It's been a while since I've heard from the Hebrides People (www.hebridespeople.com) folk on the Isle of Harris, so it's great to be able to bring the following update from Chris Lawson of Co Leis Thu? - it's a bit lengthy, but does give both an update on new additions to the database, but also a useful case study as to how to use the site. Here goes...!
UPDATE
The immediate news is that we have now added Lochs Parish to the main data-base, so that it now includes Lochs and Stornoway parishes – the whole eastern side of Lewis - as well as Harris, bringing the total number of entries to sixty-three thousand! We were now working on the Parish of Uig, which, with a bit of luck and a lot of embrocation for my typing fingers, should be ready by the end of the autumn.
I am frequently asked how clients can get the most results from the databases , and perhaps the best explanation is to give an example. We had an enquiry recently from a client in Connecticut whose ancestor was George, a son of William and Rachel MacLeod, who had come from the Isle of Lewis in the mid-eighteen hundreds.
Most emigration from Lewis at the period was to the Eastern Townships of Quebec, near the border with the USA, from 1838 to 1863, and to Bruce County, Ontario, near Lake Huron, in the 1850s.
We can then look up the hebridespeople.com website; this is done by buying credits – minimum £10 for 10 credits, with reductions for larger quantities.
We look first in the emigrants section, of which the entry screen costs one credit. If we call up all William MacLeods on the emigration section of the data base, we find twenty-three William MacLeods – which is interesting, but not particularly useful! – but there is also a summary of the information for each. From this we can see only one that fits the details we have, so we can call up his entry. Alternatively by specifying more details on the entry screen we can call up directly any that fit.
You can see that the ease of identifying the correct person depends on the amount of starting information – there are over 350 John MacDonalds on the database, so obviously a great deal of information would be required to identify any one person of that name, whereas a Farquhar MacLennan is probably unique. Our database does not of course claim to be wholly comprehensive (though we are adding to it all the time) but it does cover all the main families we can trace in the main emigration areas.
In our case, we have identified the appropriate entry, so we can call it up, at a cost of 5 credits -
William MacLeod ; born 1813; married to Rachel Finlayson; son of Donald MacLeod and Margaret MacKenzie; left from Branahuie, Stornoway Parish, Isle of Lewis; settled in Lingwick Township, Compton County, Quebec, in 1842
The information about where they came from and where they settled is gathered from census returns both in Scotland and in Quebec, which also give us an indication of ages – neither William nor Rachel appears in the OPR for Stornoway Parish. We know from Quebec records that William and Rachel both died in 1899, but the records do not show parents’ names. However, we know from oral tradition that William was a brother of a Mrs Catherine MacLeod of Bayble, Lewis, and her death register there in 1907 shows her parents as Donald and Mary MacLeod.
There is even less formal information about Rachel – only an entry in the census of 1841, but her Gaelic patronymic is remembered as Raonaid Dhomhnaill ‘ic Sheorais – Rachel, daughter of Donald son of George – that her father was drowned when she was a young girl and that she was brought up by her uncle John Finlayson of Coll, in Lewis.
References are shown for our emigrant register – Q608 – and our Hebridean register – 8325. These refer to Family Notes and a handwritten Family Sheet, both of which can in many cases be accessed direct from the emigration database.
Alternatively, or in the case of non-emigrant families, we can then move to the main Hebridean database. This is currently available for the Parishes of Lochs and Stornoway on Lewis, and for the Parish of Harris, but other parishes are being entered as available.
Again access to the entry sheet costs one credit, and again, the more information you have, the easier it is to identify the correct entry – on this database there are already over 700 John MacDonalds, and many more to come!
Having chosen the correct entry, you can then download it for a further five credits. This will give parents, where known, spouse where appropriate, date and place of birth (though pre-1855 these may be from census records and not necessarily wholly accurate), date and place of marriage, date and place of death (if known) our family tree reference for the person and spouse, and where they have been located in appropriate census records from 1841 to 1901.
Access can also be had to Family Notes, which give earlier family history, the first generation of children, and their marriage details and references. These cost a further ten credits.
In the example we are using, we get more information about the members of the extended family of William (Ref 8325) and Rachel MacLeod - Donald MacLeod of 11/12 Branahuie is believed to have been a son of Murdo, but nothing further is known about him. He was married to Mary MacKenzie, daughter of John MacKenzie and Ann MacKinnon, with four of a family – Margaret, who did not marry; Isabella, who married Roderick MacIver of Tolsta and emigrated to the Eastern Townships of Quebec; Catherine, who married Donald MacLeod (8456) of 37 Lower Bayble, and William, who married Rachel Finlayson, daughter of Donald Finlayson (7285) of Tong, and also emigrated to the Eastern Townships of Quebec, where they were among the first settlers on the shores of Lac Megantic.
If we call up the Family Notes for Rachel’s cross-reference (7222) we find – George Finlayson of Aird Tong was a son of James Finlayson, who according to some sources came to Lewis from Lochcarron in Wester Ross in the 1750s. George Finlayson was married to Ann MacLeod, but nothing further is known about her. George had a brother John who appears in estate rentals in Tong as mac Sheumais mhic Anndra – son of James son of Andrew. George Finlayson had five of a family – John, of whom nothing further is known; Ann, who married Murdo MacIver in Quebec; Kirsty, who married John MacDonald, also in Quebec; and Donald, whose daughter Rachel married William MacLeod (8325) of Branahuie and Quebec.
Access is also available to family sheets, which are working family tree sheets, hand-written by Bill Lawson, showing the family from the earlier records to the 1920s, with cross-referencing of spouses. These also cost ten credits, so that the whole information made available costs twenty-six units (£26) – surely a bargain for the amount of information provided. If your starting information is less exact, you may have to spend more credits in making the first identification of the correct family, so the moral, as in all genealogy, is to do your homework first!
Not all researches will end up so successful as this of course – there are many cases where the source information is just not available – but perhaps this example will show what can be done.
(With thanks to Chris Lawson)
Chris
Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And please consider purchasing the great new version of Caledonia by The Libations at 79p via www.caledonia2014.com - all profits go to help fund Scottish foodbanks
Showing posts with label Hebrides People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hebrides People. Show all posts
Monday, 11 August 2014
Friday, 25 January 2013
Lewis records on HebridesPeople
More from HebridesPeople:
Northton Heritage Trust are happy to announce that the next instalment of their hebridespeople database is now available on www.hebridespeople.com The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this was followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris, including Berneray and St Kilda. Now it is the turn of the Point area of Lewis.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible – usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses’ family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 3 of the database containing 12,000 records of people connected with the Point area. It is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project has been funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Comunn na Gaidhlig, and the Heritage Lottery Fund and the website design and genealogical application is by Reefnet Ltd.
(With thanks to Bill and Chris Lawson)
Chris
Pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, through Pen and Sword (30 April 2013), or purchase early at Who Do You Think You Are Live 2013 in London. For my other genealogy books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.
Northton Heritage Trust are happy to announce that the next instalment of their hebridespeople database is now available on www.hebridespeople.com The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this was followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris, including Berneray and St Kilda. Now it is the turn of the Point area of Lewis.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible – usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses’ family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 3 of the database containing 12,000 records of people connected with the Point area. It is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project has been funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Comunn na Gaidhlig, and the Heritage Lottery Fund and the website design and genealogical application is by Reefnet Ltd.
(With thanks to Bill and Chris Lawson)
Chris
Pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, through Pen and Sword (30 April 2013), or purchase early at Who Do You Think You Are Live 2013 in London. For my other genealogy books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.
Monday, 3 December 2012
Harris families on Hebrides People
From Hebrides People (www.hebridespeople.com)
Harris families revealed!
Northton Heritage Trust is happy to announce that the second instalment of their www.hebridespeople.com database is now available. The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this has now been followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris, Berneray and St Kilda.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible – usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses’ family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 2 of the database. Stage 3, comprising the families of the Point peninsula in Lewis should be ready soon, and it is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project is funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Heritage Lottery Fund and Comunn na Gaidhlig. The website has been created and managed by Reefnet Ltd.
(With thanks to Bill and Chris Lawson)
Chris
Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...! Also now out - new Kindle edition of Tracing Your Family History on the Internet, from http://tinyurl.com/d3vqtz5
Harris families revealed!
Northton Heritage Trust is happy to announce that the second instalment of their www.hebridespeople.com database is now available. The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this has now been followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris, Berneray and St Kilda.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible – usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses’ family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 2 of the database. Stage 3, comprising the families of the Point peninsula in Lewis should be ready soon, and it is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project is funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Heritage Lottery Fund and Comunn na Gaidhlig. The website has been created and managed by Reefnet Ltd.
(With thanks to Bill and Chris Lawson)
Chris
Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...! Also now out - new Kindle edition of Tracing Your Family History on the Internet, from http://tinyurl.com/d3vqtz5
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Hebrides People adds Isle of Harris records
From the Hebrides People site (www.hebridespeople.com):
Harris families revealed!
Northton Heritage Trust is happy to announce that the second instalment of their www.hebridespeople.com database is now available. The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this has now been followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible – usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses’ family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 2 of the database. Stage 3, comprising the families of the Point peninsula in Lewis should be ready soon, and it is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project is funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Heritage Lottery Fund and Comunn na Gaidhlig. The website has been created and managed by Reefnet Ltd.
(With thanks to Bill Lawson)
Chris
Scotland 1750-1850 - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 2 NOV 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Harris families revealed!
Northton Heritage Trust is happy to announce that the second instalment of their www.hebridespeople.com database is now available. The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this has now been followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible – usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses’ family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 2 of the database. Stage 3, comprising the families of the Point peninsula in Lewis should be ready soon, and it is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project is funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Heritage Lottery Fund and Comunn na Gaidhlig. The website has been created and managed by Reefnet Ltd.
(With thanks to Bill Lawson)
Chris
Scotland 1750-1850 - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 2 NOV 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Friday, 21 September 2012
Hebrides People update
I've just received a slightly belated press release about the Hebrides People website (www.hebridespeople.com) launch earlier this year, but it will certainly be of interest to those seeking ancestral connections to the Western Isles:
It’s official! After a trial period of a few weeks, the new emigrant website www.hebridespeople.com was formally opened on Friday 20th June 2012 at Seallam! Visitor Centre in Northton, Isle of Harris, by George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
John Randall, former Registrar General and Chairman of Northton Heritage Trust, Bill Lawson, Genealogist, George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland at the launch of HebridesPeople.
As well as much other information on the Outer Hebrides and their history, the website now includes a searchable database with information on over 22,000 emigrants who left the Outer Hebrides between 1780 and 1920.
The information is drawn from the records gathered over fifty and more years by Bill Lawson, who is internationally known as the genealogist of the Outer Hebrides area. In addition to his comprehensive database of all island families, he has researched the census and other records in the main emigration areas, to identify families there of island origins.
For emigrants before the 1820s, the database information is often incomplete, reflecting the limitations of the source material at that period, but after 1820 it generally has information on spouse, parents, village of origin in the Outer Hebrides, destination overseas, date of emigration (often approximate) and on occasion the name of the emigration ship. There are also cases where it is known that families left the Outer Hebrides, but their destination is not currently known – though since new information is constantly becoming available, fuller details may be available in the next version of the database!
Although the database is primarily aimed at the overseas descendants seeking to find their family’s origin, it will also be helpful for UK researchers trying to find where emigrant relatives settled.
The website works on the system of purchasing and using credits, which is similar to that which will already be familiar to researchers on the scotlandspeople web-site. All income from the site goes to the maintenance of the resource and further development of the site, which it is hoped will eventually provide information on a quarter of a million persons from all over the Outer Hebrides!
(With thanks to Chris and Bill Lawson)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
It’s official! After a trial period of a few weeks, the new emigrant website www.hebridespeople.com was formally opened on Friday 20th June 2012 at Seallam! Visitor Centre in Northton, Isle of Harris, by George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
John Randall, former Registrar General and Chairman of Northton Heritage Trust, Bill Lawson, Genealogist, George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland at the launch of HebridesPeople.
As well as much other information on the Outer Hebrides and their history, the website now includes a searchable database with information on over 22,000 emigrants who left the Outer Hebrides between 1780 and 1920.
The information is drawn from the records gathered over fifty and more years by Bill Lawson, who is internationally known as the genealogist of the Outer Hebrides area. In addition to his comprehensive database of all island families, he has researched the census and other records in the main emigration areas, to identify families there of island origins.
For emigrants before the 1820s, the database information is often incomplete, reflecting the limitations of the source material at that period, but after 1820 it generally has information on spouse, parents, village of origin in the Outer Hebrides, destination overseas, date of emigration (often approximate) and on occasion the name of the emigration ship. There are also cases where it is known that families left the Outer Hebrides, but their destination is not currently known – though since new information is constantly becoming available, fuller details may be available in the next version of the database!
Although the database is primarily aimed at the overseas descendants seeking to find their family’s origin, it will also be helpful for UK researchers trying to find where emigrant relatives settled.
The website works on the system of purchasing and using credits, which is similar to that which will already be familiar to researchers on the scotlandspeople web-site. All income from the site goes to the maintenance of the resource and further development of the site, which it is hoped will eventually provide information on a quarter of a million persons from all over the Outer Hebrides!
Image: John Randall, Chairman of Northton Heritage Trust, Bill Lawson, Genealogist, George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland at the launch
(With thanks to Chris and Bill Lawson)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Hebrides People - official opening in Harris
From Hebrides People (www.hebridespeople.com):
It’s official! After a trial period of a few weeks, the new emigrant website www.hebridespeople.com was formally opened on Friday 20th June 2012 at Seallam! Visitor Centre in Northton, Isle of Harris, by George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
As well as much other information on the Outer Hebrides and their history, the website now includes a searchable database with information on over 22,000 emigrants who left the Outer Hebrides between 1780 and 1920.
The information is drawn from the records gathered over fifty and more years by Bill Lawson, who is internationally known as the genealogist of the Outer Hebrides area. In addition to his comprehensive database of all island families, he has researched the census and other records in the main emigration areas, to identify families there of island origins.
For emigrants before the 1820s, the database information is often incomplete, reflecting the limitations of the source material at that period, but after 1820 it generally has information on spouse, parents, village of origin in the Outer Hebrides, destination overseas, date of emigration (often approximate) and on occasion the name of the emigration ship. There are also cases where it is known that families left the Outer Hebrides, but their destination is not currently known – though since new information is constantly becoming available, fuller details may be available in the next version of the database!
Although the database is primarily aimed at the overseas descendants seeking to find their family’s origin, it will also be helpful for UK researchers trying to find where emigrant relatives settled.
The website works on the system of purchasing and using credits, which is similar to that which will already be familiar to researchers on the scotlandspeople web-site. All income from the site goes to the maintenance of the resource and further development of the site, which it is hoped will eventually provide information on a quarter of a million persons from all over the Outer Hebrides!
(With thanks to Bill and Chris Lawson)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
It’s official! After a trial period of a few weeks, the new emigrant website www.hebridespeople.com was formally opened on Friday 20th June 2012 at Seallam! Visitor Centre in Northton, Isle of Harris, by George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
As well as much other information on the Outer Hebrides and their history, the website now includes a searchable database with information on over 22,000 emigrants who left the Outer Hebrides between 1780 and 1920.
The information is drawn from the records gathered over fifty and more years by Bill Lawson, who is internationally known as the genealogist of the Outer Hebrides area. In addition to his comprehensive database of all island families, he has researched the census and other records in the main emigration areas, to identify families there of island origins.
For emigrants before the 1820s, the database information is often incomplete, reflecting the limitations of the source material at that period, but after 1820 it generally has information on spouse, parents, village of origin in the Outer Hebrides, destination overseas, date of emigration (often approximate) and on occasion the name of the emigration ship. There are also cases where it is known that families left the Outer Hebrides, but their destination is not currently known – though since new information is constantly becoming available, fuller details may be available in the next version of the database!
Although the database is primarily aimed at the overseas descendants seeking to find their family’s origin, it will also be helpful for UK researchers trying to find where emigrant relatives settled.
The website works on the system of purchasing and using credits, which is similar to that which will already be familiar to researchers on the scotlandspeople web-site. All income from the site goes to the maintenance of the resource and further development of the site, which it is hoped will eventually provide information on a quarter of a million persons from all over the Outer Hebrides!
(With thanks to Bill and Chris Lawson)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Hebrides People: Emigrants Database launch
It's taken a bit longer to come online than was at first envisaged, but the Hebrides People website's Emigrant Database, from genealogist Bill Lawson of the Co Leis Thu? service on the Isle of Harris, is now online and searchable at www.hebridespeople.com. (For the background to the project see http://scottishancestry.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/major-hebridean-project-announced.html). This release marks the start of a programme to place a quarter of a million records online for family members from the Western Isles, with later releases set to concentrate on parish based resources, starting with Harris later this year. The following is an abridged press release from Bill with some information on the creation of the Emigrants Database, and on how to access it:
Through our contacts overseas, and our own research, mainly in Canada, we have a good knowledge of the main areas to which Islanders emigrated at different times. A few must have left the islands, deported after the Jacobite rebellions, but they would have been few, and the chances of tracing them remote. The social upheavals after 1746 led to a mass migration of tacksmen and their subtenants, but this affected mainly Skye, though a few from the Outer Isles also left at the time, mainly for Carolina. An eruption of Hecla in Iceland in 1755 led to bad harvests for several years thereafter, and there was a major emigration from Lewis to the USA – to New York and Pennsylvania States – indeed the largest number of emigrants known to have left Lewis in one year was in 1772-73, when 831 emigrants are noted, though unfortunately not by name. The threat of religious persecution led to an emigration arranged by the Roman Catholic Church to Prince Edward Island, mainly from South Uist and Barra, beginnings with the Alexander in 1772. In the early 1800s, there was another move from Lewis to the Gulf Shore in Nova Scotia.
For these early emigrations, information is limited. There are a few – very few!- shipping lists and a few cemetery inscriptions, but in general our records for these emigrations depend on the information clients have been able to supply over the years. Most of these emigrants would have gone with a little capital with which to begin their new lives – and indeed the fear of the loss of their capital to Britain was one on the main reasons for later restrictions on emigration. The landlords in the Hebrides had the further fear that emigration would lose them their work force for the kelp (seaweed-processing) industry which was flourishing during the French Wars of the late 1790s and early 1800s.
Legislation was brought in, ostensibly to alleviate the overcrowding which was a problem with many of the early emigrant ships, but by increasing the amount of space and supplies required on board, it also increased the fares beyond what most would-be emigrants could raise. Nonetheless, many islanders were still able to utilise their meagre earnings from the kelp to fund emigration. The War of 1812 with the USA effectively closed that country to all but a few emigrants, and the focus of emigration changed to Cape Breton, along with continued settlement in PEI and a small number to New Brunswick.
In Cape Breton, settlers from Barra concentrated around the Barra Strait in the Bras d’Or, while South Uist went mainly to Grand Mira and the Boisdale and East Bay areas. North Uist went to Catalone, Gabarus and Mira, while Harris went to Grand River, Framboise, and St Anns. There were few settlers from Lewis at this point, and these were concentrated at Little Narrows and at St Anns. Because the early emigrants to Cape Breton tended to settle in groups, we have often been able to identify their origins from their neighbours.
With the slackening of the restriction on emigration in the 1820s came the collapse of the kelp industry, and much of the population of the Hebrides became redundant, from the point of view of their landlords. Emigration was now encouraged, and in some cases enforced, and the flow of families, to Cape Breton in particular, became a flood. Even there, there was not enough good land for all, and there were settlements in the back glens which by their very nature were short-lived, and many families had to move on to the new industrial mining centres of Glace Bay etc.
The problems in the Islands were exacerbated by potato blight in the mid-1840s, and the consequent famine. Cape Breton was suffering from the same problem, so emigration there virtually ceased. Landlords at home were faced by another problem – the new Poor Laws would make them responsible for poor relief in their own areas, so it was to their advantage that as many people left as possible. No longer was it those who could afford the fares who left – those who had lost all in the famine were forced to leave – sometimes forced by economics, and sometimes by the landlords.
The Highland and Islands Emigration Society was set up, with Government assistance, to provide assisted passages to Australia. In the Outer Hebrides, the landlords of Harris and North Uist took advantage of the Society’s help, and almost 10% of the population left for Australia between 1850 and 1860. The Society kept records of all their passengers – they hoped for repayment of the moneys they had advanced – so there are detailed passengers lists for each ship, showing where the passengers embarked and where they disembarked, though unfortunately there are no records of where they settled eventually.
The landlords of Lewis and South Uist and Barra preferred not to work with the Society, but organised their own emigrations to Canada. There had been a Lewis settlement in the Eastern Townships of Quebec since the late 1830s, and emigrants’ fares were paid either to join them, or to go further west to Bruce County, Ontario. South and North Uist families concentrated on Middlesex County and the surrounding areas of Ontario.
Because these emigrations generally took place after the first census of Scotland in 1841, it is generally possible to trace the emigrants and their families – though in Bruce County, for example, there were so many MacDonalds from the West-side of Lewis that they are still difficult to disentangle! From the 1880s, settlement in Canada moved on to the Prairies, and by this time we can be almost certain to identify families.
At the moment, the database deals with families up to 1920, though it is hoped to include the major emigrations of the 1920s in the next version of the database.
So, enjoy the database! If you are not sure how to use it, look under the heading of www.hebridespeople.com/shop/hp-products/. Basically, you buy a number of credits to let you into the system, and from there on, you can access the system by entering details of names, dates and places, if known. Do remember that the data-base is Mark 1, and an extension will follow later, so if you do not find the family you are looking for, we may still have information, so e-mail us, and we will see if we can help.
(With thanks to Bill Lawson)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Through our contacts overseas, and our own research, mainly in Canada, we have a good knowledge of the main areas to which Islanders emigrated at different times. A few must have left the islands, deported after the Jacobite rebellions, but they would have been few, and the chances of tracing them remote. The social upheavals after 1746 led to a mass migration of tacksmen and their subtenants, but this affected mainly Skye, though a few from the Outer Isles also left at the time, mainly for Carolina. An eruption of Hecla in Iceland in 1755 led to bad harvests for several years thereafter, and there was a major emigration from Lewis to the USA – to New York and Pennsylvania States – indeed the largest number of emigrants known to have left Lewis in one year was in 1772-73, when 831 emigrants are noted, though unfortunately not by name. The threat of religious persecution led to an emigration arranged by the Roman Catholic Church to Prince Edward Island, mainly from South Uist and Barra, beginnings with the Alexander in 1772. In the early 1800s, there was another move from Lewis to the Gulf Shore in Nova Scotia.
 |
| Bill Lawson |
Legislation was brought in, ostensibly to alleviate the overcrowding which was a problem with many of the early emigrant ships, but by increasing the amount of space and supplies required on board, it also increased the fares beyond what most would-be emigrants could raise. Nonetheless, many islanders were still able to utilise their meagre earnings from the kelp to fund emigration. The War of 1812 with the USA effectively closed that country to all but a few emigrants, and the focus of emigration changed to Cape Breton, along with continued settlement in PEI and a small number to New Brunswick.
In Cape Breton, settlers from Barra concentrated around the Barra Strait in the Bras d’Or, while South Uist went mainly to Grand Mira and the Boisdale and East Bay areas. North Uist went to Catalone, Gabarus and Mira, while Harris went to Grand River, Framboise, and St Anns. There were few settlers from Lewis at this point, and these were concentrated at Little Narrows and at St Anns. Because the early emigrants to Cape Breton tended to settle in groups, we have often been able to identify their origins from their neighbours.
With the slackening of the restriction on emigration in the 1820s came the collapse of the kelp industry, and much of the population of the Hebrides became redundant, from the point of view of their landlords. Emigration was now encouraged, and in some cases enforced, and the flow of families, to Cape Breton in particular, became a flood. Even there, there was not enough good land for all, and there were settlements in the back glens which by their very nature were short-lived, and many families had to move on to the new industrial mining centres of Glace Bay etc.
The problems in the Islands were exacerbated by potato blight in the mid-1840s, and the consequent famine. Cape Breton was suffering from the same problem, so emigration there virtually ceased. Landlords at home were faced by another problem – the new Poor Laws would make them responsible for poor relief in their own areas, so it was to their advantage that as many people left as possible. No longer was it those who could afford the fares who left – those who had lost all in the famine were forced to leave – sometimes forced by economics, and sometimes by the landlords.
The Highland and Islands Emigration Society was set up, with Government assistance, to provide assisted passages to Australia. In the Outer Hebrides, the landlords of Harris and North Uist took advantage of the Society’s help, and almost 10% of the population left for Australia between 1850 and 1860. The Society kept records of all their passengers – they hoped for repayment of the moneys they had advanced – so there are detailed passengers lists for each ship, showing where the passengers embarked and where they disembarked, though unfortunately there are no records of where they settled eventually.
The landlords of Lewis and South Uist and Barra preferred not to work with the Society, but organised their own emigrations to Canada. There had been a Lewis settlement in the Eastern Townships of Quebec since the late 1830s, and emigrants’ fares were paid either to join them, or to go further west to Bruce County, Ontario. South and North Uist families concentrated on Middlesex County and the surrounding areas of Ontario.
Because these emigrations generally took place after the first census of Scotland in 1841, it is generally possible to trace the emigrants and their families – though in Bruce County, for example, there were so many MacDonalds from the West-side of Lewis that they are still difficult to disentangle! From the 1880s, settlement in Canada moved on to the Prairies, and by this time we can be almost certain to identify families.
At the moment, the database deals with families up to 1920, though it is hoped to include the major emigrations of the 1920s in the next version of the database.
So, enjoy the database! If you are not sure how to use it, look under the heading of www.hebridespeople.com/shop/hp-products/. Basically, you buy a number of credits to let you into the system, and from there on, you can access the system by entering details of names, dates and places, if known. Do remember that the data-base is Mark 1, and an extension will follow later, so if you do not find the family you are looking for, we may still have information, so e-mail us, and we will see if we can help.
(With thanks to Bill Lawson)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)