I
have lately been researching my wife’s Scottish ancestors and gone back to look
at documents on the official ScotlandsPeople
website.
The
site was redesigned over the past few years and is now much easier to navigate
and search. Not to say that one will always find the people they are looking
for. It always seems like there is one individual in any family who resists
discovery.
What
is a great improvement over the past is that we can now search all manner of
records free. No funds need change hands until you actually find a document
worth looking at. And, of course, you can save the searches with unique names
to go back and look at again.
There
are many helpful
hints and suggestions as to what is on the site and how to go about looking
for information.
You
can do quick searches for people or advanced searches for specific types of
records. Once you find the records you want, you can easily download them to
your own computer or leave them on your account. All purchases are recorded so you can go back and look at them any time. Formal certificates can be purchased for personal use – online.
None
of this is cheap! If you are like me you buy dozens of images to augment your
family history. My credit card got really heated up this past week but I have
made incredible progress in assembling information about our Scottish roots.
Wayne
Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program in
England, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has
published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy in several
family history society journals. He has also served as an editor of two such
publications. Wayne provides genealogical consulting services through his
business, Family History
Facilitated
