Legacy Tree works with onsite professional genealogist around the world. We sat down with one of our Scottish onsite researchers to ask her a few questions about Scottish heritage and genealogy, and how to get through common challenges and assumptions about Scottish family trees. Discovering Surprising Scottish Heritage LT: We are pleased to chat today with one of our onsite researchers, Emily. I think it's really interesting for people to understand how you got into genealogy. What … [Read more...]
How To Find Your Family Coat of Arms: United Kingdom and The Commonwealth
Are you curious if your family has a coat of arms that you may be entitled to use? Many people find a coat of arms fun to display at home or a family reunion. Although selling coats of arms by surname has become a popular business, in most cases, they were granted for individual use only. While a coat of arms could be inherited, it could only be transmitted from father to son. Have you ever wondered if your family has one? What is a family coat of arms? A coat of arms is a hereditary … [Read more...]
5 Keys to Finding Scottish Ancestors with Genealogist Jamie Kay
We sat down to learn more about finding Scottish ancestors with one of our professional genealogists, Jamie Kay. Here's what we learned about Jamie and how to research your own Scottish heritage. The Challenges of Finding Scottish Ancestors I grew up around the corner from Aunt Dorothy, our family genealogist, and loved to hear our stories and see the photographs she had collected. My great-grandparents came to the United States from Scotland in the 1870s, so a quarter of my heritage is … [Read more...]
A Family in Stitches: Genealogical Information From a Scottish Embroidery Sampler
Genealogical information is often found in unlikely places. Check out the familial details included in this Scottish embroidery sampler! In 1885 my great-grandmother, Isabella Fairbairn, was 10 years old. She lived in a rural area of the Scottish borders, and like most Scottish children between the ages of 5 and 13, schooling was compulsory for her. Isabella attended school at Crailing, about 5 miles outside the market town of Jedburgh. We might never have known this, had she not … [Read more...]
What Language Did My Scottish Ancestors Really Speak?
Have you ever stopped to think about the language that your Scottish ancestors spoke? Gaelic? English? Something else? The answer is not as straightforward as you may think. English has been the “official” language of Scotland since the 18th century. Prior to this, Scots Gaelic had already been systematically suppressed by several acts of parliament, starting at the beginning of the 1600s.[1] One of the last Scottish kings to speak Gaelic was James IV who reigned from 1473 to 1513. … [Read more...]