Saving, Spending and Family History

Posters are going up around the Borders for our next talk which I'm giving on 26th February 2012 at the Corn Exchange, Market Square, Melrose, TD6 9PN. Map .

I'll be talking about coins, the kirk session, banking, savings, and the penny post, banknotes, cheques as well as other topics.

I've had some queries about strange money names in the kirk session records and I'll provide answers to them.

If you have a burning question about money in your family history, please comment below.

As usual, we warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not. There is no admission charge.

We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy.
Light refreshments will be available after the talk.

If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it (no
charge) with one of our volunteers.

The monthly 50-50 Club draw will be made at the meeting.

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.

Maps Workshop at the National Library of Scotland

There's a Maps for Family and Local History workshop at the National Library of Scotland on 29th February at 2pm where you can find out about the range of historical maps available. The workshop includes an introduction to the Maps Reading Room.

Bookings.

Family History Workshops at the National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland is running family history workshops in Edinburgh on 21st February 2012 at 6pm and 19th March 2012 at 10am.

Bookings.

New Telephone Scam ?

Actually I suppose it isn't new, but it is new to me.
It's essentially a different way of presenting an old trick that I nearly fell for it, and I'm blogging it to prevent you falling for it.

Last week I was phoned by a lassie with a very pleasant Scots accent - somewhere in the Central belt, I think, but not Glasgow or Edinburgh.

She said she was conducting a survey on behalf of Genealogy UK magazine to find out about the family historian audience in the UK.

That's believable, though I hadn't heard of the title, there are probably lots of magazines I don't know.

She said she would ask me several questions and she asked me to indicate the answers by pressing numbers on my telephone so that they could be captured automatically and stored in a database.

The first question was "How long have you been researching your family history ?"
Key
0 for not yet started
1 for less than 1 year
2 for 1 to 3 years
3 for 3 to 5 years
4 for 5 to 10 years
5 for more than 10 years

I was just about to press 5, when it occurred to me that whatever number I pressed, I might be connected to a premium rate line, so I just put down the phone.

The BT 1471 service told me "We do not have the caller's number to return", which I think means that the call originated outside the UK.

I wouldn't have blogged this at all, had it not been a genealogical pretence, however, a friend who has not researched their family history, also had a similar call.

I've since discovered that there is no Genealogy UK magazine.

Have you had such a call ?

Start Your Family Tree Week - 26 December to 1 January

Next week, apparently, is Start Your Family Tree Week, a celebration which escaped my attention last year. It seems to have been started in Ireland, last year.

To celebrate this week, and no doubt to jump on the holiday season competition bandwagon, FindMyPast will provide tips and hints next week, and is running a competition.

There are lots of prizes:

• A day with Else Churchill at the Society of Genealogists including return travel by train to London and two nights' accommodation in London
• Subscriptions to the British Newspaper Archive, Who Do You Think You Are? magazine, family history societies, Family History Monthly magazine,
• Family Tree magazine
• Tickets to Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE 2012
• Family Historian family tree software packs

You'll need to be quick off the mark, though, as you need to visit their Facebook or Twitter page for a new question to answer every day between 26 December and 1 January, and then send the answers by email by 10 January 2012.

More information on FindMyPast's competition.

However, the real winners will be the people who start researching their family tree or who make progress with it. Good luck !

Win a Family History Guide

Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine is offering the chance to win an expert research guides.

The five books to be won are:

• Tracing Your Family History on the Internet by Chris Paton
• Tracing Your Legal Ancestors by Stephen Wade
• Tracing Your Liverpool Ancestors by Mike Royden
• Tracing Your Naval Ancestors by Simon Fowler
• Tracing Your Rural Ancestors by Jonathan Brown

More about the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine competition.

The closing date is 13 January 2012.

Good luck!

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.


To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below. 

R SMAIL & SONS: Family History

Do you have an interest in Smail family history? If so this may interest you:

R SMAIL & SONS: Family History

The Family History page summarises information gleaned from the archive at Robert Smail's Printing Works. The printing Works may have been in Innerleithen but relatives of Robert Smail ended up in New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

Granny's Bawbees and Other Coins

This is the title of a talk I'm giving this Sunday, 29th May at the Corn Exchange, Market Square, Melrose, TD6 9PN. Map.

It's a brief introduction to Scottish coinage, and other coins, and tokens that circulated in and around the Scottish Borders, the exchange rate between England and Scotland, monetary terms encountered in old documents. Accompanied by slides with pictures of coins, tokens, a banknote and other items.

If you want help in identifying a coin, please bring it along, and talk to me after I've finished speaking.

Doors open at 2pm. The talk will be preceded by our Annual General Meeting, which starts at 2.30pm. The talk starts after the annual general meeting has finished, probably around 3pm.

We warmly invite you to attend the annual general meeting and the talk whether you are a member or not. There is no admission charge.

We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy.
There will also be a raffle.

As usual, there will be light refreshments available after the talk.

If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it (no charge) with one of our volunteers.

Welsh Ancestry

Surprisingly to some, there was a lot of movement between Wales and Scotland in past three centuries, so you may well have family members who lived in Wales.

People moved from Scotland especially to work in coal mines and slate quarries, to work as labourers and farm servants on estates, as well as in more traditional industries.

Similarly, people moved to Scotland to work in coal mines, to work as labourers and farm servants on estates, on the hydro-electric scheme construction, as well as in factories.

Of course, there was a lot of migration to and from England and Ireland, and to North America, too.

So you might be interested in television channel S4C's new family history programme, Perthyn, Welsh for 'belonging'.

The first programme is to be broadcast on Wednesday, 4th May at 9pm. This programme is about Geraint Morgan from Penllergaer near Swansea and his search for the reason why his great uncle, Llewelyn Davies, left the village of Myddfai in 1908 aged 17 for a new life in America.

Look at the the S4C Perthyn website for tips and useful links.


(Thanks to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter).

Family History Makes You Smarter

An intriguing few minutes discussion between
Claudia Hammond and Peter Fischer, Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Graz in Austria, about research suggesting that thinking or writing about your ancestors makes people more confident and motivated, and able to perform better in tests and exams, or in stressful situations like interviews.

Hear it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00wqd1w/All_in_the_Mind_21_12_2010


or download the podcast (All In The Mind: 21 Dec 10) from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/medmatters/all

approximately between 23 minutes 40 seconds and 28 minutes 20 seconds.

I found this on an old bookmark while looking for something else.

Two Announcements from ScotlandsPeople

These announcements arrived in an email this afternoon, which seems rather late for an event on Wednesday. Also, the email doesn't look up to their usual standard, and that's a bit odd. Even odder, they also don't mention the address, which I presume is General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY. The phone number is correct.

Free Evening Introduction Session  - Wednesday 16 March
For anyone who has yet to embark on their family history research, we are running a free introductory evening session this Wednesday 16 March from 18:00 to 20:00. The evening will commence with a 30 minute talk about our records and then you will be given an opportunity to search for your ancestors. Staff will be on hand to provide guidance and advice. Booking is essential so please ring us on 0131 314 4300 to book your place for this special event.



1911 Census Evening Session - Tuesday 5 April
The 1911 census is being launched on Tuesday 5 April. We are running an evening session from 18:00 to 21:00 that night for a cost of £10 per person. This is an opportunity for those who work full time to carry out their research during their leisure time. If you are interested in attending then ring us on 0131 314 4300. Please note that seats must be paid for in advance.

Family Legends

We've all got them as part of our family history, haven't we ?

The odd tale woven by one of the older members of the family about someone (even older) they knew, about what they did, won a medal, made the nicest cakes, was in a cup final, or fouught heroically.

Usually there's a good grounding in fact, and often the action has been embroidered or aggrandised a bit, but it's only when you start digging around that you discover the truth.

There was a Family Legends Writing Workshop with Robert Douglas, author of Night Song of the Last Tram and 3 other books, at Tower Mill, Heart of Hawick, this afternoon; and 18 people attended to get some tips on writing.

There was a handout from the Hawick Heritage Hub about the Rutherfoord Mystery as inspiration, however, it wasn't needed, Robert Douglas read us a bit about his Uncle George, and after a writing exercise, it was clear that lots of people had interesting stories to tell.

Family Legends is a national story project and competition from Scottish Book Trust, to involve people all over Scotland in creative writing – using family stories and heritage as inspiration.

A selection of the most interesting and inspiring stories will be published in a book and the best five will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland.

To find out more, read stories and enter your own story (between 100 and 1,000 words) go to www.scottishbooktrust.com/familylegends.

The radio competition is open to UK residents only but the book competition is open to everyone.

Beware ! The closing date is 31st March 2011.

Family and Local History Fair and Conference in Melrose, Scotland on 9th October 2010

Well, the event is over, though there's still a bit of work to be done mainly in following up notes of actions and requests for information.

It was really good to meet so many of you.

We had visitors from USA, Northern Ireland, Wales and England as well as Scotland.

We'll be keeping the Conference page up a bit longer, so if you missed it you can see what we're talking about.

I think the event went well, but we're sending out a short survey by email to get visitors' feedback.

If you would like to add your own impressions, please click the Comments link below.

Family History Workshop at the Hawick Heritage Hub

Interested in tracing your family history . . . but don't know where to start ?  Then come along to a Family History Workshop at the Heritage Hub, Hawick on Tuesday October 12th, 7pm-9pm.  

They will show you how the resources at the Heritage Hub can help you in your search.  As well as the usual census returns, old parish records, and monumental inscriptions, you will have the opportunity to view a range of records including, business records, council records, family papers, militia lists and poor law records.

The setting is friendly and informal and you will go away with hints, tips and handouts.

Rachel Hosker, Archive Manager says "Family history is much more than being a collector of names and dates.  We hold fascinating and unique evidence covering the whole of the Scottish Borders to help people gain a picture on how their ancestors lived and worked and build up the story of their own family."  

Places are limited - so do please book early to avoid disappointment – the charge of £5 will include handouts and a family history chart.   
Phone 01450 360688 or 01450 360699 to book a place.

If you need help before October 12th, come along to our free talk, Local Families of Ancient Origin in Foulden, Berwickshire  on Sunday, 26th September or get free advice from us, the Hawick Heritage Hub and others at our Family and Local History Fair and Conference in Melrose on 9th October.

More Seats Available at our Family and Local History Fair and Conference in Melrose, Scotland on 9th October 2010

We underestimated the demand for the talks at our forthcoming family and local history fair and conference, so we've moved the talks into a bigger room and allocated more seats to the seat booking site.

We will hold some seats back so that those who don't have internet access can still go to the talks, and I expect there will be some people who don't turn up on the day.

However, admission to the fair and conference is free, the seats are free, there is no booking fee, and there'll be people from the Hawick Heritage Hub as well as others in our research room waiting to help you with your research.

You don't need to bring lunch or drinks with you as we're providing light refreshments at very low prices.

Programme

• 10.30 am - Welcome and Brief History of Borders Family History Society
• 11.00 am Keynote Lecture - Haunted Borders - noted local author, Norrie McLeish
• 1.00 pm Borders Police Records - Juline Baird and Sarah Chapman, Hawick Heritage Hub
• 2.00 pm My Life in Textiles - Ellis Macgregor
• 3.00 pm Poor Relief in Melrose 1871-1890 - Peter Munro

Exhibitors

• Borders Family History Society
• Clan Johnston
• Clan Moffat
• Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society
• Dunse History Society
• Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society
• Hawick Heritage Hub
• John Smith - Jedburgh's Wartime Sacrifice
• Lanarkshire Family History Society
• Lothians Family History Society
• Melrose Historical Association
• Northumberland & Durham Family History Society
• Recording Angels
• Scottish Genealogy Research
• Tay Valley Family History Society
• The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
• The Scottish Genealogy Society
• West Lothian Family History Society

Most of these exhibitors have new publications for sale including monumental inscriptions, local history, and social history.

We hope to see you there.

If you've joined recently, please do come and speak to us.

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.

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below. 

Top gift is not an iPhone, iPod Touch or XBox

Talking to one of my neighbours, I was interested to learn that her young son's Christmas wish list contained no mention of iPhone, iPod Touch, Wii, PS3 or XBox, and it's not because he's already got them, he hasn't.

She's a pious woman who frequently visits churches on her days out, and she takes her son with her. About 6 months ago he told her that he was bored and she allowed him to wander around the churchyard.

He became interested in the gravestone inscriptions and symbols, and they have become a major interest. He started off a project to do his family history with the help of his mother, other kids, and a teacher.

Clearly, it's useful for him to have started young, as there are still plenty of the older generations to tell him their stories. So this Christmas, Santa's been asked for family history software, various volumes of monumental inscriptions, and a paper record book.

He hasn't completely ignored modern technology; he's asked for a mobile phone - he says it's so he can let his mother know when he's ready to be collected from a graveyard.

His mother, thinks that Santa will deliver on most of his wishes, though perhaps she'll just lend him a mobile phone for when he's researching in remote places.

Have a great Christmas !

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below. 

Tracing my Russian Ancestors

Yesterday's talk, Tracing my Russian Ancestors by Dr Chris Cameron, at Kelso, was extremely interesting, very enjoyable, and with lots of humour.

Dr Cameron's Irish ancestors, the Oultons, and their descendants certainly got around the world, I lost track of all the relatives' countries, however as well as Scotland and England, there was Russia (pre-tsarist and revolutionary), Germany, Spain, USA, Denmark, New Zealand, and Greece.

Although it was clear that he hadn't done much of the family history research himself, he was inspired enough, in his retirement to learn Russian at university and by living in Moscow.

All in all, I feel if he can do it, as I'm younger, I might be able to go off to the other side of Europe and trace my missing relatives.

There were also 3 new publications on display:
Morebattle Monumental Inscriptions - a CD, price £10. 3rd edition revised.
Includes stones in new extension and photographs of all stones. Now with photographs of the site of Mow church and Mowhaugh Public School admission log 1873 - 1918

Smailholm Monumental Inscriptions - a CD, price £10. 2nd edition revised.
Includes new burial ground and photographs of all stones. Includes 1814 plan of churchyard. Also Smailholm Public School Admission Log 1884-1915

A new book, Days of our Youth - Melrose Memories, price £3.50. It's an interesting book about Melrose in the early 20th century, with several colour photographs.

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.