THE BLACK HOLES
I’ve now described the basic records, tools and main sites that you may
use in your quest.
Many people encounter problems in the period of time from the formation of
the Free Church until civil registration began (1843 – 1855). Use of
census and death records can usually help “jump” this era. (Or
(unfortunately) a trip to the National Archives by someone)
MOST people have problems when approaching the late 1700’s and beyond when
records begin to dry up fast and create “The Brick Wall”. This is the woe
of many, - we all hit it and it’s solid.
But, keep on fishin’…………
Snail Mail -
One of the most
enjoyable and personally rewarding experiences I’ve had in this pastime
involved a small mass mailing to distant relatives scattered across this
globe. I had managed to get a list of addresses from other relatives, old
Christmas Card lists, and from electoral polls – so I sent off an
introductory letter which explained exactly who I was, what I was trying
to accomplish, a small sample of what I had accomplished regarding the
family tree, and offered that I would be more than willing to share what I
knew concerning our mutual ancestors with them -whether or not they wished
to contribute. I did stress and clearly promise in the letter that I would
never share any information regarding the living with anyone. Not all
those sent a letter responded, but those that did were thrilled with the
idea, and shared all they could possibly muster. We have been in contact
ever since and it has extended my arms across the pond as more than a one
are both willing and excited to help by doing “on-site” visits,
investigations, and photography. -A total win-win for all. (and nae too
expensive to boot me friend)
THINK
- Use available databases against each other, and within themselves, to
slowly narrow down the field of play as far as date ranges, location,
church, birth place, occupation, parents’ names, children’s names, known
associates (witnesses) etc. Use your knowledge, available Census info and
Family Search (IGI) data to lock on to a target.
An example of this while using IGI data being- lets say your looking for a
John Smith, perhaps the son of George, and that you believe was born about
1857, in Peebles somewhere, and you also know the names of one or more
siblings. Searching on him alone may be an exercise in frustration with
many hits. An alternate approach that sometimes works is to do your search
on him within a 4 or 10 year window – paste this data into a document, -
now do the same thing on each of the sibling(s) with the same or bigger
window and again paste the data into a document. Now study all the saved
document data and look for matches in time, and parish – and investigate
the details of those that cross match as far as parents, or a father
George go – this simple sifting out the non related persons can yield
large rewards.
If you are lucky enough to have some info on siblings born prior to a
census, and all children would be young enough to still be at home at the
census date - search for a family of that surname that has those given
names present. If one of the persons is known to have an unusual First or
Given Name, try searching for that alone. Also try variants of the Last
Name that are not covered by Soundex or similar, e.g. a Tant family was
found miss-transcribed as Lant.
If you know the trade of the father from the 1881 census period and own
the 1881 Census make use of the advanced search feature - on surname /
trade/ location etc……….. The 1881 Census is an awesome tool if it
coincides with your date ranges. In addition to names, trades, location
you can also search on addresses that you may have picked up off birth,
marriage or death certificates, - or from other census dates. And if you
find your family or a member check the “neighbours” around them for a few
buildings or so – you may see a familiar name from witness names on
registrations. Furthermore – I’ve found good info searching on the
witnesses and finding kin, kin-to-be, or kin-that-was living there. Always
look at the detailed household reports and note the occupations, birth
locations, marital status, and relationship to the “head”.
Be particularly wary where the “Head” is a baby or child! This can happen
in some families when the parents are elsewhere, leaving the baby in the
safe-keeping of servants.
Check addresses on death registrations – they may be a hospital, or other
institution. If a census has been done just prior to the death you may
find them residing there, and maybe get more useful information (such as
birthplace) to use somewhere else.
Should a person’s occupation be a trade or profession – some localities
have apprenticeship lists which can be useful. Also note that tradesmen
seemed to be close friends with others in the same trade - and that
searching for others in the same trade and location can find you a needle
in the haystack.
And -when you do ask someone for help – tell ALL FACTS and FAMILY LORE you
know. Others frequently read this differently and have other experiences
which may help shed light.
Using Search Engines
It is evident that
there are great numbers of people out there who can not efficiently make
use of search engines such as Google.
Many queries posted
could have been quickly answered via the effective use of a simple search,
and many more through an advanced search.
The problem may lie in
the bewilderment brought on when one is presented a list of thousands of
hits, most being non-relevant or repetitive, or no hits at all -This being
prompted by the subject search being much too wide or much too specific.
Learn to make use of
the advanced search screens, read the help info.
or
Learn the use of
quotation marks to do specific searches on a name or phrase, and then add
at least one non specific key. These added keys being a country name, or a
county name, or a parish name, or an occupation, a year, a spouses maiden
name………. etc.
Do remember that
multiple phrases or names can be enclosed within the quotation marks.
Experiment with many
combinations and be creative. It will pay off.
The point being (again)
– use the unique aspects or things that define your subject to your
advantage.
Example:
John Smith = 148
million hits at Google
“John Smith” Scotland =
287,000 hits at Google
“John Smith” Lanark =
29,900 hits at Google
"John Smith" Lanark
McKernow = 1 or sometimes 2 hits at Google
A helpful note: wanna
type a £ to show pounds? Just press and hold down the Alt key while typing
156 on the numeric keyboard while the Num-Lock is on. This extended IBM
code works with most of the popular fonts. (So does 16 = ►, 17 = ◄, 1 = ☺,
7 = •, 4 = ♦, 22 = ▬)
Given Name Focusing
In your searching it
would be useful to have knowledge of given name distributions
(popularity). The GROS has done a complete study on these distributions
for 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2000 in Scotland. While the 1900 lists are most
likely much later than the periods of time most will searching, they are
very close to that throughout the 1800’s (and perhaps earlier) as the
order only jiggles a wee bit in 1850.
Here are 1900’s Top Ten
most popular names per GROS:
1 John
Mary
2 James Margaret
3 William Elizabeth
4 Robert Annie
5 Alexander Jane
6 George Agnes
7 Thomas Isabella
8 David Catherine
9 Andrew Janet
10 Charles Helen
Note that the male
names above represented almost 70% of the male population, with the
females totaling over 50% of the female population.
This data is useful in
that all other names were unpopular, and therefore unique.
Use this when looking
for a family in a Census or other database by focusing on the unpopular
named individuals to reduce the number of hits returned by at least half.
This method can further be improved by combined use of age information.
Should the person also be young it further minimizes the numbers and
reduces the range you will have to concern yourself.
The possibility of a
reported erroneous age for a child is always much less than that an adult,
or senior citizen (I doubt many would guess the age of an infant or
toddler much more than a year or two off, while I’ve seen granny reported
a decade off).
This information is
useful in establishing possible given names of a child who was identified
by surname only in very old parish records. (Try the popular names first
in subsequent marriage or death investigations or related family lines.)
The rest of the above
mentioned GROS listing of the top 100 names across the years 1900 to 2000,
and much more, can be found here:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/occpapers/popular-forenames-in-scotland-1900-2000.html
Sites regarding the
derivation of names, and other points:
http://www.clanmacrae.org/documents/names.htm
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/scotnames101.shtml
However, keep in mind
that just like today, many adopted other names later in life, for various
reasons.
One example with the
extremely unusual, probably unique given name in Scotland of Rajahgopaul,
“disappeared” from the records in adult life.
His last name and the
complete names of his siblings were regular Scottish names.
However, he was
eventually tracked down as “Paul” in several records, leading to
confirmation as being the same person.
Whilst today there are
many examples of virtually deliberate mis-spelling of traditional names,
eg Alex to Alick, Alik etc, something like this happened in the past, due
to the lack of education, non-centralisation, mis-interpretation etc, eg
Janet, Jennet etc.
Plus after 1950 the
distribution list of given names totally morphs – no doubt to the
influence of television with added greater access to information,
knowledge, options, Soap Operas, and the world wide blending of cultures
and ethnic groups through the 60’s
and on.
Miscellaneous Statistics
From 1855 to 1900 the
infant mortality rate in Scotland was approximately 12% declining quickly
thereafter to less than 1% by 1935.
In 1855 12% of the male
population that signed registers used an “X” indicating they were
illiterate. The female figure was 24%. Both numbers steadily decline to 2%
by 1915.
Cemetery and Monumental Inscription
Searches
Remember all the same
things here as in all other searches regarding possible alternate
spellings and then heap the added transformation of a name transcribed
from a possibly damaged, moss covered, lichen spattered, eroded, dirty,
faded tomb stone. Think of the possible ways stone erodes and then is
miss-recorded with absolutely no phonetics considered. (“nn” becomes “m”,
“h” becomes “b” or the opposite, “R” becomes “B”……..etc.)
Keep in mind that when
you do find a relation’s grave that you should immediately do a similar
search on that particular cemetery (and/or section) using only the surname
with no given name – many times you can find entire family groups complete
with spouses, and the resulting children. Further you may find that the
file tag or record numbers match or are very similar.
Images:
This alternate form of searching really can work and lead to new
information, links and contacts.
Pictures and photograph searches can lead to new sites, or even pictures
of your relatives from the past (like the one above).Plus it is usually
the quickest way to find a picture of the ship they emigrated on, and
perhaps detailed information on it, and its sailing schedules and ports of
call.
Try doing a name search for IMAGES on Yahoo, Google or DogPile, and just
recently MSN offers such. Don’t forget that the advanced search options
and use of quotation marks also might help.
Also try the photograph
specific sites such as Photopolis, Scran, and Ancient Faces.
The printed word
Walter Chepman and
Andrew Myllar set up the first Scottish press in 1508.
The first published
newspaper in Scotland was detail of a political debate in 1641. In the
early 1770’s newspapers became more established and by the early 1880’s
they existed in many larger towns.
Books and newspapers
from the 1800’s can be valuable in genealogical searches. Not only do they
convey the atmosphere of the times, they can also contain information on
individuals who were not famous or noble.
This is particularly
the case in smaller towns where often local poets or writers made mention
of friends and family within their books of verse or reminiscences. The
value of newspapers is obvious with their birth, wedding and death
announcements plus note that you may also find articles concerning family
associated with legal proceedings, business, item sales, accidents, plus
sporting, political and social events.
Though not available to
those in Canada it is interesting to note that the National Library of
Scotland claims to have 30 kilometers of shelves containing newspapers
published in Scotland, and add 50,000 more copies a year.
Current and past
publications put out by individuals, Genealogical Societies and Family
History groups are also valuable as they contain information and databases
that are not on line.
Take the time to visit
the sites of the Scottish Genealogical Society and any local ones in your
county or parish of interest to see what printed information they have for
sale. The cost is usually not that over the top, and sometimes a bargain.
The books or CDs you
will find includes: census, monumental inscriptions, merchant and trade
indexes, poll tax lists, hearth tax lists, burgh records, local histories,
shipping lists, maritime records, emigrant lists, some Kirk session
records, family histories, registers of testaments, county directories,
military records, militia lists, apprentice lists, Burgess rolls, peerage
lists, names and clan lists, post office directories, alumni and graduates
lists, and more.
While visiting each
society webpage it would be wise to also scan the directories of what was
contained in past newsletters or member magazines as they can also contain
a valuable document for you search.
Family History Societies in Scotland:
Scottish Genealogical
Society
Look around in every menu.
http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/
Here you can also purchase monumental inscriptions (MI’s)of gravestones
for parishes from all over Scotland. Plus wills, and much more….
http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/acatalog/shop.html
Aberdeen & NE Scotland
FHS
http://www.anesfhs.org.uk/
Borders FHS Lothians
FHS
Again – look around.
http://www.bordersfhs.org.uk/
Caithness FHS Mull
Genealogy
http://www.caithnessfhs.org.uk/
Central Scotland FHS
http://www.csfhs.org.uk/
Dumfries & Galloway FHS
http://www.dgfhs.org.uk/
East Ayrshire FHS
http://www.eastayrshirefhs.org.uk/
Fife FHS
http://www.fifefhs.org/
Glasgow & West of
Scotland FHS
http://www.gwsfhs.org.uk/
Highland FHS
http://www.highlandfhs.org.uk/
Lanarkshire FHS
http://www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk/
Largs & North Ayrshire
FHS
http://www.largsnafhs.org.uk/
Lothians FHS
http://www.lothiansfhs.org.uk/
Mull Genealogy
http://www.mullgenealogy.co.uk/
North Perthshire FHG
http://www.npfhg.org/
Orkney FHS
http://www.orkneyfhs.co.uk/
Shetland FHS
http://www.shetland-fhs.org.uk/
Tay Valley FHS
http://www.tayvalleyfhs.org.uk/
Troon & Ayrshire FHS
http://www.troonayrshirefhs.org.uk/
West Lothian FHS
http://www.wlfhs.org.uk/
The Scottish
Association of Family History Societies
http://www.safhs.org.uk/
Society of Genealogists
http://www.sog.org.uk/
Be Realistic In Your End Goal.
We all have heard about
“so and so” using only the net and tracing firmly their family tree near
to the Viking era in Scotland. Bunk! I ain’t buying.
Anyone restricted to
tracing their tree online (even with the fantastic services available from
the likes of LDS and Scotlands People) is quite lucky to get into the
early 1700’s with hard core fully confirmed source data. Most stall out in
the late 1700’s.
This is not due to your
abilities, but due to lack of records, incorrect records, migration, and
illegitimate births when the trail ends abruptly.
You should be quite
proud to accomplish getting to approximately 1800 – few do without making
an assumption based on overwhelming coincidental information.
Here’s my best cut at
the probabilities on getting back so far in Scotland using on-line
information based on a multitude of facts, plus some gut feel in what I
and others have experienced. Do not let this dishearten you as it does not
include off line information.
Year |
Census |
Period |
B & M |
Deaths |
Wills |
Probability |
1901 |
7 |
SR |
99% |
99% |
5.0% |
Excellent |
1874 |
4 |
SR |
95% |
95% |
5.0% |
Very Good |
1855 |
2 |
SR Optional |
70.0% |
0.0% |
5.0% |
Good |
1800 |
0 |
OPR |
40.0% |
0.0% |
1.0% |
Fair |
1750 |
0 |
OPR |
20.0% |
0.0% |
few |
Poor |
1700 |
0 |
OPR |
5.0% |
0.0% |
few |
Very Poor |
1650 |
0 |
OPR |
2.0% |
0.0% |
few |
Unlikely |
1600 |
0 |
OPR |
1.0% |
0.0% |
few |
Very Unlikely |
1553 |
0 |
OPR |
0.1% |
0.0% |
few |
Sheer Luck |
1500 |
0 |
n/a |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
Nil (almost) |
The census column is
total number of census available. The “B & M” would be my estimate of what
birth and marriage vital statistics are on line or available in most
areas. I know many will pooh-pooh the numbers but this is my opus and I
can not be wildly off the mark.
Certainly the numbers
would look a lot better if all records available at GROS and the NAS were
on line. But even with this the well does have a bottom.
The reality of this is
seen in the many queries posted which are centered on desires to find
information on family from the early 1800’s and back in time.
I once put a query up
myself seeking a way of establishing what is impossible to find. The
answer being that no such gap analysis has been done. So…. I did three
counties associated with my heritage to see what it might look like. This
study being based on the Extant Parish records list of GROS. The
Peeblesshire matrix follows further below.
Note that the date
spans are as stated by GROS but realize, as is warned by GROS, that there
can be many non-evident gaps, or few records within these spans.
I have included Death
dates. They are not on line, but may be in the years ahead. I saw that in
these counties that while the death data generally matched the spans of
births and marriages there were many more gaps and some parishes where
deaths had never been recorded (particularly in Roxburgh).
Combine in your mind
this analysis with the history of Scotland. Throughout its early
tumultuous past many events occurred that resulted in records being
destroyed, not taken, or in some cases banned. Such events being the
various changes in the recognized Church, changes in the ruling power,
wars, plagues, fires, floods, mice, mold and the fact that parish churches
were not everywhere.
Some examples: 1640 –
estimated that only 5% of the Presbyterian parishes were actually
recording things (these are the primary records on-line); 1642-1649 Civil
War when many records were destroyed, many not even taken; 1645 Black
Plague sweeps across Scotland - many abandoned record keeping altogether
for some years; 1783-1793 a tax exists on all records taken and many Scots
refuse to pay or can not afford it; …..Etc.
The matrix:
PEEBLES GAP ANALYSIS |
BIRTH GAP |
|
Marriage GAP1 |
Marriage GAP2 |
Parish |
Earliest Birth |
from |
to |
Earliest Marry |
from |
to |
from |
to |
Broughton |
1697 |
|
|
1697 |
1702 |
1827 |
1846 |
1854 |
Drumelzier |
1649 |
1695 |
1699 |
1649 |
1695 |
1699 |
1814 |
1823 |
Eddlestone |
1713 |
|
|
1714 |
|
|
|
|
Glenholm |
1747 |
|
|
1784 |
1796 |
1854 |
|
|
Innerleithen |
1643 |
1681 |
1705 |
1642 |
1693 |
1705 |
|
|
Kilbouch…B&G. |
1749 |
|
|
1749 |
1757 |
1854 |
|
|
Kirkurd |
1705 |
|
|
1705 |
|
|
|
|
Lyne & Megget |
1649 |
|
|
1649 |
|
|
|
|
Manor |
1663 |
|
|
1664 |
1819 |
1823 |
|
|
Newlands |
1677 |
|
|
1677 |
1790 |
1837 |
|
|
Peebles |
1622 |
|
|
1628 |
|
|
|
|
Skirling |
1683 |
|
|
1665 |
|
|
|
|
Stobo |
1671 |
|
|
1783 |
|
|
|
|
Traquair |
1694 |
|
|
1694 |
|
|
|
|
Tweedsmuir |
1644 |
1698 |
1719 |
1644 |
1684 |
1719 |
|
|
West Linton |
1656 |
|
|
1657 |
1792 |
1797 |
|
|
Earliest Start |
1622 |
|
|
1628 |
|
|
|
|
Latest Start |
1749 |
|
|
1784 |
|
|
|
|
PEEBLES GAP ANALYSIS |
Death GAP1 |
Death GAP2 |
Parish |
Earliest Death |
from |
to |
from |
to |
Broughton |
1828 |
|
|
|
|
Drumelzier |
1649 |
|
|
|
|
Eddlestone |
1714 |
|
|
|
|
Glenholm |
1783 |
1852 |
1854 |
|
|
Innerleithen |
1706 |
1763 |
1823 |
|
|
Kilbouch…B&G. |
1749 |
1758 |
1854 |
|
|
Kirkurd |
1718 |
1793 |
1854 |
|
|
Lyne & Megget |
1840 |
|
|
|
|
Manor |
1663 |
1851 |
1854 |
|
|
Newlands |
1677 |
1759 |
1854 |
|
|
Peebles |
1828 |
1713 |
1741 |
1847 |
1854 |
Skirling |
1723 |
1737 |
1749 |
1795 |
1854 |
Stobo |
1681 |
1849 |
1854 |
|
|
Traquair |
1695 |
|
|
|
|
Tweedsmuir |
1645 |
1693 |
1760 |
1854 |
1854 |
West Linton |
1667 |
1734 |
1798 |
1836 |
1854 |
Earliest Start |
1645 |
|
|
|
|
Latest Start |
1840 |
|
|
|
|
A quick look at the
above will show that in Peebles, the absolute earliest one might get to
using the OPRs is early 1600’s (and that in many areas it is later) with
all areas going through a broken chain of continuous records. In a
straight up comparison of the supposed 302 year period that OPRs could
exist (1553 to 1855) the county of Peeblesshire really only covers 57%
regarding births, 47% regarding marriages, and 32% regarding deaths (and
these are based on averages so the percentages are vastly inflated).
Okay – now you’ve seen
a typical example of really what is available and I will let you ponder
this to draw your own conclusion and establish a personal end goal for
your on line search.
You too could do such a
study on your relative parish – the data is here:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/hlpsrch/opr-cov.html
Look at the links at
the bottom of the page.
(An interesting aside I
learned while doing this study – in 1746 the wearing of kilts was
prohibited, those not abiding were subject to punishment by death… is that
sorta like being caught dead in one?)
And while we are on the
subject of knowing how big the haystack is – I would point out that it
might be useful to get an understanding of the population of the areas in
your search. The larger – the more complex and difficult.
County |
1841Population |
% |
Aberdeen |
192,400 |
7.3% |
Angus |
170,500 |
6.5% |
Argyll |
97,400 |
3.7% |
Ayr |
164,400 |
6.3% |
Banff |
49,700 |
1.9% |
Berwick |
34,400 |
1.3% |
Bute |
15,696 |
0.6% |
Caithness |
36,300 |
1.4% |
Clackmannan |
19,200 |
0.7% |
Dumfries |
72,800 |
2.8% |
Dumbarton |
44,300 |
1.7% |
East Lothian |
35,838 |
1.4% |
Fife |
140,100 |
5.3% |
Inverness |
97,800 |
3.7% |
Kincardine |
33,100 |
1.3% |
Kinross |
8,800 |
0.3% |
Kirkcudbright |
41,100 |
1.6% |
Lanark (Glasgow) |
427,000 |
16.3% |
Midlothian |
225,500 |
8.6% |
Moray |
35,000 |
1.3% |
Nairn |
9,200 |
0.4% |
Orkney |
30,500 |
1.2% |
Peebles |
10,500 |
0.4% |
Perth |
137,500 |
5.2% |
Renfrew |
155,100 |
5.9% |
Ross & Cromarty |
78,700 |
3.0% |
Roxburgh |
46,000 |
1.8% |
Selkirk |
8,000 |
0.3% |
Shetland |
30,600 |
1.2% |
Stirling |
82,100 |
3.1% |
Sutherland |
24,800 |
0.9% |
West Lothian |
26,900 |
1.0% |
Wigtown |
39,200 |
1.5% |
Total |
2,620,434 |
100% |
Looking at this it does
not take long to figure out where the searches are more complex.
Here’s a breakdown of
Peebles across time (a work in progress that I shall update):
PEEBLES |
|
YEAR |
|
Parishes |
1755 |
1801 |
1831 |
1861 |
Broughton |
no info |
no info |
no info |
no info |
Drumelzier |
no info |
no info |
no info |
no info |
Eddleston |
no info |
no info |
no info |
no info |
Glenholm |
no info |
no info |
no info |
no info |
Innerleithen |
559 |
609 |
810 |
1823 |
Kilbucho |
279 |
|
353 |
|
Kirkurd |
310 |
327 |
318 |
362 |
Lyne & Megget |
265 |
167 |
156 |
134 |
Manor |
320 |
308 |
254 |
247 |
Newlands |
1009 |
950 |
1078 |
987 |
Peebles |
1896 |
2088 |
2750 |
2850 |
Skirling |
335 |
308 |
358 |
317 |
Stobo |
313 |
338 |
440 |
478 |
Traquair |
651 |
613 |
643 |
687 |
Tweedsmuir |
397 |
277 |
288 |
196 |
West Linton |
831 |
1064 |
1577 |
1534 |
Totals |
7165 |
7049 |
9025 |
9615 |
Population numbers for
other parishes are available at GROS, EDINA, etc.
I will end this section
with a brighter note – many other records do exist, such as local polls,
tax records, Kirk sessions, books, sasines, letters, trials, military
records, cemetery records, monumental inscriptions, and many more items –
the list is great. But at this time most are available to you (or a
friend) only in person in Scotland, or via purchase. Each day more and
more arrives online and your prospects to reach back farther in time grow
in suit.
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