and can research family history enquiries for the whole of Scotland
- Ar Turas - can offer research on your genealogy plus social and cultural histories
- Bill Lawson covers the Western Isles only (Harris, Lewis, Uists, Barra, St Kilda).
- David Dobson - researcher and author specialising in early emigration of Scots to North America and the West Indies.
- Graham Maxwell Ancestry Publishing Services - genealogy research and publication of indexed transcriptions of census data for the Scottish Borders
- Heather Roots by Sandra Shanks, specialises in Highland family history, probate genealogy and heir locating.
- IMCHAD ANCESTRY - Ian A McClumpha specialises in Dumfries & Galloway.
- KinHelp by Gordon Johnson covers all of Scotland, specialising in the pre-1700 period.
- Our Scots - genealogy research service based near Edinburgh.
- Sara Jayne Donaldson of Thurso specialises in Caithness research
- Scots Ancestry Research Society
- Scots Family - a Scottish ancestor service which helps to enliven family trees by offering also historical photographs of people and places, parish accounts, and old large-scale maps to help pin-point the ancestral home.
- Scottish Ancestor - professional service based in Fife. Prior to your visit to Scotland we will research the places your ancestors lived/worked/are buried then help you plan your ancestral trip.
- Scottish Family - professional genealogy service based in Kinross-shire.
- Scottish Family History and Military Research offers professional investigations into family history and all British military subjects.
- Scottish Family Research run by John Arthur, an experienced professional Scottish genealogist based in Edinburgh.
- Scottish Genealogy Research, based in the Scottish Borders, offer a variety of services. Free quotations available.
- Scottish Roots Ancestral Research Service, team of researchers in Edinburgh
- Skye Roots covers the Isles of Skye & Raasay by Norma MacLeod.
- Your Scottish Descent (based in Glasgow) offers genealogical and historical research in Scotland.
- Your Scottish Kin - family tree research service based in Fife
- YourScottishFamilyTree - experienced genealogist, Margaret Hubble, based in West Lothian
OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES
- Cyndi Howell has a huge list of genealogical resources on the web.
- Ancestry.com
- Family Tree Maker
- Genealogy Gateway to the Web by Steve Lacy
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
- Parish Chest - online family history and genealogical shop 'designed by genealogists for genealogists'
Please note that all the links on this page are provided for information only, not as personal recommendations.
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The Internet Guide to Scotland is produced
by Joanne Mackenzie-Winters © 1996-2007
Not to be reproduced without permission
www.scotland-info.co.uk and www.scotland-inverness.co.uk
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Last update: December 2007