Are you planning a visit to Scotland?

If you are planning a visit to Scotland to trace your family tree do you know what you will do when you get here? Do you have a clear plan? Do you know where your ancestors lived? Do you know where the records you will need to trace your family tree are held?

All too often I meet people in Edinburgh who have made a special trip from the US, Canada, Australia etc. to trace their Ancestry but find that by the time they get over here, work out how to see the records and trace a little of their family tree it’s time to go home. It’s such a shame, they run out of time to explore their ancestor’s community and locate their ancestral home and all too often don’t actually trace much of their family tree.

Our Genealogy books can be designed as a guide to your Scottish Ancestry as you travel around Scotland. It will be like a “who do you think you are?” of your very own!

We start by researching your family, as we would for anybody, but if you wish we can ensure it’s full of maps so you can find the home of your ancestors, visit their place of work and see where they went to school.

This ensures you have a wonderful vacation in Scotland, see the beautiful countryside and learn all about your ancestors. We can also make arrangements for you to visit various archives and se original documents if you wish or even meet you and show you the documents so it takes away the stress of finding them yourself but you will still have the experience of seeing the ancient records.

Visit www.familytreegift.co.uk to see our wonderful books

Yetholm Burgher (New Light) Parish Register 1824-1855

The Yetholm Burgher (New Light) Parish Register 1824-1855 is another publication now available from Maxwell Ancestry and is on sale for just £6.99. It contains both baptisms and marriages. If you live outside the UK there is still no postage and Paypal take care of the currency exchange. £6.99 works out to be only about 10 or 11 U.S. dollars.

If you are not sure if you really need this or any of our other publications please email me as we are here to help and know what it’s like to waste money on records that don’t help you with your research.

One other thing to remember is that as this is a register is from a non-conformist church people travelled from all around to be have their children baptised in this church so it may be of use to you if your ancestors were from outside Yetholm parish itself. A substantial amount of the entries are actually for children born in Northumberland as Yetholm was so close to the Scotland/England border, there are also entries from the surrounding area on the Scottish side of the border.

Visit our bookshop or contact me for more information

Parish Register update – Dumfries Buccleuch Street U.P. Church Baptisms 1846-1856

We have again published baptisms not found in the OPR’s and therefore when you search Scotland’s People and the IGI you are not searching these records.

Do you have Dumfriesshire relatives but can’t find their birth record? This is the book for you. Here a couple of examples from 1848:

Name of Child - Margaret Corrie

Sex – F

Father - William Corrie, Farm Servant

Mother - Mary Anne Jardine

Date and Place of Birth - Feb. 13, Glenhowan, Caerlaverock

Date of baptism and by whom - March 2^nd, Marshall N. Goold

Name of Child - William Mills (illegitimate)

Sex – M

Father - Robert McBurnie, Servant

Mother - Margaret Marchbank

Date and Place of Birth - Jan. 22, Annan, Queensberry Arms Inn

Date of baptism and by whom - Nov. 6, Marshall N. Goold

© Kirk Session records — National Archives of Scotland references CH3/83/10 © Transcription and indexes — Copyright Graham Maxwell Ancestry 2010.

Published by Graham Maxwell Ancestry - Cleughside, Kirkpatrick Fleming, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, DG11 3NG

Because this is a record of the United Presbyterian Church, people from outside Dumfries would have brought their children to be baptised. Here are some questions and answers about the register.

Where have these records been found?

The transcription below is of baptisms found amongst the Kirk Session records of the Buccleuch Street United Presbyterian Church, Dumfries, Scotland, for the period 1846-1856. These Kirk Session records are held by the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh.

These entries are separate from and supplement the Church of Scotland Old Parish Registers kept by the General Register Office (Scotland) at New Register House in Edinburgh, and it is believed they have not been transcribed or indexed before.

What entries have been included?

We have included all the baptism entries from the beginning of the register until 1856, just following the introduction of civil registration in Scotland in the year 1855.

How can I see the original entry for a person I have found in this publication?

The original records are to be found at the National Archives of Scotland, HM General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YY, and can be consulted there under the reference CH3/83/10. At this time these records are not available on-line, but if you wish to contact us we would be pleased to help you obtain copies.

Visit our bookshop and buy your copy now

Forgot to say: we have updated the site again

It has been so busy this week I forgot to mention the Census database was on Monday (31st May 2010). This update has added 1851 Glasserton, Wigtownshire.

Glasserton had a population of 1487 people in 1851 bringing the total number of entries in our 1851 census database to 215,630!

Family tree charts

In an ongoing survey on our website we have found that when asked the question: How would you like your family tree presented? 50% of people said in a family tree chart.

We noticed this trend when we first launched the survey, it seems a family tree chart is a great visual way to display your family tree.

Full packages are available on our website but if you have already done some of your own research but would just like a bit of help to present what you have found then contact me and I will see if we can help.

Of course for a really luxurious feel I don’t think it possible to beat our luxury books. Lovingly reassessed and traditionally hand bound they are really a piece of art. Again if you have worked for years on your ancestry and would like some help to present it in a beautiful book I’m sure we will be able to give you some assistance.

www.familytreegift.co.uk

Changes to our website

We added the census search facility in a bit of a rush last September; just before a family history fair. At that time we did not know whether or not we would be keeping it online. Because it was done this way the search has no help buttons or explanation and the notes column can be a bit confusing, especially if you are new to genealogy. For this reason we have decided it’s time to update the site a bit.

Anyway we’ll be working on it for a few weeks but if you have any ideas please let us know, or take our survey and let us know what you think that way: Click here to take survey

From coast to coast

Graham has now embarked on the transcribing of the 1851 Wigtownshire census. Once Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire are complete we will go from coast to coast!

The online census database was updated on Sunday by the way. The update has added 1851 Carmunnock, Lanarkshire and part of 1851 Hamilton, Lanarkshire, as well some more household links and notes.

Graham’s working on loads of things at the moment so we’ll let you know when our next publications are available.