We are meeting online after the SAFHS Conference on 22 April 2023 - check here for details.
Friday 24 March 2023
Wednesday 15 February 2023
Wednesday 1 February 2023
Friday 10 April 2020
Visit to the Archives of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire
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| Aberdeen Town House |
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| The entrance to the Charter Room |
We discovered that ‘Old Aberdeen’ was a completely different city and therefore administrative body from ‘Aberdeen’ until 1891 which is useful to know as the records are kept separately. Since 1996 Aberdeen City Archives has also kept the historic documents of Aberdeenshire which include the former counties of Aberdeen, Kincardine and Banff as well as Grampian Region. A list of records held can be searched here.
Our thanks to Archivist Martin Hall for presenting a range of fascinating records including the oldest document in the Aberdeen archives – a confession from the 1597 Witch Trials made by Andrew Mann admitting to a 30 year affair with the Queen of the Elves and stating he was able to summon a sex demon called ‘Christ Sunday’. The confession includes the words used to summon the said demon and the question is – if the court truly believed this confession then these words would never have been written down for fear they would work! Despite this poor Andrew Mann would have been strangled and burned.
An unusual collection was the 1855 ‘Return on Prostitution’ which recorded the names of both women and men who plied the trade in Aberdeen. Over 400 names with ages were included and the census was repeated regularly as a safeguarding mechanism. The book also contained the names of Licensed Houses used and the names of known brothels - interestingly many of these properties were owned by the University! For privacy purposes all these census records have been destroyed and only the 1855 one remains.
A 1798 Militia Muster Book was very useful for recording the names, occupations, farms and parishes of men enlisting – you could however pay £10 not be enlisted, another person could volunteer to serve in your place or you could send a servant! There are 3 books in this series covering mainly rural areas.
If your ancestor was a policeman then the Long Roll Books of the Aberdeen Constabulary were a mine of genealogical information recording the entire career of an officer on one page including punishments for not towing the line!
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| Poor Relief Record |
Poor relief records for the Chapel of Garioch parish revealed that a woman had had her allowance reduced as a result of giving birth to an illegitimate child – unfortunately a common occurrence! (Jane’s picture)
We also saw the very detailed Ashley Road School Admissions records which listed the name, year of admission, exact date of birth and the name and address of the parent or guardian - always a bonus for genealogists! The ‘gold dust’ column revealed the leaving date and where each pupil had gone – examples included South Africa, Canada, the Americas, London and Yorkshire as well as other schools or types of institution. On a more amusing note some children are recorded as having left the school to go to ‘Mars’ - which
The archives website has an interactive map – when you click on any Aberdeenshire parish it will show you what educational records are held. Pictures of records published with kind permission from Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives
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| SGN Members outside Trinity Hall |
The Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen
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| Trinity Hall’s Stained glass windows |
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| Looking at the Burgess of Trade Records |
The Tailors for instance are represented by a stained glass window depicting St Paul who was a tent maker. Tailors used to set up tents outside their client’s residences and sew the required garments there.
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| Essay - Intricate wood carving |
Named photographs of previous members of the organisation through the decades are displayed in the corridors so if any of your ancestors plied one of these seven trades then it is very likely that you would find them here. Of most interest to genealogists however is a room full of secure safes which hold the records – books of names, trades, addresses and other information going back to the 16th century. Until 1881 there was also a Trades School with educational records available. The organisation also ran a Master of Trades hospital for old and infirm craftsmen and the Trinity Cemetery belonged to the Bakers who made money by selling the plots!
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| Essays - Shoe Art & Miniature Weaving Loom |
More about the organisation can be found on their website: www.seventradesofaberdeen.co.uk which is a mine of information on the organisation past and present. There is also an excellent official history, published in 1887, available at www.electricscotland.com/history/guilds/index.htm comprising 26 chapters in three parts, and seven appendices, of which Appendix V is a list of those who made donations and bequests (1633–1823). The chapters include various lists of names which may be of use to genealogists. [With thanks to Ivor Normand and the Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society (ANESFHS)]. Click here for report on SGN visit to ANESFHS in 2013.
Pictures published with kind permission of The Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen
Many thanks to our fellow genealogist Lorraine Stewart for organising this visit to these two wonderful facilities on behalf of the SGN!
By Valerie Stewart
Saturday 11 May 2019
On the Right Side CPD Day
The Scottish Genealogy Network's CPD day took place in Edinburgh at the Quaker Meeting House on 27 March 2019.
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| Quaker Meeting House (Courtesy of Kate Keter) |
Here is a short blog post with information on the day written by new member Susan Paterson:
Tim Musson from Computer Law Training Ltd attended and
instructed us on a session regarding General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
& Genealogy. He provided a hard copy of the slides alongside. GDPR applies to anything you do with Data including storage relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
Natural being ‘living’.
Some key points; precise information is still very unclear
and where it’s not clear how to interpret the regulation, make a documented decision using a 360° view. As long as a reasonable effort is made
its unlikely to find yourself in trouble.
Tim strongly recommended downloading an app and uses ‘DLA Piper’ and ‘Fieldfisher’(both legal
firms) himself where all articles the law is divided into can be accessed. In order to process personal data, you must
have one of; a legal basis where consent
is given, necessary of the performance of a contract or compliance with a legal
obligation and necessary to protect the vital interest of the data subject.
There are others which can be read in full on the app in articles 6 and 7.
If working with live people on your research, you should
register with ICO as £40 annually. Possibility of being fined if you do not.
Gmail is not considered GDPR compliant and free email
services are generally not secure - use other means to secure information being
sent too such as encryption.
Recommend to do (and record) data audit and review any
contracts.
Privacy policy on your website must have a reference to GDPR/data
protection and keep a folder with documents showing compliance. Training can be found at:
Tim’s’ general advice on managing live persons - do not pass
information of living persons to a client, you may pass the client's data to
the person, using legitimate interest as the legal basis for processing the
person's data as it is clearly a legitimate interest of yours to make this
contact as it is part of your job. As it
is you contacting, and not the client, any risk to the rights and freedoms of
the person is minimal, so legitimate interest wins. Must be noted in the
contract.
In the afternoon we discussed several ethical issues such as
the use of images from Ancestry etc; re-using research with a later client, DNA
testing and membership of professional groups. Heritage tourism also came up as
two group members were attending a meeting at parliament in the evening.
Thursday 13 December 2018
Kilmarnock visit
On 14 November 2018 we
headed to Kilmarnock to find out more about genealogical resources available
there. Our thanks go to Helen, Linda, Heather, Clare, and
Joy at the Burns Monument Centre, and Bruce at the Dick Institute, for
providing us with such an interesting and informative day.
BURNS MONUMENT CENTRE
Our visit started at the
Burns Monument Centre in Kay Park which opened about ten years ago and, in
addition to providing Registration Services and a Ceremony Room, houses a
Family History Research Area, Local History Area, and East Ayrshire Archives.
FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH AREA
Helen Watt and Linda Miller
introduced us to this area which contained a number of computers with access to
the Scotland’s People Records. The area is open Monday to Friday with a charge
of £15 for a day ticket, however bookings are required, and it can be closed at
short notice if too few people are booked in or not enough staff available to
man it.
Workshops are
held on Wednesdays (mornings and afternoons) when staff are available to assist
with research at a charge of £10 for two hours.
Family
Tree Packages are available for those who do not wish to
do their own research. Staff will carry out the research and produce charts and
/ or booklets containing copies of all the relevant records. Bronze, Silver and
Gold Packages are available depending on the extent of family history
requested. In addition searches can be made of the local history resources and
included if wished (e.g.: relevant newspaper articles), and Gold Package
booklets can also include the client’s own family photos.
LOCAL HISTORY AREA
Heather Dunlop gave us a
tour of the local history area and then allowed us to browse the resources
there. The area is open daily and there is no need to make an appointment. Items
held in this area are mainly published items where more than one copy exists as
opposed to the Archives who hold the records where no other copies exist. Some
of the items are listed in the online East Ayrshire Library Catalogue, but
others are not.
Resources
available included:
·
Microfilm:
o
Local Newspapers from 1842 onwards (no
newspapers have been digitised)
o
Poor Relief Registers for all Ayrshire – some
have indexes. An index to Ayrshire Poor Relief Records can be found on the
Ayrshire Roots website www.ayrshireroots
o
Old Parish Registers & Census Records
·
Maps including an old map of Kilmarnock dated
1819 with names of the residents
Books
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| Well-used pre 1855 MIs (photo Michelle Leonard) |
- Valuation Rolls for Kyle, Carrick & Cunningham
- Statistical Accounts for the whole of Scotland
- Trade Directories from 1833
- Local History Books for Ayrshire & Scotland – Parish histories, Pictorial histories of towns
- Books about occupations in the area – Mining, Poetry, Glasgow & South Scotland Railway
·
Box Files (Information and articles filed
under topics with content indexes in each box).
- Box file titles include Place Names, Family Names, Military, Industry, Mining etc. For my own family history I was particularly interested in the Box titled: “Guthries of Ochiltree”, and an article on the Irvine Valley Lace Industry in “Industry Box 2”.
·
Family History Section including:
- Monumental Inscriptions (Burial records are held by the Bereavement Services)
- Information about specific families & family trees which had been gathered from research done (this is not included in the online catalogue)
- Information about public war memorials
- Lists of WW 1 Dead – with details of where they enlisted which is not found in other records
EAST AYRSHIRE ARCHIVES
Clare (Assistant Archivist) and Joy (Graduate Trainee) showed us
round their purpose built storage area which is shared with local history &
registration services, and described the types of records they held, then
allowed us time to have a look at some items they had put out on display
especially for us.
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| Introduction to the Archives (photo Michelle Leonard) |
Background
Ayrshire Archives was
founded in 1996 by Ayrshire Council with the aim of preserving and providing
access to local authority records. The earliest record held is Ayr Burgh
Charter dated 1205. Their main store and headquarters is at Auchincruive, a few
miles east of Ayr which is also the access point for South Ayrshire Archives
and is open to the public on Tuesdays (by appointment). East Ayrshire Archives
is open on Wednesdays at the Burn’s Monument Centre, and Irvine Townhouse is
due to open soon (one day a week) housing records from North Ayrshire. In each
case viewing of records is by appointment only as the items requested may have
to be brought from Auchencruive.
Records
held include
·
NRS Records – Records belonging to the
National Records of Scotland but stored in Ayrshire for ease of access by local
researchers. Access and copyright guidelines are set by the NRS. These records
include:
o
Church Records (e.g.: Papal Bull dated
1322-1323)
o
Customs & Excise Records (e.g.: Fishing /
Shipping Registers for Ayrshire)
o
Justice of Peace Records
·
Maps
·
Local authority records for East Ayrshire,
and also some records for Strathclyde Region:
o
Council Minutes
o
School Records
o
Electoral Registers, Valuation Rolls
o
Poor House Records
o
Ayrshire & Arran Health Board Records
·
Private Deposits:
o
Societies and Clubs
o
Estate Records
o
Business Records
o
Family Records
Records
on display
A number of items were put
out on display for us including:
·
Council Minutes
·
Plans for the Burns Monument Centre (example
of a modern record)
·
Kilmarnock Academy Register - showing
admission and leaving dates and where pupils went when they left school
·
Diaries, with notes & drawings belonging
to Margaret & Effie Kennedy, daughters of Thomas Kennedy of Glenfield &
Kennedy
·
Kirk Session Minutes showing an interesting
case brought before the Kirk Session over several meetings
Online
Catalogue
There is no one online
catalogue but separate catalogues for each collection, details of which can be
found on the website.
·
Kilmarnock Burgh Catalogue has recently come
online.
·
Kilmarnock Academy Catalogue 1896-2008 is currently
being compiled, and will go online at the beginning of next year. This
collection includes lots of school records, some with photos.
Recent
Records
Most items have 100 year
closure but if records are provided to show that person is deceased it may be
possible to see some items, and someone wanting to see their own records may do
so if they provide proof of identity.
Further information about
Ayrshire Archives and their online catalogues can be found at: http://www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk/
DICK INSTITUTE
After lunch we made our way
to the Dick Institute where Bruce Morgan showed us round the Museum and shared
with us the history of the building and some of its exhibits.
Background
The finance to create the
Dick Institute came from James Dick who was born into a poor family in
Kilmarnock in 1823 but became a businessman of worldwide importance and,
although living in Australia, wanted to give something back to the town of his
birth. The museum was opened in 1901 and features the largest museum and
exhibition space in Ayrshire.
The ground floor houses
Ayrshire Central Library and a café, while the upper floor holds displays of
some of the collections cared for by East Ayrshire Council.
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| (Photo Michelle Leonard) |
Since our visit coincided
with the 100th anniversary of the WW1 Armistice we were met with
drapes of knitted poppies in the entrance hall and stairs and on the upper
hallway was a display of WW1 photos including photographs taken in and around
the building when it was an auxiliary hospital during WW1.
From the upper hallway
doorways lead to the North and South Museums.
North
Museum
The North Museum houses a
display of old musical instruments, and arms and armour, as well as objects
from their natural history sciences and archaeology collections.
South
Museum
The South Museum contains
displays linked to the local and social history of the area, including a
display of items and manuscripts relating to Robert Burns.
Kilmarnock
History
Over the nineteenth century
Kilmarnock was transformed from a country town to an industrial town, and many
of the displays provide information about the industries in the area and key
people involved in those industries:
·
Mining
·
Railways
·
Engineering firms such as Glenfield and
Kennedy
·
Printing – John Wilson, an early printer in
the town printed the first edition of “Burns Poetry”, and the museum has a
working model of the Benjamin Franklin press.
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| (Photo Michelle Leonard) |
·
Johnnie Walker – the whisky company which was
first set up in the town in 1865 and continued in production until only a few
years ago when it was taken over by Diageo.
The
Loom Room
The Loom Room is dominated
by an industrial weaving loom, and devoted to displays about the textile
industry - in particular lace making in the Irvine Valley which took off when
Alexander Morton brought a machine from England and set up in competition to
the Nottingham lace factories. By the late nineteenth century lace and madras
(a muslin type fabric) were produced in dozens of factories in the Irvine
Valley of which only a couple are still in production. The growth in machine
lace led to the demise of the hand loom weaver, and a portrait of Matthew
Faulds of Fenwick who was the last hand loom weaver in the locality hangs on
one wall. Information about carpet manufacture and shoemaking, and a display of
Ayrshire needlework can also be found in this room.
Paper
Records
The Institute holds some
paper records particularly in relation to its collections (e.g.: the Boyd
Records), however some have been lost over time, and some items are held by
archives and museums elsewhere. After the 1909 fire appeals were made for items
from other museums to replace items that had been lost, and recently some items
were identified in Doncaster Museum which had been donated to them by the Dick
Institute after a fire there. Any
documents they do have are accessible to the public by appointment, and Dean of
Guild Records are held by East Ayrshire Archives.
The Dick Institute is open
Tuesday to Saturday and more information about their collections, and others in
East Ayrshire can be found at https://eastayrshireleisure.com/
Author: Lorraine Stewart, Kincardineshire Ancestors
Dundee archives - everything from Robert the Bruce to a scone!
The new
V&A drew many people to Dundee from 14th September; Scottish Genealogy
Network members ploughed their own furrow and headed there on the 20th
to visit Dundee City Archives and Dundee University Archives. The thirteen of
us had a great day and it was good to meet some new faces too. Many thanks to
staff in both archives for their time and enthusiasm in hosting our visit.
Commiserations to SGN members who had to miss the event at the last minute for
various reasons.
Dundee City Archives
This
archive is, like a few others, in a basement. It’s the basement of Dundee’s
Caird Hall, on City Square in the centre of Dundee. Full marks for a very easy
to reach location. The City has had an archivist since 1969.
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| Ship plans in the strong rooms (photo Ali Murray) |
Inquisitiveness
is a characteristic of genealogists so we were delighted to start our visit
with a tour of the archive stores or strong rooms and a good nose around. The
same number did emerge as went in, though there were many temptations to linger. A run of Council minutes from 1533 onwards may not sound the most interesting but just think what could be waiting there.
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| 1327 charter ( photo Merle Palmer) |
Archives handle a huge variety of documents
and Dundee is no exception: from council house sales through teachers’ mark
books to a 1327 charter from Robert the Bruce, the oldest document in its care.
As a port
city, it’s no surprise that there are several series of records relating
broadly to the sea. They include shipyard records, such as the Caledon Yard,
with plans of ships at different stages of construction. Once complete, the
Shipping Registers,
part of the Customs and Excise records, provide details of
a boat’s specification (length, type of rigging etc) and ownership, with
updates as the 64 shares changed hands or, unfortunately, if the boat was lost
at sea. To access these registers you need a fairly accurate idea of the year
of completion but there is an A-Z index in each volume.
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| Details of boat share owners (photo Merle Palmer) |
Though most
of the records of jute companies are at the University, the City has those of
the Victoria Spinning Works including wages information the late 1800s to the
1970s (job title, name and wages).
As is usual
on these visits, the staff had a set of more unusual documents out for us to
view. Among them were:
- A 1776 map of Dundee naming individual buildings;
- Working copies of valuation rolls for Dundee (just think how useful the changes could be for family history);
- A Register of Inebriates (following the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1903) complete with photographs, physical and character description. This was bought at auction.
Access the archives:
There is no online catalogue, yet; information on some classes of
documents is on the City Archives website (click on Related links). It is
best to phone before a visit as space is limited.
Opening Hours: Monday
to Friday: 9.30am to 1pm and 2pm to 4.30pm.
Dundee University Archives
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| Matriculation records, with student signatures (photo Merle Palmer) |
How handy
to be able to visit two archives with complementary collections in one day,
especially with only a short walk between them. As you would expect, these archives
are at the University. In a basement once more. Established in 1976.
Public
engagement and promotion are key aspect of the University Archives work and I
was particularly struck by the range of University programmes engaging with their
resources. On the other hand, housing student projects throws up some particular challenges like conserving a scone baked in the 1980s, part of an art project.
Key collections, apart from the University’s own records, include:
- Jute and other textile companies, relating to both Dundee and India. The University has one of the largest collections in Europe.
- NHS Tayside (custodial rather than ownership) including Strathmartine and Sunnyside (Montrose) asylums. It was interesting to see an example of an asylum record which included a good family tree and to be reminded of how humane these institutions could be, bringing in fiddlers to entertain patients, for example.
- Brechin Diocese of the Scottish Episcopal Church. There is a database of names for Arbroath and Stonehaven church registers.
- The Glasite church, Scotland and Connecticut.
- The photographs of Michael Peto.
- Records and library of the Grampian Club (hillwalking, ski-ing and mountaineering).
It was good
to be reminded of the sheer diversity of records that are potentially of use
for family history. For example:
- Railway companies who had to pass through people’s land – possible information on those people, any opposition raised and so on;
- Solicitors’ firms archives – some contain private family papers;
- Factories – though full staff records are fairly rare, don’t forget accident books and “half-time” school registers;
- Hospital papers – who recommended a patient? Often charitable trusts.
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| Maternity hospital records - quite a spike in 1919! (photo Valerie Stewart) |
And the
oldest record in the Archives? A papyrus from AD99 relating to the sale of a
slave.
Access the archives
There is an online catalogue. There is also a very long-term
project to index the hospital registers in their care, including parish of
origin.
Opening hours vary between semester and
vacations; closed Thursdays.
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