SCOTLAND - ABERDEEN & NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

I recently wrote a post about  HISTORICAL & FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES–GREAT RESOURCES FOR YOUR RESEARCH.  As a follow up to, today, I am writing about a family history society over in Scotland that has many resources and publications to share.  This society is just one example of the reasons to seek out the societies in your area of research.

 

Here is a picture of the outside of the society taken when we visited Scotland this past spring

 

From their website:
“The Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society exists to assist and promote the study of genealogy and family history based on the North-East corner of Scotland. This area covers the old counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and Morayshire.
The Society owns premises in the centre of Aberdeen with a well stocked library and a huge selection of microfilm, microfiche and CD resources.
The Society holds regular meetings throughout the year, covering many topics of interest to family historians. Meetings are held in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Elgin, Glasgow and in the West Midlands of England.”
 
Because of the many ancestors I have from the Aberdeen, Scotland area, I located and joined this society several years ago.  The fee for an annual membership is $25. 
The society also has a Facebook page which you can locate here 
https://www.facebook.com/anesfhs

One of the benefits I spoke of at the beginning of this post are publications.  This particular society has a booklet with over 60 pages of publications for sale. 

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT) 


Here is the Table of Contents from this publication booklet. (All pages copied with permission from the society) 

Please note that they have local histories, census indexes, maps and many other wonderful publications.



Here is a sample of publications available just for Monumental Inscriptions (cemeteries).



I had received information from an email inquiry I made to the Aberdeen Family History Society regarding the burial locations for my 2nd great grandparents, Charles Milne and Margaret Ritchie.  They are buried at Aboyne Kirkyard, which is located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  I knew that I was going to be making a trip to Aberdeen this past spring.  Finding out that I would be able to visit these 2nd great grandparents burial site was wonderful.  

I proceeded to order 3 publications from the society that I felt may contain names of some of my ancestors.  The cost for the publications is pretty minimal .  The ones I ordered were all about 2.50 pounds or about $4, depending on the current conversion rate.

NOTE:  Some of their publications can be ordered as eBooks,  downloaded in PDF format, if that is more convenient for you.  I went to Amazon and typed in “monumental inscriptions” and found these.  I’m not sure what you might find on other sites.
Monumental Inscriptions of Northeast Scotland

Here are the publications I ordered from the society in paper format. 



Here is a page from their publication for The Kirkyard of Aboyne compiled by Sheila M. Spiers.  You can see my 2nd great grandparents, Charles Milne and Margaret Ritchie listed here.



When we went to Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland I was able to visit Aboyne Kirkyard.  In fact, if you look at the top of this blog you will see a picture of that churchyard.  It was a lovely location. 

Before I went to the cemetery I checked on findagrave.com to see if the cemetery had been photographed and/or how many memorials were listed.  At that time there were only 73 interments posted for this cemetery.  So, while I was there, although our time was limited, I took as many photos as I could.  Specifically of surnames I have an interest in, like Milne and Ritchie.  As of today there are 191 interments on findagrave for this cemetery.  Here is a link to the cemetery on the findagrave site Aboyne Kiryard.

And I just have to share the pictures of me at the Kirkyard.  It took me a while to find that little cross headstone.  Charles & Margaret’s names are on the very bottom (second photo).  That’s the smile of a very happy 2nd great granddaughter.  

    

I was really happy to be able to help document a portion of this cemetery on findagrave so that others can find their family members.  What was great about this too was that once I got home and was able to conduct more research based on the photos I took, I connected to several more of the people buried there. 

The bottom line of all this is to take advantage of the resources available at all the historical & family history societies/centers around the country and around the world.  

We all know how fortunate we are to have millions of records online.  However, there are millions more that aren’t online.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY ALSO BE OF INTEREST 

HISTORICAL & FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES–GREAT RESOURCES FOR YOUR RESEARCH 

MY TRIP TO SCOTLAND - WHAT I DID RIGHT, WHAT I DID WRONG 

SEMINARS, WEBINARS, SOCIETIES - WILL THEY HELP YOUR RESEARCH? 



Please share your discoveries with me. 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

HISTORICAL & FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES–GREAT RESOURCES FOR YOUR RESEARCH

DO YOU USE HISTORICAL OR FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES IN YOUR RESEARCH?

Let’s talk about some of the benefits you can derive from these societies.

• Knowledgeable people who work or volunteer at the society.  These people may have lived their whole lives in the area.  They may even have ancestors that knew your ancestors.
• Perhaps they know others with the same surnames you are researching, who still live in the area.  This, of course, is more common in a smaller community.   However, don’t discount the societies in the larger communities.
• They may know where all the cemeteries are in the area.  Even the smaller, hard to find cemeteries on private property.
• Perhaps they can provide maps of specific areas with indications of who owned what property and when?
• They can, in many cases, show you which books or publications they offer that would help you in your particular research.
• They can put you in touch with local historians or other researchers who may know details that they don’t.
• Most historical societies have books or publications right on site.  Take advantage of this.

When I visited Keene, New Hampshire where my husband’s family is from, we visited the Historical Society of Cheshire County.  I found all sorts of information in books and in probate records they had copies of.  The volunteer there was incredibly helpful.

One of the largest historical societies I can think of is the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  This society has been around since 1845 and has a wealth of information at their physical site and on their website.  

Simply use your search engine and type in whatever town, city or county you may be interested in, add the words “historical society” OR “family history society” and see what you can find.  

Here is a link to a site I found by typing this into Google "historical societies in the United States"
http://www.preservationdirectory.com/preservationorganizationsresources/organizationcategories.aspx
 


I selected A and the following screen came up.  When I typed MICHIGAN into the state box I got a list of over 80 societies all over the state. 



I have to admit that I did not know about this website until just now.  It’s very interesting that while I am sharing with you, I am also learning.  

Let’s continue our discovery and type into Google “historical societies in Europe.”  This brought up 13,800,00 results.  Here is a screenshot of a portion of the first page.
(Apologies for the blurry screenshots)



I selected the very first entry which took me to a Wikipedia site.  As I scrolled through the site and selected various items, some were relevant and some were not.  However, when I got to the very bottom of the screen I noticed this:



Doesn’t that first entry look interesting?  I selected it and up came a list of various genealogical & family history societies.  The list is not complete as wikipedia is always a work in progress.  However, what I did was to keep on selecting various links, which then led me to other links.  In doing that I have now learned of many organizations that are new to me. 

You get the general idea.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get tunnel vision in my research.  I use the same sites day in and day out.  I mean after all, I have a huge list of bookmarked sites that I’ve saved over the years. Those sites are very useful, but sometimes we need to step back, stop and THINK.   

Where else might I look for information?

Writing this post has given me new ideas and I’m anxious to see what else I can find today.

OTHER POSTS THAT YOU MAY FIND HELPFUL
SEMINARS, WEBINARS, SOCIETIES - WILL THEY HELP YOUR RESEARCH?
FACEBOOK - HOW IT CAN BE VERY USEFUL IN YOUR RESEARCH

Happy hunting,

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION