Be in the Audience for Digging Up Your Roots on 29th July

As announced in the blog in March, there will be a special programme of Radio Scotland's Digging Up Your Roots to look at the Scottish Diaspora.

The family history programme will be recorded at BBC at the Quay in Glasgow on 29th July from 12 noon to 1pm.  Presenter Bill Whiteford will be joined by a panel of special guests including expert genealogist, Professor Bruce Durie and Professor Marjory Harper.

You can be in the audience with free tickets but their website says
registration for tickets closes on Monday 16 June at 4pm.

Good luck !

Digging Up Your Roots - Special Programme to Look at Scottish Diaspora

The producer of BBC Radio Scotland's family history programme 'Digging Up Your Roots', Rhona Brudenell, has announced a one-off hour long programme looking at the Scottish diaspora which will be aired during the Commonwealth Games.
She wants to feature stories of people who have researched their family history and uncovered interesting tales of Scots who left their homeland to seek new lives elsewhere (in particular, to countries which are now part of the British Commonwealth) or people who live overseas whose family history research brought them back here to Scotland?   Either way, she would love to hear from you!

Her direct contact details are:
Phone 01224 384881
or email her at rhona.brudenell AT  bbc.co.uk, replacing the spaces and AT with the @ sign.

New Series of Digging Up Your Roots in January 2013

The popular family history programme 'Digging up Your Roots' is set to return to BBC Radio Scotland for a brand new series in the New Year.

It will start at noon on Sunday, 6th January 2013 and continue weekly to 24th February.

As in previous years, podcasts of the programmes will be available.

The presenters are keen to hear from listeners who are also trying to delve into the past.  If you have a family mystery you want solved or have a burning question about the life of an ancestor then let their team of genealogists help!

If you want to get in touch you can write to:
Digging Up your roots, BBC Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT, Scotland or email Laura Seawright  at diggingupyourrootsATbbc.co.uk

Digging Up Your Roots Podcasts

I've already blogged about the new series of BBC Radio Scotland's popular Digging Up Your Roots family history programme.

I’ve now found out that podcasts of the Digging Up Your Roots programmes can be downloaded. The podcasts are available for 30 days after broadcast, so I think the first programme will be available until 7th February 2012, and the subsequent programmes correspondingly later.

The first programme includes one of our members, Marjorie Gavin, talking about Dr John Leyden, the famous poet and orientalist from Denholm. I’m still able to listen to last year’s Digging Up Your Roots podcasts so I’m presuming that once they’re downloaded you’ll be able to listen to them over and over again.

Digging Up Your Roots

Just been catching up with the first programme of the new series of Digging Up Your Roots which was broadcast on Radio Scotland on Sunday 8th Jan. A listener was querying the surname Leyden and possible connections with the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. Marjorie Gavin was featured on the programme, recounting the life and achievements of John Leyden, the famous poet and orientalist from Denholm.

The programme is available on the BBC iplayer until Saturday.

Digging Up Your Roots - Series 7

Transmission Dates: January 8th 2012 - February 26th 2012


The popular genealogy series, 'Digging up Your Roots', returns to BBC Radio Scotland in the new year.

You can tune in to 92-95 FM every Sunday at midday between 8 January 2012 and 26 February 2012 to pick up genealogy tips and hear interesting family history stories.


They are keen to hear from people who are researching their ancestry, so if you have a question about the life of one of your family members, or a great tale to tell, then get in touch with their genealogists for free expert help.


Write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk or phone them on 01224 384 881.


For the first time, programmes will also be available as podcasts - simply log on to bbc.co.uk/radioscotland and follow the links to 'Digging Up Your Roots' to download all eight episodes week-by-week.


It's easy to forget, particularly around the New Year celebrations, so I suggest you put the dates in your diary now, as I have done.


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Eastern European Ancestors

Last Sunday's programme, the sixth episode of the new 'Digging up Your Roots', which is broadcast on 92-95 FM every Sunday at midday until 21 February was about ancestors from Eastern Europe.

Write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk .

If you missed this, it is available as a podcast.

This programme was a complete eye-opener to me, as I had no idea that so many people came from eastern Europe to Scotland.

The first story was about a Polish family sent to a Russian gulag (a slave labour camp) but escaped and made a 6,000 mile roundabout trip journey to join the Polish army in Kazakhstan in 1942; most of the time starving hungry; some of the family died on the way. Father got to Persia, joined the Polish Navy and eventually got to Scotland and became a successful businessman.

Apparently 30,000 Poles were sent to gulags.

Another story was about a Pole from Lvov (now Lviv in the Ukraine), and another about a White Russian volunteer evacuated from southern Russia by a British ship, went to Egypt, was there for 2 years, and then came to Scotland.
More information in the Archives of Ukraine.

The International Council on Archives has a list of archives around the world. During World War II, some Jewish records were  safeguarded by churches.
When looking a Russian records, remember that surnames change according to gender, and that Russians use patronymics as the middle name, which must make identification of the right family a lot easier.
Useful resources are Cyndi's List and the Federation of East European Family History Societies.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews fled their homes in eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to escape harsh economic conditions and persecution. They went to USA, many arriving at Leith or Dundee, travelling across to Glasgow, and sailing to New York. Some stayed, mostly in London, Glasgow, and other industrial cities. The cost of crossing the North Sea was £1.50 per person, and the transatlantic crossing was £5 or £6, a lot in those days.
The refugees faced lots of fear, there were health scares about disease in eastern Europe, and there were lots of con tricks and scams pulled on them, too.
In Glasgow, many of the Jews filled gaps in tailoring, carpentry, and cigarette making.
The US National Archives have microfilms of concentration camp records, and although they're not online, they will search them for you.
Another very useful site is JewishGen.

Many Lithuanian miners were recruited for Lanarkshire mines by owners at low wages, to the fury of the local workforce; but they, other Lithuanians, and Russians were sent back to Russia to fight in the Russian Army in 1917, under a treaty between Britain and Russia, and never came back to Britain. A useful site is Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society.

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Internet Surname Database

I found an interesting and useful website today, as usual, it happens when looking for something else, and in a way it ties up with last Sunday's 'Digging up Your Roots' programme - see the blog Immigrants and Emigrants.

The site is the Internet Surname Database which is a lot handier than going to my bookshelves.

I was just looking at some of the surnames I know, to see if either there's something I can add, or a glaring error, when I searched for Munro.

Part of the entry refers to "....James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States of America in 1823. He was a descendant of Andrew Monroe, who was captured at the battle of Preston in 1648....", which is interesting to me because my granny claimed that James Monroe was a distant cousin of some sort.

She knew a lot about the family history however as we weren't interested when we were young, so much of what she knew was never written down - of course, I'm kicking myself now.

The battle of Preston in 1648, was during the English Civil War, and was won by the roundheads against the royalists.

I'd love to see President James Monroe's family tree, particularly about the descent of Andrew Monroe, who Wikipedia's article implies, was "...2nd great-grandfather immigrated to America from Scotland in the mid-17th century. In 1650, Major Andrew Monroe (16-1688), son of David Munro of Katewell... ", though it doesn't mention that he "was captured at the battle of Preston".

There's contradictory text in Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607-1785
by David Dobson, where it says that David Munro of Katewell was captured after the Battle of Preston in 1648.

There's a bit more of the family tree on the Presidential Avenue entry for James Monroe, and Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae says that David Munro of Katewell was the husband of Agnes, daughter of Alexander Munro and Janet Cumming, and that Alexander, born about 1605, was the son of Hector M. of Milntown of Katewell, dyer, Inverness.

That's rather a lot to check, so if you know of any other record of President James Monroe's family tree, please let me know.

A knot in my handkerchief to get David Dobson's book.

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Immigrants and Emigrants

Last Sunday's programme, the second of the new episodes of 'Digging up Your Roots', which is broadcast on 92-95 FM every Sunday at midday until 21 February was of wide ranging interest about both emigrants and immigrants.

If you missed this, it will also be available as a podcast.

The first article concerned Ludovic Grant, son of William Grant of Creichie (near Fyvie, in Aberdeenshire), who as a Jacobite soldier in 1715 was captured at the Battle of Preston and sent to America, like many other Jacobite prisoners in 1715 (and in 1745). He served 7 years indenture there, became a trader with the Cherokee providing tools, cloth and beads, married a Cherokee and they had a daughter. There were interesting notes on Cherokee marriage customs. However, Ludovic had married in 1710, and his first wife, Margaret, sued in court in 1736 for a process of adherence.

In spite of his father being a laird, he was bankrupt, so Ludovic had no estate to come back to.

Other Scots married into native American Indian tribes.

The next article was about Adam Marr who emigrated to Australia from Leith, sailing in December 1841, as a bounty immigrant, working initially as a servant, becoming a bookseller later.
Apparently, from 1828 onwards, fewer convicts were being transported, so there was a strong need for labour in Australia. If I've understood them correctly, private settlers in Australia sponsored immigrants' passages, and the Government eventually refunded the settlers. 70,000 bounty immigrants left between 1828 and 1842.

Useful sites mentioned were genealogylinks.net/australia, immigrantships.net, pilot.familysearch.org, the Scottish Emigration Database containing 21,000 passengers, and the ubiquitous ancestry.co.uk which has a list of bounty immigrants.

Other articles were about the surname Florence, with the recommendation that if you are interested in a single surname, you should look at the Guild of One-Name Studies, and also at clan sites - there's a list at rampantscotland.com/clans.

Marjory Harper mentioned a report that half the ranch-hands in Montana, USA, in the 1930s were of Scottish descent, and on Saturdays in the bars they talked in Gaelic.

Write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk , or phone them on 0500 92 95 00, for help with your family history.

Next Sunday's talk is on deaths, and a deputy bank governor with 67 illegitimate children. I wonder whether they all got Christmas presents from him ?

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19th Century Ancestors

Yesterday's programme, the first of the new episodes of 'Digging up Your Roots', which is broadcast on 92-95 FM every Sunday at midday until 21 February was very interesting.

You can also listen to it on BBC iPlayer .

If you miss this, it will also be available as a podcast .

It covered weaving, canal work, iron works, Paisley, Robert Tannahill the 'Weaver Poet', why people went to the Transvaal in the 19th century (a lot of work in building and civil engineering as in much of the rest of the British Empire, and better living and working conditions, especially for skilled workers, than available in Scotland).

They also identified archives to help people move further with their research.

I learned that master weavers in the early 19th century were very well paid, which surprised me.

Next week's programme is on migration - and they're looking for questions from people whose ancestors came to Scotland or left Scotland.
Write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk .
They'll also talk about a Jacobite soldier who married a Cherokee woman.

Later programmes will cover women, eastern Europe, and unusual ancestors.

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