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Tayroots news and updates - providing you with a variety of interesting and relevant articles on genealogy and family history from Tayside, Scotland and the Scottish diaspora.
As part of the first Angus & Dundee Roots Festival, a Film Evening will be held at The Steps Theatre in Dundee on Thursday, September 11.
One of the very special guests at the first Angus & Dundee Roots Festival will be ancestral historian and highly-popular television presenter, Nick Barratt. "I'm really looking forward to attending this Festival," said Nick, whose programme credits include 'Hidden House History', 'So You Think You're Royal' and 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
Tickets are on sale now for events in the inaugural Angus & Dundee Roots Festival programme. This week-long festival, which takes place from 6th - 13th September 2008, will provide a focus for people whose ancestors came from Angus & Dundee to visit the area to find out more about their ancestral homeland whilst at the same time forging new friendships with like-minded people from across the globe. It promises to be a fun, entertaining and informative week, giving people with their roots in the area a true flavour of what life was like for their ancestors in days gone by.
Join visitors from across the globe at the inaugural Angus & Dundee Roots Festival (6th to 13th September 2008) to find out more about your ancestral homeland and forge new friendships with like-minded people.
Please see our Ancestral Events page for more details on events.
12 May 2008
Making plans is the theme of the next Angus Archives Drop In Day on Thursday 15 May between 10am and 4pm.
Come long and dip into some of the many and varied plans of houses, bridges, railway lines, historic buildings and war memorials ranging from the 18th century to the 20th century.
A guided walk to Restenneth Priory will be offered at 12pm, weather permitting. Refreshments will be available. Angus Archives is open for research every week day 10am and 4pm.
Angus Archives is located in the Hunter Library, Restenneth Priory by Forfar, contact (01307) 468644.
25 March 2008
You've seen the TV show now see the show. Tay Roots will have a stand at Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE in the Grand Hall, Olympia, London from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th May 2008.
Alistair McGowan, Nicky Campbell and Natasha Kaplinsky have been confirmed as appearing at this year's event.
Whether you've been inspired by BBC TV series or are a seasoned researcher, then the event which is the largest gathering of family history experts, TV historians and celebrity enthusiasts, will enable you to get all the help you need.
The Society of Genealogists Family History Show will take place for the 16th consecutive year and will feature more family history societies and organisations than ever before. If you are tracing Scottish, Welsh or Irish ancestors there will be many more exhibitors to help you at the show this year.
The SoG Workshop Programme will continue to provide the most comprehensive level of family history expertise and information than anywhere else - speakers include Geoff Swinfield, Mike Gandy, John Hanson and Else Churchill.
Ask the Experts area is where you can get one-to-one guidance and have specific questions answered by leading family historians.
So if you have roots in Angus and Dundee then make sure you visit our stand and we'll give you all the information you need to trace your family history.
25 March 2008
The Angus & Dundee Ancestral Tourism Initiative has been working with the Black Watch Museum in Perth to develop a new project to assist people with Black Watch ancestral connections in Angus to carry out regimental research.
The project involves:
Further information on this project along with the services offered by the Black Watch veterans will be posted on this website shortly.
25 March 2008
The Angus & Dundee Ancestral Tourism Initiative has been working with a Genealogist, Blue Badge Guides and accommodation establishments in the area to develop a new ancestral package.
The bespoke package includes the following:
Prices for the two night package start from £239 per person. Bookings and further information from Bill Tinto at Scotia Travel, E: bill@scotiatravel.com
31 January 2008
The new season of Montrose Museum's ever popular series of Wednesday afternoon talks is about to begin.
The first talk of the current series will take place on Wednesday 6 February when local historian John Macpherson will be showing photographs of Montrose in the past and discussing the many changes which have occurred over the years.
Other speakers in the series include: Dr John Johnston Parrots and other birds - Studies From Tropical Islands on 13 February; David Pullar and the Windygates Button-key Accordion Club Buttons and Keys - An Afternoon of Accordion Music on 20 February; Norman Atkinson The Howff of Kinnaber on 27 February; Russell Nisbet Wildflowers of Crete on 5 March (hosted by the Friends of William Lamb); and Fiona Scharlau A Picture of Angus on 12 March.
The talks start at 2pm - admission is free with tea, coffee and biscuits afterwards by donation.
10 January 2008
On Monday (14 January), an unusual exhibition will open at The Brechin Town House Museum when visitors will be confronted by a desk with a computer, scanner, printer and a gallery of completely empty walls.
The idea is that visitors will arrive at the museum with a photograph that demonstrates some connection with the town. The photograph will be scanned and the digitised copy will be stored on the computer. The donor will be invited to sign copyright over to Angus Council and the original will be returned.
A digital print of the image, with an explanatory note, will then be placed on the wall of the gallery complete with the name of the contributor. So anyone with an interesting photograph can become part of an exhibition.
It is hoped that as the days and weeks pass, the walls will fill with an interesting collage of Brechin past and present. The museum is particularly interested to see older images that help tell the story of the town's development and social history, but more contemporary images will be accepted also - after all, one day they too will be considered old photographs.
The exhibition, entitled Brechin: A History in Pictures will run until June, and hopefully will result in a sizeable photographic archive. Added to our existing collection, it will become an important resource for the Brechin Town House which has major expansion plans in the pipeline.
For further information please contact Jim Boon, galleries curator, on (01307) 473325
14 December 2007
A ONE-STOP shop for family history researchers, the first of its kind in Scotland, has thrown open its doors in Dundee.
The new Family History Centre, at the city's Central Library, brings together under one roof the services of the Dundee Registrar's office, city archivist, the local history library and the burials administration section.
If answers can't be found onsite, there are also electronic links to other agencies, as well as a referral service.
Celebrated local musician and songwriter Michael Marra was on hand to perform the opening ceremony, and as an illustration of the services on offer, he was presented with his own family tree dating back seven generations to the middle of the 18th century.
Lord Provost, John Letford, who was also at the opening said: "All of the services essential to the compilation of a standard family tree are available here and bringing them together in one place will boost the city's already excellent services to the growing ancestral tourism market."
More than a decade ago Dundee City Council was the first local authority in Scotland to introduce a family history service, when the genealogy unit at the city's registrar's office established an informal partnership with the city archivist, the local history library and the burials administration section.
Now, thanks to the popularity of the service with Dundonians and expatriates, the service has been re-housed in one central location.
Qualified staff from Dundee Registrar's Office will be available to offer advice and to undertake research, provide a family tree and a comprehensive report detailing each entry that is traced.
In most cases the registrar will be able to trace each branch of a family back to the late 17th century and issue authenticated certificates of any Scottish birth, death, civil partnership or marriage record, after digital images held by the General Register Office for Scotland were made available.
The move, by the Registrar General for Scotland, means that births, deaths and marriages from 1855 to date; divorce records from 1984 to date; the civil partnership register from 2005 to date; old parochial records from 1553 to 1854 and open census records covering 1841 to 1901 can be accessed.
If researchers can establish a date of death, burials administration staff can also retrieve a wealth of information from their database of the city's graveyards, including the lair's proprietor, interments, relationships and images of the gravestone itself.
Local history staff have access to vast catalogues of printed and written information in the form of books, directories, maps, plans, photographs, drawings and other resources, which can be used to fill in the detail of a family tree, to provide illustrations and to plug elusive gaps in the official record.
Deputy Registrar General for Scotland, Paul Parr was also at the opening to explain the national importance of Scotland's first family history centre and how it links to the Registrar General's aim of encouraging ancestral tourism in Scotland.Winter Sports Memorabilia Wanted
5 November, 2007
Tay Valley Family History Society continues its 2007-08 programme of talks at the University of Abertay, Bell Street, Dundee, at 7.15 pm on Wednesday, November 21, when the subject will be "Angus Archives and the Genealogist".
Angus Archives is the repository for the records of the former burghs of Angus (Arbroath, Brechin, Carnoustie, Forfar, Kirriemuir, Montrose and Monifieth), Angus County Council and for private papers of all types and ages.
The Archives are located in the picturesque grounds adjacent to the ruins of Restenneth Priory, near Forfar. Archivist Craig Pearson will speak about the records which may be of interest to family historians.
Non-members of the society will be most welcome, and admission is free. Full details of this and other events is available on the society's web site www.tayvalleyfhs.org.uk
30 October 2007
The Registrar General for Scotland is planning to introduce a new public record to be known as the "Book of Scottish Connections" (BSC). For the first time, people all over the world, with a Scots connection, will be able to apply (for a fee) for a birth, death, marriage, or civil partnership abroad to be recorded in the BSC held by the Registrar General in Edinburgh (provided that the event has already been registered with the civil registration authorities of the country in question). A commemorative certificate of the event (and the Scots connection) will then be available from the registration service in Scotland, to be preserved as a part of the family history record. For further information click here.
10 October 2007
Flora Davidson, an Angus-based family historian, is constructing the genealogy of Cortachy and Kinalty families in Angus, and would like to hear from descendants worldwide. If your ancestors came from those areas please contact Flora at flora@flodge.f9.co.uk