Those of you who have Scottish ancestry may be interested to know that two more Scottish related databases have been added to the Ancestry.com collection.

These are – Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories) 1876-1936 and Perth and Kinross, Scotland, Electoral Registers
1832-1961.  This is the first time that the confirmations and inventories have been made available other than on the Scotlands People website; however, you will need to visit Scotlands People site for wills prior to 1876.

So, what can you expect to find on these databases?

Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories – this can be browsed by year but if looking for a particular person/family use the search box.  As with other searches you can search using a surname only, Christian (first) name only and the wild cards are also available.  You do not need to enter a date of death, place of death etc but may do so if you want to reduce your number of “hits” (start with less detail and add to it as necessary).  The results page will give you a list of names of deceased, death date and place and confirmation date.  By clicking “View Record” you will get the place of Confirmation.  The best part is when you click on “View Images”, this gives you the following – name of deceased, occupation (mainly only men), address, date and place of death, whether testate or intestate (will or not), when and where Confirmation granted, names and addresses of executors, date of will and any codicils, date recorded in Court Books (if applicable) and lastly value of the estate.

An extract from the Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories on Ancestry

If you want a copy of the confirmation, inventory and/or will you will need to use the Scotlands People website.  You register (free) and then go to the index on their site and click on the button attached to your entry of interest.  A small fee is charged and you will receive a digitised copy of the documents.  Apart from the will, inventories can be very informative some more detailed than others but you will get some idea of household goods, bank accounts, debtors/creditors etc.  Do check these indexes for Scots dying outside of Scotland as well as if they had property in Scotland then probate would have also been granted in Scotland.

There is a guide to Scottish wills on both the Scotlands People and National Records of Scotland websites – these give detailed explanations of the process of probate.

Name:	Angus Macleod
Year:	1945
Country:	Scotland
County:	Perth and Kinross
Division or Location:	Perth Division
Place of Abode:	Ferguslca, Hay Street

An extract from the Perth and Kinross, Scotland, Electoral Registers 1832-1961 on Ancestry

Perth and Kinross, Scotland, Electoral Registers 1832-1961 – this collection can be searched by county (Kinross, Perth or Perth and Kinross).  Otherwise use the search box as described above. Electoral rolls from 1920 onwards appear to only give the name of the person, address and electoral district.  However, the earlier rolls give the following – electorate, name of voter, address, occupation, qualification to vote eg occupant of house, proprietor of house and shop etc, where property is situated.
Having these available will be a great advantage for research in Scotland especially if you are unable to visit Scotland yourself.

Marie Hickey

A new title into the Central Auckland Research Centre recently is a book written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Waikato Immigration Scheme 1864-1865.

The book was published by the Clevedon and Districts Historical Society to coincide with the arrival of the Viola settlers, part of the Waikato Immigration Scheme.

Showing a stereoscopic view through trees of All Souls Church, Clevedon Heritage Images, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-8640

Title: 150th Commemoration of the Arrival of the S.S. Viola in April 1865, 29th March 2015: Commemorative Booklet
Author: Clevedon and Districts Historical Society
Subjects: Viola (Ship), Ships, Auckland, Passenger lists, Immigrants, Genealogy, Clevedon, History
Location: 2 NZL IMM AKD

Abstract from the book:

“In April 1865 a shipload of mainly Lowland Scots arrived in ignorance and hope into the depressed province of Auckland and into the depleted community of the Wairoa. They had come, recruited in advance before confiscation was even finalised, as part of the Northern Waikato Immigration Scheme. Under this scheme, two main inducements were offered to labourers and mechanics. The first was a free passage to Auckland, and free transport from Auckland to the settlement for every settler and his family. The second was free land to be surveyed at Government expense. A quarter or half-acre town grant would be given, plus a ten-acre suburban or rural grant. The immigrants were not allowed to absent themselves from the allotment and were to repay half their passage money in three years. The Viola was one of the last ships to arrive under this scheme,” – ‘Clevedon Sustainable Development Plan Project: European Historical Assessment’, p 36.


In the Research Centre, this book is reference only - but do look in our catalogue to find a borrowable near you


Happy hunting

Seonaid

The June 2015 issue of The Scottish Genealogist was delivered to my desk recently and I came across a couple of articles that may be of interest to some of you.

The first is about the Edinburgh Sweating Club; I kid you not.  First appearing in 1750, this was apparently a band of young rogues who would go out drinking in the local hostelries and at midnight would sally forth and terrorise the local populace by snatching wigs off passers-by, chasing and jostling others. It is an interesting and amusing article.

A couple of pages further on in the same issue is a list of the members of the New Associate Congregation, Edinburgh (1785).  Have a look as you may find your ancestor listed; it gives names and place of residence.

Ever wondered where your ancestor went to school?  Another article in the same magazine is titled Scottish Charity Schools in the early 18th century.  This is a list of the charity schools run by the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SPCK) dated May 1724.  It gives the date of opening, place, parish, name of School-master, number of pupils divided into boys and girls.

The July/August 2015 issue of Your Genealogy Today has an article about records of those who worked on the Panama Canal titled – Finding Grandad at the Canal!  If you have lost one of your male ancestors then perhaps this may be something to consider.  The article mentions a several records that are of help with such a search.

Marie Hickey

Ireland and Scotland

Ireland
As with many other records for Ireland, those for Poor Law can be sparse. Remember though that Ireland was under British rule until 1922; therefore, many records are held at The National Archives, England (TNA).  There is a research guide on TNA’s website about Poor Law.  After Ireland split, Northern Ireland remained under British rule with that area of Ireland remaining under the English Poor Laws.

The Irish Poor Law Act passed in 1838 was similar to the 1834 English Act.  Poor Law Unions were abolished in the Republic of Ireland (Eire) in the early 1920s and workhouses were closed accordingly; except for Dublin.  The minute books of poor law unions have mainly survived and these are held at National Archives Ireland in Dublin.

Loan funds were set up in Ireland in the early 19th century and one of these was the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund (which operated 1821-74) and gave credit to the poor without them having to provide any security. These records have recently been added to Findmypast under the Institutions and Organisations group, the record set name is: 'Ireland, Poverty Relief Funds 1821-1874' and they are name searchable.

Scotland
Prior to the passing of the Poor Law Act of 1845 the Church of Scotland had been responsible for the care of the poor and records relating to these matters can be found in the Kirk Sessions.  The Kirk Sessions have been digitised and can be viewed at National Records of Scotland (formerly National Archives of Scotland) (NRS).  These records are not currently available through the internet and Scotland’s People, nor have they been filmed.

Cases of bastardy were vigorously followed up on and it is not unusual to find testimony from what seems to be the whole village.  Payments to the poor may also be found in the Kirk Sessions.

The Act of 1845 established parochial boards and records for these boards may be found at local archives and at the National Records of Scotland. Each board kept a roll of the poor who were receiving relief.  Other records relating to the poor in Scotland are those for charitable hospitals, schools and judiciary/commissary courts (Sheriff Court post 1828) records.

An example from The National Archives, Irish Reproductive Loans Fund Records. County: Roscommon

Marie

For those of you with an interest in Scotland, you may have noticed in recent months an increase in material appearing on the shelves in the family history section at Central Auckland Research Centre. However, those of you who may not visit the Research Centre as frequently or the check the catalogue regularly from afar will have missed what we have been adding to the collection.

Auckland Libraries, Sir George Grey Special Collections, 601-2835A.

A number of local histories have been added to the collection which range from picture books to stories about a street in a town, a guide to closes, squares, lanes etc in old Dundee and a small work on the Kirk Yetholm gypsies are among the works added to local histories.

We have also purchased transcripts of parish registers, amongst which is the Lady Glenorchy Free Church baptisms 1843-1856; monumental inscriptions (gravestones), several family histories, items relating to occupations such as two on fishing in Fife.  There is also the Records of Glenprosen [Glenprossan], Angus which includes christening extracts, monumental inscriptions, entries for marriages and deaths, communion rolls and a list of subscribers to the library from 1841.  Not to be outdone, there is also the two volume work of Scottish Studio Photographers to 1914 which gives details not only of different addresses the photographers worked from but potted biographies that can include other members of the family, census returns and value of estate on death.

So if it has been a while since you checked out our Scottish collections (call number - 4 SCT) take a little time to do so and you may be lucky and find that entry that has been eluding you.

Marie 

Many of you reading this will have Scottish ancestry,  have you considered checking land records for your family? Okay, I can hear some of you saying ‘my family were too poor”.  While this may apply to England and Wales it does not necessarily apply to Scotland, so give it a try and you may be pleasantly surprised!

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19130731-50-1

One of the most used land records are the Sasines which record transfers of land and in some instances can include extracts of wills.  We recently purchased microfilms of the Sasine abridgements c1768-c1968, places index 1781-1930, people index – between 1781-1868 (date coverage varies between counties), General Register index 1617-1700.

Person Index

Place Index

To use the abridgements, first check the index.  These are often separated into years so you should check the whole of the index for the place/person of interest so you can be sure of locating all entries.  For instance, your place may be Kinross, so using the places index you may find an entry in 1831-1835 for Kinross 31, 59, 82 etc.  By going to the abridgements for this date and referring to number 31 etc you will find your entry.  The same applies to entries from the name index.