Tartan Week and Scottish Genealogy

New York’s famous Tartan Week celebrations end today after a city-wide event involving all things Scottish and a parade up 6th Avenue led by actor Alan Cumming. Marketed as “a dynamic celebration of Scottish heritage”, Tartan Week taps into the interest in Scotland from the American population, an estimated 25 million of whom have genealogical connections to Scotland.

Tracing Your Scottish Genealogy

If you suspect you have Scottish ancestry somewhere on your tree and the publicity around Tartan Week has sparked your interest, then the advice is the same as for any other genealogical project. Start with what you know. That means not making the immediate leap back to someone of a similar name who arrived on a ship from Glasgow in the 1890s, but looking at evidence for your parents or grandparents and working back from there. Gather as much information as you can on United States or Canadian records to establish as accurately as you can when your ancestor made the voyage. Look also for information about other family members who might be found living with them on census returns. If they have chosen to naturalise, the petitions are often brilliant sources of information about date of birth, date of arrival in the US and details of parents, spouses or children.

Once you have exhausted your home research and found out as much as you can about the person you are looking for, then it’s time to turn to Scottish records. You may be able to find them on a census – but how easy this is will depend on how much you know already. Looking for someone called Robert Wilson, born in the 1840s somewhere in Scotland is going to be a frustrating experience. However, if you are looking for a Robert Alexander Wilson, born in 1847 in a specific town, who had a younger sister called Elizabeth who moved to the US with him, you have a much better chance of finding your family in Scotland.

Scottish Records

If you are not familiar with researching in Scottish records then it can be difficult to know where to start and that’s where I usually come in and help out. If you’re under time pressure because you have a visit pending, or aren’t confident in researching effectively in Scottish or wider UK records then it can make more sense to get a professional on the case.

Common Scottish Genealogy Misconceptions

There are so many myths about Scottish genealogy so let’s tackle the most common and set the record straight.

1. My ancestor’s name was changed at Ellis Island – no it wasn’t. There’s a good post from the lovely people at the NY Public Library as to why this didn’t happen. Misspellings are not “wrong” or “changes”. Spelling just wasn’t as important and was not standardised.

2. My ancestor, like everyone with Scottish heritage has a clan. To be honest, present day Scots are pretty bemused by the clan fixation as most of us think it’s a relic of the past. Not everyone’s ancestor was ever part of a clan, not everyone with the same surname was in the same clan, and not all clan members were related.

3. My ancestor was forced to emigrate by a wicked landlord/the King/the English – again, probably not. Some people were cleared off their land in the Highland clearances or sent abroad after committing a crime, but thousands of others emigrated for a better life. Unless you have documented proof of reason for emigration, never make assumptions.