Tracing your family tree

[oneofthefew]

This is something that I have just started - following my father's line to see whether my family is a sept of a particular clan! I always believed that, through our surname, that we are part of the great MacDonald clan - or at least a branch of that! However, it appears there are "conditions" and at this moment in time it looks like our family line doesn't meet those!

So, with the help of my dad, I made a start to following the family back through time! Luckily for me my dad was able to produce birth certificates dating to the late 19th century (1862 in fact) giving me a good start for when I finally head through to Edinburgh!

Anyway, being naturally curious, I checked out the clan associations of the four surnames that I now have from my dad's dad's parents! One of these is a clan in its own right and, if I allow myself to believe in the fanciful claims of part of this clan, I am in fact descended from one of the kings of the Isle of Man!

However, leaving speculation aside, my next step would be head through to Edinburgh and gain as much info as I can for there! Only then will I start to look around the internet for more information. In my opinion, people have a tendancy to believe too much of what they read in the World Wide Web of Deceit, but if making amazing claims without evidence is what makes them happy then good for them. Personally I will look for proof before I make any - and that inlcudes claiming to be part of a clan (even the one I already have a surname for as, with all the best clans, there are different branches!)

Anyway, I guess this is a partial apology for any future comments I make regarding anyone that does make some claim to being descended from Robert the Bruce, Somerled, even a King of Man - without evidence all they will be is claims! Happy hunting for that elusive evidence though

[aNonnyMoose]

New Register House and the OPR's are the only way to go. I'd agree about the amount of rubbish on the web, and many of the LDS records are extremely suspect as a lot are based on hearsay and family fables, not on documented evidence/ As one poster said somewhere else, follow the money...

Funny how you never meet an actual Scot who claims to be descended from the Bruce, do you? Apart from Lord Elgin, that is. And he can prove it...

[oneofthefew]

Following the money would be great, but I don't think there was much of that in my family

Getting off-topic for a second, I see the adverts are starting to invade the posts now - is there no end to the money-grabbing antics of the forum owners?

[Celyn]

Not sure, Nonny - my Dad has sometimes gone in to look at the LDS stuff, and has been fairly complimentary - although, to be fair

- part of it might be that he appreciates their being helpful to random non-Mormon strangers who go to visit their office/place whatever it is called, without any proselytising

- part might be that he would not be relying on them, but using it as just another source to check in addition to others.

But yes, Edinburgh, and local records, are the things to look for. Polwarth, of course, is one who can probably advise.

Money, eh, One of the Few? Heh, none of that in my family either. Nor does my dad go around trying to be descended from Bruce or Mary Stuart or that sort of thing. Just a proud descendant of peasants everywhere, he reckons.

It IS strange, though, that some people, and, no, I don't necessarily mean on this forum, seem to go at things backwards and are determined to be descended from some historical royalty. Always the more famous ones, of course.

I suppose it is a wee bit like the people who just "know" they are a reincarnation of an Egyptian king, or of Marie Antoinette or whoever. I think I'd find it more credible to be a farm worker or a maid or a wean that died in infancy of some god-awful thing.


All the best for your quest, One of the Few!


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Ooh, look - I think I must be descended from a dead famous poet.

[Celyn]

Originally Posted by oneofthefew

Getting off-topic for a second, I see the adverts are starting to invade the posts now - is there no end to the money-grabbing antics of the forum owners?

As for advertisements getting in between posts, yes, annoying, but it has been that way for a wee while now. I am too lazy to check and do the counting on my fingers thing, but certainly something like eight months *at least*. There were threads bemoaning the fact whenever this did start. Just a matter of screening out the stuff one doesn't want to see, as with all adverts, really, I suppose. Annoying, though.

And - OOPS - I nearly forgot - in terms of people to claim to be descended from, surely Charles Edward Numpty must be up in the top ten? Yeah, as Michel LaFosse has been pretty well discredited and thrown out, maybe we need another one. Fancy making a claim for the throne, One of the Few.? Ooh, go on, you could get things like the "Sunday Post" all excited about it. A lovely bit of "silly season" stuff.


(Hmm, now, there's a thought.)

[Celyn]

Good grief! Pat on the back for me, please. For once, I came up with an estimate for a number, or length or time, and got it pretty much right. Most unusual. (Considering I once spent a whole year thinking I was a year older than I was, yes, it IS passing strange.)

Anyway, it would seem that this business of advertisements appearing actually IN the message fora is indeed just over eight months old, going by this thread at the time.

Thread re. Intrusive Adverts, October 2006

Eight and a bit months, eh? It should have been strangled at birth. But, well, it's too late now, I suppose.

[oneofthefew]

Celyn, it wasn't the ads between the posts I was referring to - it is those that are actually in the posts that have been added! In my first post on this topic, the words "birth certificates" have been converted to an ad! Obviously the forum owners have discovered Kontera ContentLink!

Anyway, back on to the topic! I don't understand how people would even consider starting with someone from the past and trying to trace forward to themselves, but that must be what thay are doing - how else could they possibly explain the line coming to an end! And the rest that claim to be descended from someone, but not directly - how the hell is that possible? Or do they mean they are descended from someone that other person was also descended from? In which case they might be from the same family, but not from that person's branch of it!

You know, maybe I should just choose someone and claim to be descended from them! I might not be able to prove it, but nobody will be able to disprove it either

As for reincarnation, I don't personally believe in that, but I did in a past life!