Black/Weir/Skimming and McGuffie Research

Delighted to have time to research my own and my husband’s family now that I have given up doing research for others!

On my side I am researching Skimming, Simpson, and McGuffie all from Wigtownshire and McGuffies in Liverpool. On my husband’s side it is Blacks, Russells, Weir and Barrs from West Lothian and Lanark.

Contact me if this is any of your family!

Testimonial from California

From William Cain of California:  Frances helped make my mom’s dream of seeing where her Scottish ancestors lived a reality. I contacted Frances a few weeks before we planned to visit Scotland to try to trace our family history. She did some research based on the limited information that I had and was able to discover where our relatives lived and worked before they emigrated to the US. In addition to proving copies of the search results (which we have shared with many relatives upon our return), she took the time to explore the areas ahead of our arrival so that she would have first hand experience of what there was to see. On the day of the tour she picked us up at our apartment and took us to all of the various towns where our relatives had lived. She was very knowledgeable, accommodating, friendly and relaxed as we explored the beautiful Scottish countryside. It was a very special day for my mother that she will never forget. I highly recommend Frances.

Frances & William’s mother Jane at Culross (Cranesmuir in Outlander) 2017

                                                                                                   

Family History is Fun – Free event Cupar Library 16 Jan 2018

Family History is Fun

16 January @ 10:00 am3:00 pm

Free

Want to find out more about your Fife family history? Pop in and see what we have to help you start out with your family history. For those who have already started out, put ‘meat on the bones’ and be introduced to online resources. Fife Archives and Cupar Library Reference section and Cupar Heritage will also be displaying local history and heritage material. Admission Free. If you would like further information please contact [email protected]

Was you Ancestor a Fife Convict?

Nine hundred records and more than a thousand historic images of criminals convicted in Fife in the early part of the 20th century have been published online for the first time. The Fife, Scotland, Criminal Registers, 1910-1931 collection, has been digitised by Ancestry, the leader in family history and consumer genomics, from original records held by ON at Fife Archives.

Read more at: http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/registers-reveal-mugshots-of-fife-s-historic-criminals-1-4601171

This fascinating glimpse into the past gives details of convicts, their crimes and physical descriptions used to identify serial offenders.
And the photographs, some more than 100 years old, reveal the faces of men, women and children arrested in the region.

Read more at: http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/registers-reveal-mugshots-of-fife-s-historic-criminals-1-4601171

Valuation Rolls for 1935 go online with Scotland’s People

Valuation rolls for 1935 have now been added to ScotlandsPeople. This set of records follows ten previous releases of rolls, 1855 – 1930, on ScotlandsPeople, the family history website of National Records of Scotland.

The latest valuation rolls include more than 2.7 million indexed names and addresses for owners, tenants and occupiers of properties throughout Scotland, including a record of its annual valued rent. The total of index entries available to researchers on the ScotlandsPeople site is now over 118 million.

Tim Ellis, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland, said:
“We’re delighted to be adding to the huge resources of ScotlandsPeople. The latest year opens a window into Scotland in 1935, giving an intriguing glimpse into life at the time. It is part of our commitment at National Records of Scotland to continue improving public access to the records researchers want.”

Among the newly-released records are entries relating to some of Scotland’s well- known authors, including Compton Mackenzie, Neil Gunn, Jospehine Tey, Nan Shepherd and Annie S. Swan. To discover more read our special feature on Scottish authors in the 1935 valuation rolls.

The valuation rolls now span 80 years from 1855 to 1935 and are searchable through nearly 28 million index entries. In the first rolls of 1855 there are just over 1 million entries, and in 1930 there were 2.5 million names. Between 1855 and 1930 Scotland’s population grew from over 3 million to 4.8 million.

New Queensferry Crossing

I had the pleasure of going over the New Queensferry Crossing this week. Despite the speed restrictions still in place, it was an amazing journey going over this bridge looking over the left and viewing the Forth Road Bridge and Rail Bridge. Who could fail to be impressed! If you were caught up in traffic spare a thought for those of us that used to have to go by ferry from just below the Rail bridge!