Borders Family History Society

Come and Visit Us at Bygone Borderlands This Weekend (18 & 19 May)

2013-05-14T11:35:00.002+01:00

This weekend, 18 and 19 May, there’s a local and family history weekend organised by Berwick Record Office celebrating the heritage of the Scottish and English Borders and commemorating the battle of Flodden in 1513.

The weekend event is called Bygone Borderlands and takes place in the Guildhall, Berwick on Tweed, England.

On Saturday it runs from 10am to 4pm and on Sunday from 11am to 4pm.

This is a very popular event with displays about the history of North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, talks and exhibitors.

Saturday’s talks are:

10.15 An Introduction to the Battle of Flodden Chris Burgess
11.00 Rebuilding Berwick’s Town Hall – recent discoveries Jim Herbert
12.00 A Glimpse into the Archives at Paxton House Martha Andrews and Chris Pawson
1.00 Wilson’s Tales of the Borders : Berwick’s Forgotten Heritage. The Tales; The Man and their historic context Andrew Ayre
2.00 James IV – who was he? Matthew Rooke
3.00 Family History Resources in the Berwick Record Office and the Heritage Hub at Hawick Linda Bankier and Paul Brough

Sunday’s talks are:

11.15 An Introduction to the Battle of Flodden Chris Burgess
12.00 Women and the Battle of Flodden Clive Hallam Baker
1.00 Berwick’s Medieval Walls Jim Herbert
2.00 Mauchlineware and Flodden Jane Bowen
3.00 The Alnwick Muster Roll, February 1514 Chris Hunwick, Archivist to the Duke of Northumberland

There'll be an archaeological tour of the jail area of the Town Hall, led by Jim Herbert at 12 noon on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday.

Exhibitors include:

Borders Family History Society
Glendale Local History Society
Lowick Heritage Group
Northumberland and Durham Family History Society
Norham and Ladykirk Local History Society
Old Parish of Bamburgh

Entry is free and tasty refreshments will be available.

Discount on Annual Subscriptions to the British Newspaper Archive

2013-05-10T22:25:00.001+01:00

I've commented several times about how useful newspapers are in fleshing out your family history and in my case, at least, in discovering new ancestors.

See

Lots of other British newspapers can be found in the British Newspaper Archive.

If you come to our History Fair in Galashiels on Saturday, 11th May, you can get 15% off the British Newspaper Archive's annual subscription saving you almost £12.

Entrance to the fair is free !

Did Your Ancestors Migrate to Britain in the 19th Century ?

2013-05-10T21:57:00.001+01:00

The English National Archives has announced a collection of 7,000 naturalisation records about foreigners who settled in Britain and who became British citizens through the process of naturalisation. Although there are some records for the period 1801 to 1843, the bulk of the records date from 1844 to 1871; 1844 being the date of the Naturalisation Act which required foreigners residing in Great Britain with intent to settle to send a memorial to the Secretary of State stating their age, trade and duration of residence. There's an example image of a memorial for Paul Julius Reuter , a guide to naturalisation and British citizenship and a lot more on their blog.

Information on these records may provide nationality, occupation, family details, date and place of birth, year arrived in Britain, address, character references.

I haven't found any ancestors or family members in the records but that's probably because they immigrated in the 18th or 20th centuries.

Search the 19th century immigrant naturalisation records for yourself.

ScotlandsPeople working on Digitising the 1895 Scottish Valuation Rolls

2013-05-08T21:58:00.001+01:00

ScotlandsPeople's newsletter today announced that they're currently working on digitising the 1895 Scottish Valuation Rolls and they will be launched soon on their website.

These Valuation Rolls could help you to corroborate information about people in the 1891 census. The 1905 Valuation Rolls and the 1915 Valuation Rolls are already available.

They're looking for people whose ancestors appear in the 1891 Census, but have disappeared from that address in the 1901 Census so that they can cite them as interesting examples when they launch the 1895 Valuation Rolls.

They'll try and find those ancestors for you, by searching the 1895 Valuation Rolls.

So if you think that the 1895 Valuation Rolls might well contain a missing ancestor of yours, then please drop them a brief email at press AT scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

Come and see ScotlandsPeople at our History Fair on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

Family History Conference and Fair - Online Booking about to Close

2013-05-06T22:16:00.001+01:00

Please note that online booking for our Family History Conference and Fair has closed.

More information about the Conference programme.

Less than a Week to our Family History Conference and Fair

2013-05-04T22:55:00.002+01:00

If you’re reading this blog for the first time, you might not be aware that our big day is next Saturday, 11^th May when we’re holding a family history conference (delegates only - online booking has closed) and a history fair. Admission to the history fair(family history, local history, social history) is free. The conference starts at 9am and the fair at 10am and both events finish at 4pm. Both events take place at the Scottish Borders Campus (and Heriot-Watt University), Nether Rd, Galashiels, Scotland, TD1 3HE. We have an interesting group of 6 speakers for the conference.

From early modern times, people from Scotland were on the move to England and all over Europe, but from the late 17th century they sought new trading and emigration opportunities across the Atlantic in North America. Within a couple of generations, their outreach extended around the world. In his talk ‘Scotland and Migration’, Dr Wotherspoon will explore why people left Scotland, what they achieved and talk about their legacy.

Shepherds and livestock sellers needed to replenish their herds and sell at markets, and move them between summer and winter pastures. Before the advent of metalled roads and trains, the only way to do this was on foot along well-known routes near pasture and with water available. These routes were known as drove roads but many have disappeared over time. Dr Ian Roberts will be talking about droving and drove roads in Northumberland.

Ken Nisbet will be discussing emigration and immigration records on the internet and Andrew Armstrong will be exploring the Buccleuch Archives.

Jenny Bruce is both an accomplished artist and has been doing research into her native county, Caithness. She'll be talking about Border shepherds who went to Caithness, some presumably walking their flocks there over drove roads. She has an exhibition with photographs of the shepherds, their families, maps and photographs of Caithness and Sutherland, famous collie dogs and Thomas Telford and she’ll be promoting her new book, a Genealogy of the Border families.

Sheila Asante will be talking about some of the migration stories at the National Portrait Gallery, discussing interesting objects and what they tell us about Scotland's migration history.

For those of you coming to the fair, there are now 40 exhibitors including Family Search, ScotlandsPeople, ScotlandsDNA, DeceasedOnline, the British Newspaper Archive, local archives and Scottish and English family history societies.

It’s quite common for exhibitors at fairs to have special offers on the day so remember to put a bit extra in your wallet or purse. It’s also a good time to join those family history societies that cover the areas in which your ancestors lived.

There’s an optional talk, 'The Heritage Hub and Developments in Archives', at lunchtime for fair visitors by Paul Brough, the new Archivist at the Hawick Heritage Hub. Paul was previously Family History Archivist for Highland Council. He will outline the changes which are altering the way family history is approached in Scotland, with particular reference to the Hub and the Scottish Borders. Attendance is limited to about 30 and there’s a charge of £2.50 for the talk.

It’s first come, first served, so book for the talk when you come in.

We’ll have 2 prize quizzes; a picture quiz and anagrams of Scottish Castles.

I hope to see you there !

Please note online booking ends on 6 May.

Paxton House Exhibition

2013-04-25T21:45:00.000+01:00

Servants – emerging from the Shadows”

Paxton House 21^st April to 31^st October 2013.

Stories of Drunken Butlers, Fat Cooks and Wayward Dairymaids

My attention has been drawn to what looks like a most interesting exhibition at Paxton House near Berwick (below)

Paxton House

In Country House like Paxton there is usually ample evidence of the lives of the owners and their families. The lives of their servants are less well documented. However in the writings, wages books and household account ledgers of the Home family there are valuable fragments of information. When these are put together, the working lives and characters those who served the Home family in their various houses, begin to emerge from the shadows.

As well as hard facts such as rates of pay, terms of employment, cost of uniforms and servants perks, there are more personal glimpses of the people themselves; the butler who struggled with alcoholism was given a second chance after stealing his masters whisky but finally “let go” after drinking the “spirits of wine” or “ meths” for the lamps; the coachman who fared better, avoiding the sack by joining the Temperance Society and was still in the Home’s employment 10 years later.

Several of the servants stayed with the family for many years, rising from footman to butler or housemaid to housekeeper. Mrs Robb, the Housekeeper eventually left to marry an elderly potato merchant from Fife. “He’s no much to look at” but “he will leave me very comfortable.”

Some of the most exciting finds were photographs although usually the servants are on the sidelines of a photograph in the family album. There are grooms holding horses, a coachman seated on the carriage and nursemaids and governesses with the children. The Paxton gamekeeper is pictured with his dog, and the rather homely dairymaid with a bucket and her ginger cat. In some cases the names are known but sadly, most are anonymous.

An exhibition well worth a visit.

Ronald Morrison

Bygone Borderlands 2013

2013-04-22T00:49:00.002+01:00

The weekend after we host the 24th Annual SAFHS Conference and Family History and Local History Fair on
11 May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland; Berwick Record Office are holding their annual event, Bygone Borderlands, on 18 and 19 May 2013 in the Guildhall, Berwick on Tweed, England.

This is a very popular event with displays about the history of North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, talks and exhibitors.

The talks include

Introduction to the Battle of Flodden
Women and the Battle of Flodden
Berwick’s Medieval Walls
History of the Guildhall

Exhibitors include

Borders Family History Society
Glendale Local History Society
Lowick Heritage Group
Norham and Ladykirk Local History Society
Old Parish of Bamburgh

Entry is free and tasty refreshments will be available.

Opening hours are Saturday, 10am to 4pm and Sunday. 11am to 4pm.

More information from Linda Bankier on 01289 301865.

Remember, this is the weekend after our conference.

Online booking for our conference has closed.

Free Access to Marriage Records on Ancestry until Midnight Sunday 21st April

2013-04-20T22:42:00.002+01:00

Ancestry is offering free access to its marriage records until midnight on Sunday.

As usual, you'll need to register or log in.

Book now for our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

Migration away from and back to Scotland

2013-04-14T12:21:00.001+01:00

Maybe it’s because I have so many family members who lived abroad for long periods or who emigrated that I find migration so interesting; as I demonstrated at my talk, Useful Free Websites for Family History Research on 24th March, I seem to have uncovered ancestors and cousins who lived in Spain and France.

It’s more difficult to find out about people that live abroad partly because we don’t know where to look and partly because most of us don’t know the local and social history of foreign countries.

That’s why I think it’s appropriate that Migration is the theme of our Family History and Local and Social History conference and fair at the Scottish Borders Campus, Galashiels, Scotland on 11th May. As well as the opportunity to hear inspirational speakers on different aspects of migration, there’ll be internet access and the opportunity to get help with your family and local history problems with advice provided by the Hawick Heritage Hub, Scotland’s People, Graham Maxwell Ancestry, Family Search, and ourselves.

Also there are 20 family history societies coming from around the UK and I’m sure they will be happy to help you with a problem relating to the area they cover. There are more details on the Conference and you can also book online until 6th May.

More On Charlotte Wintrup's Boots

2013-04-13T10:15:00.002+01:00

Regarding Charlotte Wintrup's boots, no Wintrup descendants have contacted me yet.

Gwen Stein has done some research. The gravediggers' book shows that Charlotte was buried on 19th May 1876 in Kirklands churchyard, Innerleithen. It's not in our Innerleithen Monumental Inscriptions CD because there's no gravestone at her grave.

In the 1881 Census, James Wintrup was shown living at 13 Woodside Place, Galashiels, and his occupation was General Labourer. There were 7 children: Margaret, aged 26; Mary R, aged 21; William, 19; Thomas, aged 16; James, aged 14; all of whom were millworkers and Mary Ann, aged 10 and George, aged 6. George was born in Innerleithen; all the other children were born in the parish of Melrose.

There's also a John Wintrup, a groom and domestic servant employed in the household of Dr John D. Cox who lived at Hillend, Innerleithen and Gwen thinks this John Wintrup might have been Charlotte's eldest brother. Dr Cox was a poor carriage driver and particularly for night calls he would have needed a coachman.

I've found James Wintrup, Charlotte's father, an agricultural labourer living at Bridgend (Melrose) in the 1861 census, and as a baker living at Leaderfoot Mill in 1851 census.

Charlotte's boots were bought from an antique dealer in Michigan, so perhaps one of the Wintrups emigrated to America, possibly even to the Michigan area.

Are you related to those Wintrups ? If you are, please get in touch, either at Old Gala House or via our Contacts page selecting the Contact Type 'Border Telegraph'.

Online booking for our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland has closed.

Migrants in American Newspapers

2013-04-10T17:10:00.003+01:00

With our Migration-themed conference and family history and local history fair in Galashiels, Scotland on 11th May, just over a month away, we're finding more ways to find information on migrants.

Marjorie Gavin found free online access to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1841 to 1955 useful.

The parent website, Fulton History, has almost 22 million pages from newspapers published in New York state, USA between 1795 and 2007, and I've found over 50 articles about my (until now, mysterious) great-uncle Arthur who emigrated to New York in the 1890s.

Online booking for our conference has closed.

Charlotte Wintrup's Boots

2013-04-01T05:28:00.000+01:00

Laurie Williams from Colorado, USA, wrote to me about a pair of 137 year old boots her father bought from an antique dealer in Michigan 35 years ago. These small hand crafted boots were owned by a little girl named Charlotte Wintrup who died at 4 years old in Walkerburn. The antique dealer was cleaning the boots one day and discovered a small note in the toe of one of the boots. It was written by the little girl's father, James Wintrup.
It reads, in his hand writing:
"This is to certifie that these little boots was the last that my little Dear Charlotte Wintrup wore while hear on this Earth & it is hur Fathers wish they will not be worn by no won while they are as a token of Rememberance of my Dear Little Daughter who died at Walkerburn on the 19th May 1876 Aged 4 years & 2 months, James Wintrup hur loving Father".

The boots moved from place to place across the USA as her family moved. Back in 1978, her father accepted a job in the Middle East and although many of the antiques her father and mother had collected, as well as all their household furniture, were lost in a warehouse fire, Charlotte's boots had been stored with her grandmother and they were spared from the fire !

Charlotte was born in Galashiels. Her father was James Wintrup, son of John Wintrup and Margaret Gray. He was born about 1829 in Kelso and died 20th March 1896 in Galashiels. Charlotte's mother was Charlotte Brown, born in 1832 in Darnick and she passed away in Galashiels on 25th November 1882. According to the census, the family were millworkers in Galashiels. Are you related to those Wintrups ? If you are, please get in touch, either at Old Gala House or via our Contacts page selecting the Contact Type 'Border Telegraph'.

Book now for our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

Free Access to 1901 and 1911 UK Census Collection Until 1st April

2013-03-30T20:19:00.000Z

Ancestry's Easter offer is for free access to 1901 and 1911 censuses for the UK until one minute before midnight on 1st April.

As well as England, Scotland and Wales this includes Isle of Man and Channel Islands censuses.

There's no access to the images for Scottish censuses, but images are available for the others.

Search 1901 and 1911 censuses now.

(My thanks to Marjorie Gavin for the tip-off.)

My Talk, Useful Free Websites for Family History Research, Today, Will Take Place

2013-03-24T10:30:00.003Z

My talk, today, about Useful Free Websites for Family History Research will be taking place as planned in the Volunteer Hall, St John Street, Galashiels, TD1 3JX.

There will also be an exhibition of photographs that will help you date your own photographs. This exhibition is based on a collection of 19th century photos donated to the society by Douglas Bain and collated and researched by Ian and Morag Carter and laminated by Davina Smart.

Unlike many people in Cumbria, Dumfriesshire, and other parts of Scotland, the Borders seems to have escaped most of the snow.
The Met Office website says that no severe weather warnings have been issued for soth-west Scotland, Lothian or the Borders.
Main roads to Galashiels are free of snow, though there may be the remnants of snow on roadsides.
The traffic cameras at Soutra, Earlston, Hawick, Terrona, Houndwood, Carter Bar and Mosspaul all show snow-free roads.

There's no snow at St Boswells though the Eildon Hills look very pretty with their scattering of snow from last week,

It is still cold and the strong winds have eased a bit.

So I hope to see you at today's talk but I quite understand if you don't feel like travelling to Galashiels.

Please don't travel if the conditions are worse where you are and please don't take risks.

Survey for Wha's Like Us ?

2013-03-20T15:57:00.000Z

Stirling Council's Libraries, Information and Archives are in the planning stages of Wha's Like Us? - a family history event in 2014. They are planning a fun interactive event that will give attendees a chance to meet other people interested in family history research and will include a lively selection of talks and workshops by local and national experts, aimed at unearthing the stories and experiences of this kind of research.

Answering the Wha's Like Us? survey commits you to nothing but offers you the opportunity to get details of the event via email.

This year, come to our Migration themed Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

Free Access to Passenger Lists, Border Crossings and Passports

2013-03-16T11:58:00.003Z

To celebrate St Patrick's Day, Ancestry is offering free access to their collections of passenger lists, border crossings and passports this weekend (presumably till midnight US time on Sunday).

Search Passenger Lists.

Search Border Crossings and Passports.

There's also a video 'Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Back to the Homeland'.

If you're interested in migrants, come to our Migration themed Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

Useful Free Websites for Family History Research

2013-03-15T20:56:00.002Z

How much do you know about your great grandfather or another member of the family in his generation ? Or, if he was recently alive, somebody in the previous generation ? Family history is about much more than dates and places of birth, baptism, marriage and death, it is about their and their family’s lives, what they did at work, their interests, the history of the period in which they lived and so on. However, unless yours is one of the few families that kept meticulous journals, you probably won’t know much about them.

I’m giving the Society’s next talk on March 24th. This talk is being held in the Volunteer Hall, St John St, Galashiels, so that we can have internet access for me to demonstrate the use of websites for my talk. Even for those that are experienced users, I hope to show things you haven’t previously considered. I want to encourage you to broaden your family history research so I’m going to demonstrate some search techniques and show some useful free websites, drawing upon my family tree. My family tree seems to have so many 'brick walls' that I have reason to hope that I can help you overcome some of yours.

There is another reason for coming along and that is to see an exhibition of photographs that will help people date their own photographs. This exhibition is based on a collection of 19th century photos donated to the society by Douglas Bain and collated and researched by Ian and Morag Carter.

If you need advice about any aspect of your family history, please do ask.

As usual, the doors will open at 2.00pm and the talk starts at 2.30pm.

Admission is free and we’ll have usual sales tables and refreshments (donations welcome) after the talk. I hope to see you there. Map.

As always, there’s a remote possibility that the speaker will need to be changed at the last minute. Where possible, we’ll put changes on our What’s On programme.

Book now for our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

An Independent Scotland and the European Union

2013-03-13T23:47:00.001Z

I went to a very interesting seminar this evening at the Royal Society of Edinburgh - the first of a series titled 'Enlightening the Constitutional Debate'.

Next year, in the autumn, Scotland will get a referendum to decide whether to become an independent nation again, and this seminar was part of 10 leading up to the referendum.

Few Scots were permitted to determine the union of the parliaments, over 300 years ago in 1707 and I've wondered which way my ancestors would have voted if they had had the choice. Like most people I haven't got that far back in my family history so the question is moot. My maternal grandparents, who died more than 20 years ago were fiercely divided about the independence question.

This evening was about Scotland and the European Union (EU). The Royal Society's president, Sir John Peebles Arbuthnott opened the proceedings and the seminar was presented by Prof Diana Panke, Professor of Political Science, University of Freiburg; Prof Neil Walker, Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, University of Edinburgh; Graham Avery, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford & European Policy Centre, Brussels and chaired by Peter Jones, a freelance journalist for The Scotsman, The Economist and The Times. There were about 160 people present and Sir John Arbuthnott said that they could have filled the rooms twice over.

We heard from the presenters about the legal position regarding Scottish membership of the EU and the terms and political issues; the process by which and independent Scotland would become an EU member state and the influence of small states in the EU.

The proceedings and the questions videoed and will be made available on the Royal Society of Edinburgh's website, and this will happen for future events too.

I met people from The Czech Republic and Poland, and I heard French and Spanish being spoken so clearly this decision is important not just for the Scots but also for our immigrants, too.

If you're interested in family or local history or migration, take part in our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

Finding Your Irish Roots

2013-03-03T23:44:00.001Z

There’s a new charitable organisation, Ireland Reaching Out, set up by the Irish government to boost tourism (or as they say to welcome home the Irish diaspora to their ancestral parishes) by encouraging people of Irish extraction to find out about their roots.

One of their main aims is to identify people who left Ireland, and trace them and their descendants worldwide and their other main aim is to help people researching their Irish ancestry to find an elusive gravestone, the location of their ancestor’s dwelling, make contact with living relatives or discover more about a community.

They’ve recruited an army of volunteers covering over 500 Irish parishes and they’re offering their services free but they offer the opportunity to make a donation too. It’s organised at the parish level so you need to know which parish an ancestor came from, and then you can register and add details about the ancestor that you want to research. There are links to family history societies, archives, and other resources.

Whatever the origin of your roots, find out more from the exhibitors at our family and local history fair on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

The History of Ayton and other Personal Recollections

2013-02-25T20:01:00.000Z

That's the title of a new 48 page booklet in card covers published by
Ayton Local History Society.

It includes contributions by several local inhabitants including extracts from the works of T Ramsay Turner, a local builder, kirk elder and flower show enthusiast who was born in Ayton, Berwickshire, in 1904. Some of his writings have already been published but included in this edition for the first time are chapters on the Volunteer Hall, Netherbyres Mill, School Memories and ‘bidding the toon’ the custom of informing residents of funeral arrangements in the village. There are also accounts by an unknown author entitled ‘Happy Childhood - Reminiscence of 1876’ talking of visits to the local gas works where ‘John the Gas’ would tell ghost stories. Also included is a poem by Robert Mennon, and photographs of the
village from before 1880 to the 1960s.

Cost £3 plus postage: UK 69p, EU £2.70, rest of world (air mail) £3.30, rest of world (surface mail).

Order from Mary Thomson at 64 Talisman Avenue, Galashiels, TD1 2DL, Scotland, or via our Contacts page using the contact type Order for Publications.

Come to our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.

February 2013 50-50 Club Draw Results - Jackpot Prize Not Yet Won

2013-02-25T14:27:00.003Z

The letters drawn yesterday in the February 2013 draw were R, P, L.

There were no winners.

The jackpot, the 1st Prize Fund, stands at £137.50, and the 2nd prize fund at £82.25.

It costs only £1 per month to have a chance of winning.

It also helps to strengthen our Premises Fund because 50p per month from each stake goes into our Premises Fund.

Find out more and join our 50-50 Club.

How to Research Buccleuch Farm Rental Records by Andrew Armstrong

2013-02-20T23:57:00.003Z

Our next meeting is our next meeting is on Sunday 24th February at 2.30pm in the Corn Exchange in Melrose, when Andrew Armstrong will be advising us how to research Buccleuch Farm rental records. These records of the Buccleuch Estates provide an excellent and little known source for family historians with an interest in the Scottish Borders, Dumfriesshire and parts of Midlothian.

Contrary to the widely held view that the rentals simply provide a list of names, Andrew will provide an insight into how much more can be found in the records and how they can help trace families in pre-census times, going back as far as the early 17th century.

I think this will be a fascinating talk. I've certainly found interesting information in these estate records that helped me when I wrote the Introduction to the Poor Law. I also found a letter from my 2 greats grandfather, John Munro, turning down an offer of employment as a joiner because the wage was insufficient. Instead, John became a joiner on the Mackintosh of Mackintosh’s estate who had offered 20% more money as well as other benefits and he remained there until he retired, having been promoted several times, finishing as estate manager. In other estates' records, I've found application letters for employment as a factor, receipts for wages, lists of duties to be performed, and wage bills.

If you need advice about any aspect of your family history, please do ask. As always, there’s a remote possibility that the speaker will need to be changed at the last minute.

As usual, the doors will open at 2.00pm and the talk starts at 2.30pm.

Admission is free and we’ll have usual sales tables and refreshments after the talk. I hope to see you there. Map.

February Magazine

2013-02-12T23:02:00.000Z

The February edition of the magazine is now with the printers and in the normal course of events members in G.B. should expect to receive their copy some time around the end of this month. For overseas members, unless they have opted to receive their magazine by air mail, granted the speed of surface mail it will probably be some weeks, even in some cases months, before their copy comes thudding through the letterbox.

However quite a number of members - those who have opted to receive their magazines electronically have already received their copies.

Sending magazines electronically means a significant saving in costs to the Society and Council is keen to encourage members to receive their magazine in this way.

As an added inducement there will be additional content in the electronic version; in this issue a further 10 pages.

If anyone who elected for this option has not in fact received their magazine - also all who would like to receive future editions in this way - please let me know. Go to our Contacts page, scroll down and click on contact magazine editor.

This year on 11th. May we are of course hosting the annual Scottish Association of Family History Society Conference and associated Family History Fair. There are details in the magazine of the speakers and the various Societies and Organizations who will be at the Fair (although we do expect that there will also be a number of others).

The theme of the Conference is "Migration and Scotland" and appropriately in the magazine there are articles on families who migrated including one on a Borderer who made good after being transported to Australia for petty theft. There are also articles on a Hawick Worthy, William Wallace, a Border hanging and on the ' Dowie Dens o' Yarrow.' As ever too a number of references and snippets which we hope members will find of interest.

Included in the electronic version is an excellent article by former Society Membership Secretary, Fred Kennington on "A Journey through, Fact Fiction and Fairy Tales in the Borders"

Ronald Morrison

3 reasons to use Scottish Valuation Rolls

2013-01-28T21:06:00.004Z

Until 1855, works carried out for the benefit of the public, for example, repair of the roads, removal of refuse and soil heaps, care for the sick and relief for the unemployed poor were carried out sporadically.

Initially these works were funded by the landowners, by the Crown, and public benefactors; as towns and cities grew in the 19th century, increasingly by levying a tax on householders.

However, with no standard system for determining the rate of the tax, its frequency, or penalties for non-payment; collection was often erratic, people refused to pay, could not be found to pay, could not afford to pay; in most years, the authorities had to scale down the works or relief offered to match the sums collected.

The most used valuation rolls are lists of properties, their owners, and occupiers produced for the purposes of taxation between 1855 and 1989 by assessors in council areas.

The Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act 1854 established a system of Assessors’ offices in each county and royal burgh in Scotland. Until the abolition of counties and burghs in 1975, these Assessors produced annual valuation rolls, listing properties whose actual or theoretical annual rental value was above a statutory minimum.

Why use Valuation Rolls in your research ?
Well, mainly for 3 reasons:

to put some flesh on the bones of your family history
to help with finding people in the censuses
to check information in the census

The rolls include the address of the property, its description (cottage, dwelling house, shop, workshop, etc), the owner's name, the name of the tenant, and, in most cases, the name of the occupier, the annual rental value.

Scotland's People have announced the availability of Valuation Rolls for 1905. This adds to their collection for 1915.

The 1895 valuation rolls are expected to be released later in the year.

Alternatively, come to our conference on 11 May at Galashiels and search the rolls there on Scotland's People's stand.