Cowan DNA project

Hello everybody,

I have something a little different for you today. As you know we specialize in researching genealogy the traditional way. Others are taking family history a step further. A new visitor to our website has asked us to help find Cowan’s that would like to help their DNA project. This is what he writes:

Project Background

The Cowan Surname DNA Project has genealogical information on many persons named Cowan. This Y-chromosome project will attempt to connect many of the lineages where traditional research is lacking or has failed. During this study, we hope to show the connection of history and DNA. If you are a male named Cowan or any other spelling, you are invited to come join us. If you are a female and want to include your Cowan Line in the project, contact a male relative and invite him to come join.

Project Goals

Our main goal is to open doors that have been shut for years, to tear down the brick walls, and focus our research efforts where the DNA leads.

My surname is Cowings from County Durham and Northumberland, England, but is connected DNA wise to Cowan from Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have connections in Yarrow, Selkirkshire, but we believe we have ancestral connections around the Cheviots and Scottish Borders. We are also looking (within another sub-project)at DNA connections further back and believe we have found a DNA link with McDonald/McDaniel to our Cowan group! Also new research is also pointing towards when 'we' arrived in Britain!

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cowan/default.aspx

If you are not a Cowan, but are interested in the DNA side of family history there is the Scottish DNA project:http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?code=T50589&Group=Scotland

There is a very good discount for joining via a project, but you can join and leave other projects once your DNA has been tested!

As of February 04, 2010, they have a total of 281,273 records!

· 5,757 SURNAME PROJECTS

· 175,275 Y-DNA records

· 105,998 mtDNA (maternal) records

If you are worried about your privacy etc. there is a very good FAQ section on their homepage http://www.familytreedna.com/Default.aspx?c=1

DNA - 'The Truth is Out There'

Morebattle and Hownam now completed!!

Graham has finished linking another two Scottish parishes to maps and as I write this he is uploading them to the internet. The 1841, 1851 and 1861 census for Morebattle and Hownam (both in Roxburghshire) have now been linked to modern Google maps and the historical maps kept by the National Library of Scotland. So if your ancestors lived in either of these places then you can now see where their house was located.

I’m glad to see the numbers of visitors to our free census search keeps on increasing; I hope people are finding it useful. Remember we have the best of both worlds, you can search the census for free, we have provided full transcriptions and you can also have a copy of the original entry for just 50p! It’s also easy to request a photo of the house your ancestors once lived in. All these things add up to a full picture of your family, adding to the names and dates to make a colourful picture of your past.

View census the free Scottish census search at www.maxwellancestry.com

Yetholm (including Kirk Yetholm) now mapped!

Just to let you know that’s another parish mapped and available on www.maxwellancestry.com, it’s Yetholm this time and Graham has started work on Morebattle so that should be uploaded soon.

Finally Kelso is finished!

Sorry it has been so long, we have finally finished mapping Kelso. Obviously as it is a town it has taken a while to make sure that each pointer from the census to the maps is as accurate as possible. It’s now uploaded though, so search away for free at: www.maxwellancestry.com/census

We have also very gratefully received additions from readers of our newsletter. This has meant more links between the censuses have been created and we have been able to add notes to certain individuals. If you would like to add any of your own research to our census database so other people can be benefited in their research please email me: info@maxwellancestry.com

We are currently working on projects in Canada, Germany, France, New Zealand, Australia, England and of course Scotland. One great resource we have been using today relates to New Zealand. I’m sure people with more experience of New Zealand genealogy will already know about it. However, for those with less experience in New Zealand I thought you may be interested. It is a resource available from the National Library of New Zealand called Papers Past. Papers Past contains more than one million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1932 and includes 52 publications from all regions of New Zealand. It’s all on line for free so if you had ancestors who left Scotland for New Zealand why not take a look, within just a few minutes Graham found articles relating to his great-great-great-great-grandfather! Here’s the link! http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast

That’s all for now, I’ll blog again soon.

We have a new office!

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog, we have been moving into a new larger office so it’s all been rather hectic here. We have now settled in though and Graham has even managed to get some census mapping done. Roxburghshire is progressing with Eckford, Stichill & Ednam all being mapped and Sprouston well under way. So search away and remember to let me know what you think as all ideas are greatly appreciated.

With the increased amount of information on the internet more and more people form around the world have been able to research their family tree over here in Scotland. I see the followers I have are from Texas, Edinburgh, California and others. Isn’t it amazing what the Internet has been able to accomplish. Still though if you are not following me in Scotland sometimes there are records you can’t get to. Or perhaps you live in Scotland but have hit a brick wall. We go to Edinburgh every week or so and are well positioned to search archives in the South of Scotland as well is the North of England. We are very experienced in researching family histories in Scotland, our rates are very reasonable, we always give a free quote so you know what you’re getting into and you can pay in any currency as we accept paypal.

Visit our website www.maxwellancestry.com for details or email me: info@maxwellancestry.com

P.S. The photo is Branxholm Braes near Hawick; I just added it because I like the photo! Here is the house in the 1841 census if you’re curious.

Crailing Parish is mapped!

Ok here are today’s updates for the Roxburghshire census mapping project. Crailing parish, including Crailing village and Nisbet linked to Google maps and NLS website. Now starting work on Eckford parish. By the way If there is a particular place that you would like mapped just let know and I shall see what I can do.

Search our census transcription now!

Here are some statistics from our 1851 census (following on from my last post).

4886 people listed as a pauper

4973 people with a birthplace of Ireland

8002 people with a birthplace of England

Just thought somebody might find it interesting, I think I’ll move onto the 1861 next time but if there are any statistics you would like to know just ask and I’ll do my best to find out.

26% of our census mapping project is now complete!

Our census mapping project is storming ahead. We are really making much faster progress than we ever thought possible. The parishes of Minto and Roxburgh are now mapped and for 1841, 1851 and 1861. Remember you can still buy the census in books from our website.

Just for fun here are some statistics from the 1851 census database, which covers:

Berwickshire, Dumfriesshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire & Selkirkshire together with parts of Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire and Midlothian.

Total number of names 208527

Total numbers of households 43023 (average of 4.84 people per house!)

Total number of men 100559

Total number of women 107968

The median age is 21

The average age is 25.8 years

The average age of the men is 24.9 years

The average age of the women is 26.7 years

There are 5749 people over the age of 70 years 3278 of them being women

Only 553 people under the age of 21 were married which is only 2.3% of the total number of married persons

Only 30 people under the age of 18 were married

There are 58970 married persons in total in the database

More statistics next time; in the meantime go to www.maxwellancestry.com to see if any of the 208527 people where your ancestors!