Happy New Year for 2020!

So that's another year passed, and we're heading into 2020 - thanks to all who have read this blog and apologies for occasional disruptions in service, it has been yet another fairly busy year!

In addition to having two books published, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (Second Edition) and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, I have had one of my busiest years ever on the client work front, with many fascinating commissions including a house history for a property in Ayrshire dating back to the mid-17th century, and several Brexit related queries concerning the location of Irish records for passport applications.

I have also led four Scottish themed courses for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com) throughout the year, written countless articles for publications in Scotland, England and Canada, and given many talks, including one in Manchester and another at my former university in Glasgow (Strathclyde), which was a lot of fun.

In addition, I spent a couple of months in the middle of the year working yet again as a caseworker, this time for a member of the UK parliament, following last year's 12 month stint working in a similar role for a member of our Scottish Parliament. This is a job which at times can be emotionally demanding in dealing with some very serious problems faced by people in everyday life, and as we move into 2020, I would again point you to a post I put up before Christmas with links to many organisations and people in Scotland and rUK who can help in crisis situations – you can find this at https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2019/12/support-helplines-over-festive-period.html. (In fact, I might just add a new page to the top of this blog and make that a more permanent feature.) On the personal front I have been caught up for the last two years in a fairly horrendous situation of my own, which has certainly taken its toll, but which should thankfully be hopefully resolved in the next few months. Partly as a consequence of this I have recently moved to Irvine, and am thoroughly enjoying life in my new home, with my family and with many good friends nearby.

So, 2020 then, what's the craic?!!! Well, I have recently turned down the offer of another caseworker position, which I may well regret, and have instead decided to go full pelter again on the genie front, which I certainly won't! On that front, I am currently proofing my next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, to be released in April, and am already in the middle of writing my next book, Sharing Your Family History on the Internet, which is turning into a lot more fun than I was expecting!

These will be followed by two Irish themed books, one specifically for the north and the other on an all island based subject which I hope will be of interest. The first of these will be delivered towards the end of this year, for publication in 2021, with the next on the cards for writing in 2021.

On the research front I have a few clients ongoing through my research service (www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk), with the Christmas rush as a recent priority for some clients meaning a few delays for others, which I will try to resolve in the next month or so. One thing I am hoping to push a bit more is house history work in Scotland, because the records are just so much fun to dissect, but I'll be predominantly continuing with Scottish based family history research, with occasional forays into Ireland. Check my website for rates, T&Cs, etc.

I am also heading back overseas for the first time since 2017, and then some! In July I am very much looking forward to visiting Illinois for the Celtic Connections conference; you can see my list of talks at www.celtic-connections.org/ccc_speakers.html, along with a note of other speakers' offerings - it's going to be a great event! Then in September I am heading back to Kelowna, British Columbia, for a conference organised by Kelowna & District Genealogical Society (www.kdgs.ca). I have not spoken to this society before, but I did fly to Kelowna on my way to an event in Vernon a few years back, and it's a wonderful part of the world.

Then in October comes the biggie, where I will be teaching the week long Irish strand of the ISBGFH's 'British Institute' in Salt Lake City, which will be fun. Keep an eye out on the society's site at https://isbgfh.org for further details in due course. Although I have been working as a genie now for 15 years, you may be surprised to know that this will be my first trip to Salt Lake City as a genealogist – the one and only time I have been there before was when working on a documentary series for Scottish Television in 1999, so I am finally hoping to work out the lay of the land there in genealogy terms this time. I am also currently discussing participation in a couple of other major events, which should hopefully be confirmed and announced soon.

Also on the tuition front I will be continuing with the two Pharos Scottish themed courses (originally written by Sherry Irvine), Scottish Research Online and Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, with the dates listed at www.pharostutors.com/coursesmainsd.php. And I'll keep trying to bring you news as and when I get it! (If you want to share any stories, or announce events you might be organising in Scotland, the rest of the UK or Ireland, drop me a note at chrismpaton @ outlook.com, I'm only too happy to oblige).

All that is left for me to say now is to enjoy Hogmanay, and I will see you on the other side - Happy New Year / Bliadhna Mhath Ùr / Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh!

PS: Thanks to MyHeritage for my Christmas blanket!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Back soon folks!

Apologies for the ongoing lack of posting. Having now moved to Irvine, my new internet package does not kick in until next week, so I am saving my phone data for more important things just now, such as my next Pharos course chat session at the weekend.

In the meantime though, amongst all the box unpacking, I have managed to start getting back into some work. Last week I gave a talk to Central Scotland FHS (www.csfhs.org.uk) on tracing Scottish resources prior to 1800, on the night beforte the great migration, which was well received. I then visited Ayrshire Archives (www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk) at the Townhouse in Irvine a couple of days ago to get a sense of local holdings, and yesterday had the pleasure to speak at my former university, the University of Strathclyde, to discuss with the postgraduate students there on the genealogy courses how I make a living as a family historian, emphasising that there are many ways to do so. Following this we had a great meal in Glasgow last night (below) – thanks to Tahitia, Ali, Graham, Linda, Judith and all the students who put up with me!

For more on the genie courses at Strathclyde, visit www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/centreforlifelonglearning/genealogy.

Blogging services will resume soon!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr - Onwards and Upwards for 2019!

So there goes 2018.

For many reasons, 2018 was the year from hell on a personal front that I want to quickly forget, with serious challenges I never dreamed I would ever have to deal with, but it was also a year of great opportunities and achievements - not least of which the fact that my eldest son has now started at university in Dundee, and is having a ball!

Throughout the whole of 2018 I worked as a caseworker for an Ayrshire based member of the Scottish Parliament, Ruth Maguire. This was a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging role combining research skills and day to day problem solving for constituents on a variety of issues, providing a real insight into some of the very serious challenges faced by people from all walks of life. There were many highlights in dealing with the local authority and our local health board, and some light moments and personal delights (including hearing a speech I had drafted in Gaelic delivered within our Parliament at Holyrood!). After twelve full on months I have now decided to move on, but I want to express a huge thank you to Ruth for being such a fab boss – Ayrshire is incredibly lucky to have her fighting its corner, and I look forward to chapping doors for her again soon.

Throughout this year I also continued my genealogy work, delivering many articles for Family Tree, Who Do You Think You Are? and Discover my Ancestors magazines, teaching Scottish themed courses through Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, and giving occasional talks to societies across the country. I am currently working on a much needed second edition of my Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet book for Pen and Sword, with a lot of developments having happened since the first edition appeared way back in 2013. This blog also recently received its 6 millionth page view, but there's still more to be done!

The one major casualty of 2018 was client research, following a necessary decision to switch to full time work in February from what had been initially a part-time position. As of mid-January 2019, however, I will be returning to full self-employment as a genealogist for the foreseeable future, and itching to get stuck back in again. If you have been trying to secure my services on this front for the last few months, my sincere apologies that I was unable to take on the work, but I will soon be available for anyone who requires any research to be carried out in Scotland. My Scotland's Greatest Story research service details are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.

I am also toying with a few new innovations for 2019, the first of which I can announce now – the new The GENES Blog account on Twitter. Until now I have been tweeting from @chrismpaton, but I tend to tweet as much about politics these days as I do genealogy, and so have now decided to split my online presence on each front. The new account is accessible at @GenesBlog (www.twitter.com/GenesBlog) – feel free to sign up!

On top of this, I am toying with putting together a short Irish genealogy course, or courses, as well as a few other ideas, but more on that soon... :)

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr / Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh (Happy New Year), and onwards and upwards for 2019 – only one life, and fortune favours the bold!

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

New part-time job, but business as usual!

As of this week I have taken on a new part-time job, three days a week from Mondays to Wednesdays, working as a case worker for an elected constituency member of the Scottish Parliament. From Thursdays to Saturdays I will be back in genie mode, although I will keep the blog updated throughout the week.

I don't foresee any major changes to the routine just now, just a slight re-ordering of how my workload is organised. Client research work will continue (I was at the Burns Monument Centre yesterday in Kilmarnock, and so impressed that they now have free complimentary tea and coffee!), as well as writing, tuition and lecturing.

My new part-time post gives me an opportunity to continue to support my fellow constituents here in North Ayrshire (I stood in a local election last year and narrowly lost), and I will be working with a great team. The new routine allows me to tap into both my key interests - local politics and genealogy - and in a much more focussed way, so I am very much looking forward to the months and years ahead!

Chris

Needing a Christmas present for a family history obsessed love one (or for yourself)?! For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.