So much to do - so little time :)

I'm in the process of collating all my files and updating all my trees posted around the internet.
I've taken out a subscription to Ancestry UK so should be easier to track the families through the census over the years.

I've finished surveying four graveyards on the island, High Kirk, Barone, Kingarth and St Colmacs and still not found all the family so need to start working on the idea that some of them may have been buried elsewhere for some reason.

I did find quite a few Slavens all from the same side of the tree so will update that info with pictures soon.

Hoping to revamp my family homepage soon to make it easier to read and navigate and need to find a place for my yahoo pages as its closing down in october.

I'm also planning a visit in November to the General Register Offices in Edinburgh to track down more info on Pat Shields my great great grandfather.

Like I said so much to do and so little time :)

Another Year

Ok so its been a few months since the last update. and I've realised although my paper records are quite upto date my pc files and tree programs are all messed up and I cant find anything so taking a few days to update my family tree software.

Also going to start updating the family tree details on various websites ie Genesreunited, Ancestry, tribal pages etc.

I've totally lost track of the various places online that I've uploaded my tree in the past and therefore there could be a lot of wrong info floating out there.

Time to hit google and search for my own details :)

I am a bad blogger

I cant believe its been a year since I posted on this blog!

I have in the mean time manged to get a little more organised and find out a little more about some members of the family.

I did manage to get to Edinburgh (during Juliets Hen weekend) but got so carried away with the family records search I didnt have time to find the Justiciary appeal as its office was at the other end of Princes Street and its quite a trek between the two. So I will have to go back up again at some point and be more methodical.

I will try and keep this more upto date and include details of who and when I've found.

Where does a month go?

Well where does a month go indeed! Tidying and organising my research thats where.
I've manged to get all my family research documents and certificates filed in some sort of order so I can acutally find what I'm looking for or what I'm missing quite easily.

I've tried various filing methods in the past and still end up losing track of where a document is or where I found information. Using a suggestion from Organise Your Paper Files I have now organised my information by Marriage number that most programs generate. I keep documents for that family together until i find a marriage for a child and they get their own section or I find their parents marriage and that gets another section. I can use my genealogy program to print a list of marriages with marriage record numbers and that becomes the index for the front of my files. So far its working really well and I can easily what information I still need on any family group.


While having a general trawl through Google with my names and places that I'm researching I came across the National Archives of Scotland. Searching their catalogue I found the following entry about a Justiciary appeal by my GreatGrandfather against the then Lord Bute! So now I have to arrange a trip to Edinburgh to see the document to find out what its all about.

Record: 1 of 1
RefNo Title Date
JC31 Justiciary Appeals Processes 1864-1994
JC31/1906 Justiciary appeals processes, 1906

CountryCode GB RepCode 234
RefNo JC31/1906/19
Repository National Archives of Scotland
Title
Justiciary appeal by Patrick Shields, porter, North British Railway Company, Rothesay, and residing at Minister's Brae, Rothesay v The Most Honourable John Crichton Stuart, Marquis of Bute and Earl of Windsor etc.
Date 1906
Description Lodged 16 March 1906. Appeal dismissed.
AccessStatus: Open

Poem

At my Buckie Grans funeral (Hannah Cowie nee Smith) at the start of July I met some of my dads cousins Anna, Marjory and Etta who were my Grans neices. They've all been really helpful in filling in information about my Gran and her brothers and sisters.

Today I received a poem from Marjory that her mother Iris May Soutar (nee Smith) wrote about who married who.

Dae ye ken Maggie Bruce's family That bided doon the Brae?
Peter Smith's their Faither -A fisherman was he.
Noo Wullie mairrit Lizzie, In Leith they bade a wee
And Jessie mairrit Wullie Wood -A Portknockie man was he.
Pat, Johnny, Anne and Jimmy Are names of those who died,
But Marget still lives in the Sloch -She likes her ain fireside.
And Ina - she got mairrit Tae Tam wha cams frae Fife
And Henry gaed tae Stornaway And took Etta for a wife.
Hannah mairrit Johnny Coup, Noo he's a Buckie loon,
And Jeannie mairrit Charlie, He's frae Portgordon toon.
Davy Mairrit Peggy Frae Wick across the Firth,
And Iris Mairrit Andrew, They roam a' ower the earth.
Noo the Faimly are a' scattered And living far and wide
And the Family Tree has branch'ed Since a' thae knots were tied,
And children's children's children Hear tales of auld lang syne
And R-o-etten-etten -The Sloch that is oor Hame.

bits of translation for the non scots -

• Dae ye ken = Do you know
• bided = stayed or lived
• mairrit = married
• the Sloch= Portessie in Buckie
• frae = from
• gaed tae = went to
• loon = boy
• Hame = home

not sure what R-o-etten-etten refers to though.

I spent last night tidying up my genealogy files and adding info received from Marjory Davey to the info I gathered while at Buckie Grannies funeral. Still have to update my website with some of the info but nice to be able to fill in more details on Hannahs side

oops

Oops - Forgot I'd set this blog up

The internet is getting way to big for me to remember everywhere I've been and everywhere I've seen family tree info so I'm going to start leaving myself notes in here like a breadcrumb trail.

I'll start with some of my favourite genealogy sites

Where I've found info

• www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
• www.familysearch.org
• www.ancestry.co.uk
• www.1837online.com
• www.genesreunited.com

Where I've posted info

• www.lostcousins.co.uk
• www.rootsweb.com

My Sites

• www.joannecowie.co.uk

First Entry

Starting a blog to help me record research and findings on my family tree.

Came back to edit this first post as I realised it would have helped to say what I'm researching.

I am following my family tree back through the Cowie, Duncan, Shields and Smith lines in Rothesay, Bute, Buckie, Glasgow, Lewis, Banff and eventually Donegal Ireland.

I'll be updating my family tree on ancestry.com and starting a family tree website www.joannecowie.co.uk