Christine woodcock's Blog (13)

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NO FALL TOUR for 2012. Next trip to Scottish Archives will be May 2013. There are still 2 spots left for May 2012 trip. Book and pay in full by April 3 to receive 5% discount. Come to Scotland. Discover your ancestral heritage. http://www.genealogytoursofscotland.ca

One of the things that we have learned from the Who Do You Think You Are series is that not everything on our ancestors is available online. Remember that large document on Reba's English ancestors from the 1600s? Or the marriage register that awaited Martin Sheen in Italy? Or the newspaper articles on Blair Underwoods gt gt gt grandfather Sauney, the conjurer?…

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 With the popularity of the television show Who Do You Think You Are, more people are showing an interest in finding their roots. I am a genealogist, living in Ontario, with an expert in Scottish genealogy research. I offer 10 day trips to Scotland to allow people to access the records directly (as opposed to paying for services of a professional genealogist). I take groups to the repositories in Edinburgh (Scotland's People Centre, The Scottish Genealogy Society, The National Library of…

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There's a lot of buzz around the various genealogy sites and societies about the 2011 census. You will remember in 2006 the Government in it's infinite wisdom decided to give people the option of "opting out" of having their census records released in 92 years. A truly nightmarish thought for any…

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For those of us fortunate enough to have ancestors with Scottish heritage, researching is a fairly easy task. Knowing where to look is usually where we get tied up. Following these hints should help:



THE place for Scottish records, of course, is the office of the General Register (GRO). Their website is the repository for all official documents: birth, marriage, death, census, wills and testaments. Here’s what you need to know:





• The website is:… Continue

Often, on the records, the people listed as "witnesses" to a wedding or "informants" of the information (births, deaths) are close family members. Pay attention to these people. Search them out. Knowing more about them will help you to know more about your ancestors.

For example, my great grandmother's wedding registration lists her sister, Janet, as a witness. This particular sister was one of three sisters that my great grandmother had. But she was the oldest sister and the eldest…

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Is there any better way for a genealogist to spend a Friday night than glued to the telly watching Who Do You Think You Are? The programs have been mesmerising. And although we all know the things that the “experts” explain to the stars, it is once again fascinating to piece it all together and know the story.

 

Watching Kim Cattrall, Rosie and Steve Buscemi, I have decided that when my great grandfather went off to fight the Boer War and never returned, he likely wasn’t…

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I recently had the honour of putting a family history book together for a friend. Her uncle was turning 80 and this was to be a special gift for him. His sister is edging towards 80 herself and as an aging grandma, was eager to get her memories into a format that would preserve them for her grandchildren and generations yet to come. Their father was a soldier in both world wars. An amazing story in and of itself. He was wounded in WW1 so was not able to go back into the field in WW2.…

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