12 | Cycling World
1. Find out as much as you can beforehand
Scotland has the best set of records on the planet, and easily accessible
online at a distance.
Start by writing down what you know about your Scottish ancestors –
names, dates, places and relationships as far back as you can. Talk you
your oldest living relatives – but don’t necessarily believe everything
they tell you – memory is a good but selective editor, and family myths
and stories grow with the telling over the years!
Register and buy some credits at ScotlandsPeople (www.
scotlandspeople.gov.uk). If you can, start from a census (every 10
years from 1911 back to 1841) then work backwards to likely births,
marriages and deaths (BMDs). Statutory civil registration started in
1855. Before that, there are church records for the Church of Scotland
and some other churches back to the 1500s, and Catholic records
mostly from the late 1700s.
Don’t expect many names in these Accounts or Histories, except
perhaps the large, landed families. But the totally free ScotlandsPlaces
(https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/) has a wealth of detail in old tax
records, Ordnance Survey Name Books and other documents where
you may find your surname localized. For instance, was your ancestor a
Female Servant, or paid a duty on a farm horse or a shop?
The Search page says “Enter a placename”, but you can use that
to search for surnames, too. For instance, someone looking for a
McGeorge in Kirkcudbrightshire will be interested to read that around
1850 at Little Barlay in Girthon parish, there was “A farm house one
Story high and out houses all slated and in good repair with a farm of
land attached Occupied by Samuel McGeorge, and the property of
H.G.S. Murray Esqr. of Broughton”.
There are also many old photographs, and maps!
Join (or check the websites of) surname, clan and family societies.
These are easily searchable online, and although many are based in
America or Canada, they usually contain a wealth of information about
the name, the relevant area and much more. They may be planning a
Gathering in Scotland around the time of your planned tour, and they’ll
be delighted to see you there – of course, you may need to book
beforehand.
2. But where did your ancestors come from?
If you genuinely have no idea which part of Scotland to start in, try this
approach. Go to the free surname-mapping service at Public Profiler
(http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/) and enter your surname(s) of
interest. This will show how these names were distributed in the 1881
census. The darker the colour, the more concentrated the surname.
Don’t forget variant spellings (McPherson/MacPherson or Rolland/
Rolland) – and also remember that your ancestors may have moved, for
example to find work in the larger towns and cities.
Once you have a general area or county, join or contact the local Family
History Society (see a list at The Scottish Association of Family History
Societies (http://www.safhs.org.uk/members.asp). Each local FHS
will have a range of booklets, pamphlets, collections of monumental
inscriptions and so on, plus other information on local and family
history. Many have their own library, or they may direct you to a local
Family Studies library or local archive.
3. How did your ancestors live?
One great way to find out about life in earlier centuries is to download
the Statistical Accounts. There were two exercises – the “Old” in
the 1790s and the “New” in the 1830s – when ministers were asked
to record information about each parish. You will find a wealth of
wonderful detail about the history, geography, weather, wildlife,
employment, general economic, religious and social context, and usually
some observations on “Character of the Inhabitants” – both positively
and negatively! These can make for enlightening reading – for example,
the minister of Ferry-Port-On-Craig in Fife (modern Tayport) recorded
that: “The people are peaceably disposed, and firmly attached to the
present happy civil constitution of their country”. At Dumfries in 1833:
“The people have of late made considerable advances in cleanliness;
and the practice of going barefoot, formerly so common throughout
Scotland, is here fast losing ground.” Others record “the large number
of houses selling spirituous beverages”, “the dreadful habit of drinking
tea”, and other trenchant observations.
Start at www.electricscotland.com/webclans/statistical_accounts.htm
where there is also a link to individual histories of various places in
Scotland – all downloadable for free.
4. And speaking of old maps…
Anyone planning a cycling tour will doubtless have acquired the correct
modern Ordnance Survey map. But how about comparing this with
older OS maps, or other maps from different periods? These can be
found by links at ScotlandPeople (above) but they are also available
to download, again free, at the National Library of Scotland’s wholly
wonderful website.
Start at www.nls.uk and click on Digital Resources and Map Images. This
is where you’ll find that your ancestor’s cottage is now under a car park,
exactly how many buildings there were at the family’s farm, the path
they used to walk to church or the nearest town, or that the old road
went around the edge of a now non-existent quarry.