The SGN's Continuing Professional Development Day - Part Two

After a lovely finger buffet lunch of quiche, pork pies and mini wraps followed by bite sized  cakes and fruit we gathered again to discuss plans for our next CPD Day where we hope to have some training in the use of social media. The discussion then moved to the development of an SGN website, and what we would want on it. No final conclusions were reached and these discussions are likely to continue on the Linked forum.

Carol McKinven then introduced us to an Estonian couple that she had been researching and guided us through the process of discovering that in some cases such research may be easier than we would think. We learnt that many Estonian records are freely available online and the indexes are in English! One very useful resource being the website of the National Archives of Estonia www.arhiiv.ee/en/national-archives.

Andrew Armstrong then gave a talk on Ag. Labs. found in the Victorian Census Returns for south east Scotland giving examples of some of the more unusual occupations such as the “Woman Steward” (the man who looked after the women working in the fields), and the “Hind” and “Bondager” – an arrangement whereby a man would only be hired as a “Hind” (ploughman) if he had a “Bondager” (someone who could do extra farm work when required). The Hind had responsibility for providing bed and board for the Bondager, which worked well if it was a member of his family but was rather inconvenient when his family had to share their single room with a stranger. This system was widely practiced in the 17th centuary but was being phased out by the 1860s.

After a break for coffee our final talk on “The Weavers of Perth” was given by Chris Paton who shared from his research into the history of the handloom weaving industry in Perth. The Records of the Weavers Incorporation of Perth (now held by Perth and Kinross Archives) contain many records which would be of interest to family historians and give an insight into the lives the weaving community there, such as Chris’s own ancestors who were weavers in the Perthshire Parish of Dunbarney two hundred years ago.

Report by Lorraine Stewart, genealogist at Kincardineshire Ancestors.