Genealogy Research by Clare Wilson

DEVELOPING A PASSION FOR GENEALOGY By Clare Wilson

Family history research has spiked since the lockdown and has seen people taking up the hobby as a way to fill their time.

I started my own research 16 years ago to help pass the cold dark winters having always been curious about finding out more about my roots.

My first task was to visit family members who were able to pass on information left by previous generations along with old photographs and documents. I must advise if you are thinking about taking up this hobby don’t leave this too late, otherwise your relatives may be gone along with the information they could have passed you!

Armed with this information I quickly realised how addictive the hobby can be as I searched my way through birth, marriage and death entries, wills and census returns and before

I knew it the winter had passed quicker than usual.

Better weather always brings a new opportunity to search for gravestones or visit the towns where ancestors lived. In some ways this means you get to visit places that perhaps you would never have otherwise visited. More recently

I have been researching my Smith, Paterson,

Ross and Troup ancestors in the Banff and

Forglen areas which gives the perfect excuse for weekends away!

I would definitely recommend joining a Family

History Society as most have their own office loaded with records and books that as a member you can access for free. Most hold 34

Elizabeth Smith Born 1840 in Banff.

regular meetings with speakers which is a good way to learn more about a variety of family history topics and it’s a good way to meet likeminded people. As your knowledge progresses you start to dig further by searching in newspapers, directories, military records, maps and any other interesting records housed in local libraries or archives. This is what adds character to these family members.

Great Grandmother Hind with Siblings from Paisley.

Great Grandfather Mather from Tillicoultry.

One thing I never tire of is sitting in an archive looking through an old document or book that’s 100+ years old and seeing my ancestor’s signature…it’s amazing to think that at one time they leant over the same book. After several years researching I decided to take my passion further and after taking several evening classes at a nearby University I began to study the subject at Post Graduate level. This opened up so many more records to me as did the knowledge of how to document sources correctly and hunt down elusive records. It’s been a worthwhile journey and a topic that has become a passion, so much so that it is now my full-time career! As a Professional Genealogist with Treehouse Genealogy I now carry out family history research for clients worldwide which can involve anything from complete family trees to single ancestor studies, house and place research and military research. I even get to share my passion by taking beginners’ workshops with community groups. Over the years I have also developed a special interest in researching local murders and men from throughout the Commonwealth who served with Bomber Command during WW2. This year I set up a project called ‘Kilted Ancestors’ as a way for those with Scottish ancestry to share stories from their families,

you can find this Facebook group @KiltedAncestors

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