The Secrets of Graveyards

Hi again,

After having confirmed data on dead ancestors from elderly living relatives, it is an excellent exercise to go visit the cemetery where they are laid to rest. Often, headstones can reveal interesting data such as birth and death dates, the full name of the individual(s), and, if you're lucky as I was, the place where he/she/they were born.

I was able to determine, for example, that two of my ancestors, whose particulars were inscribed on a large obelisk-style headstone, were born in Nigg, Ross-shire, Scotland. As well, their ages at death were given and the date they died. From all of that I was able to determine their birth years and exactly where they had come from in the old world.

Not far from them were grave markers for three young women, all in a row, with their full names, birth and death dates, and the comment that they had died from "consumption", or as we know it today - tuberculosis. Each of them had died in their twenties. What a sad time it must have been for their parents - my great-great-grandparents.

When I finished my visit to the old family cemetery, I came away with a wealth of factual knowledge and a very deep feeling for the hard times they must have experienced. I was now ready for the next step in fleshing out the data.

To be continued . . .

Gary

The Secret of Successful Genealogy Searching- One

Searching your family ancestry can be a very trying and harrowing experience, yet, with the right approach, it can be a completely exhilarating and exciting adventure.

How does one get started?

By far, the most important resource available to you is living relatives of your family line - the older, the better. They often have a recollection of the names, relations, and important facts about their parents, grandparents and, if you're lucky, great-grandparents. It's important to work with known facts, but keep any other relevant information in your notes as it may play a significant role later in your searches.

By tapping the elder's knowledge you should be able to determine where his/her parents, etc, lived, where they went to church and, where they were buried. In Canada, the province, county, town/village or rural community where your ancestors settled/lived is very important in establishing an anchor for further exploring. I was lucky, I was able to establish much of this information from my wise grandmother.

My next adventure took me to a small rural cemetery.

To be continued . . .

Gary

If You Are Curious About Your Scotch-Irish Past, Read This.

It took me a long time to figure out a curiosity that kept appearing on nineteenth century census returns that were connected to my ancestors. I knew full well that the patriarch of my family came from Nigg, Ross-shire, Scotland. However, when I searched the census returns of different decades, a pattern developed that indicated each of his children had been born in Ireland.

I thought perhaps the census taker had committed an error in transcribing the data since most of my early ancestors were listed as not being able to read or write. I later discovered that in the early waves of emigration that occurred as a result of the Scottish Highland Clearances, many of the uprooted families made it as far as Northern Ireland - which, for them was a long voyage, and settled there along with families and friends. Over time they were referred to as the Scotch-Irish.

The term stuck with them when most later emigrated to the New World.

Gary Ross

My First Post

Hi, I'm Gary and I'm new to blogging. I'm an author and originally from New Brunswick. My wife and I presently live in Ottawa where it can be bitterly cold in winter.