BACK TO MY McROOTS
New website can help millions to search for their Scots ancestors
DAILY RECORD (GLASGOW, SCOTLAND)
25 JANUARY 2002
Around 28 million Scots were invited to come home yesterday, as
our ancestral past went on-line world-wide.
American presidents, Hollywood superstars and household names in
business and sport are among the huge global family of expats being
targeted by a revolutionary new website.
The first of its kind, www.ancestral scotland.com can help
visitors trace their family trees back to the early 1500s.
And yesterday VisitScotland launched the site in Glasgow and
America.
Ayrshire-born supermodel Kirsty Hume was joined in New York last
night by husband Donovan Leitch, from Glasgow, actor Alan Cumming,
from Carnoustie, Angus, and US actor Kyle MacLachlan, at a party to
promote the facility.
In Glasgow, rising star Hamish Clark, better known as Duncan from
the BBC series Monarch of the Glen, revealed how he recently managed
to track down his great-grandfather’s great-grandfather thanks to
the new facility.
He was joined by Lord Watson, Minister for Tourism, Culture and
Sport, who recently unearthed details about hi ancestors on Islay.
Hamish, 36, said: “I discovered that the family moved all of nine
miles in 200 years. So they must have had a great sense of
adventure.”
Hamish, who was brought up in Broughty Ferry, led the UK launch
on board the Tall Ship Glenlee in Glasgow.
He said: “You are finding out about people, those who went before
you and who make you what you are.
“It is important to you as an individual, because you are getting
closer to who you are. When you see the old records, it really fires
you up.”
Hamish revealed how last month he visited the house where his
grandparents lived when they got married and even discovered one of
his ancestors was a blacksmith and others were farm labourers.
The website provides a direct link to the 1901 census records
which have only now been put online by the General Register Office
for Scotland.
The snapshot of Scottish life 100 years ago enables searchers to
trace their ancestry and discover who lived in their house at the
start of the 20th century.
There are also details about their ages, occupations, place of
origin and whether they spoke Gaelic.
As well as helping Scots around the globe track down the
ancestral past, the website is also designed to encourage tourism.
Visitors can find out which parishes their ancestors came from
and what clans they were part of, while also learning about the same
places in modern Scotland.
Among those keen to log on will be President George W. Bush, who
can trace his family tree back to Scotland. Microsoft boss Bill
Gates’s mother was Scottish.
THEN there’s New York real-estate developer and casino operator
Donald Trump. Mary MacLeod Trump, his late mother, was born on the
Isle of Lewis in 1912.
She met Fred Trump, a budding real-estate developer, on a trip to
New York in the early 1930s. They married in 1936 and settled in
Jamaica Estates, Queens.
Fashion designer Tommy Hillfiger is just another of the
well-known names laying claim to Scots descent.
Images of the census pages are linked to an index of more than
four million individual names.
The 1901 images have also been available on microfilm since
December.
A high demand for the service is anticipated in the first few
days, but officials insist systems are in place to ensure it does
not crash like the website which was launched for England and Wales.
Philip Riddle, VisitScotland’s chief executive, said the launch
was the first phase of the website.
At the US launch in New York’s Bryant Park Hotel Cellar Bar,
which was taking place at 6.30pm local time, MacLachlan, was due to
celebrate his Scottish roots.
The Sex And The City star, whose ancestors came from the West
Highlands, said: “I feel it is very important being of Scottish
descent, to return to my homeland and to see the land that formed my
family.
“To be able to return to the source of where you come from is
magical. I felt I was visiting the ghosts of my ancestors.”
Some 20 per cent of US visitors to Scotland have cited genealogy
as a part of the reason for choosing Scotland as holiday destination
and 10 per cent of those said it was the main reason for visiting.
The website - at www.ancestral scotland.com - will also be
launched in Toronto tomorrow.
Among the famous Scots who can be tracked down are Rob Roy
MacGregor, John Logie Baird, John Paul Jones, Mary Queen of Scots,
Alexander Graham Bell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, James Watt, David Livingstone and Andrew Carnegie.
But visitors to the website are advised to do some research
first. Middle names weren’t generally listed on the website and a
little knowledge of where and when your relatives lived will save
hours of searching.
And have your credits card at the ready because the searches
aren’t free. The cost of 30 page credits is pounds 6, but visitors
are charged pounds 1 to open a specific census entry.
VisitScotland chief executive Philip Riddle believes the new web
portal will generate more interest in Scotland.
He said: “Our site helps people pinpoint the location of parish
records in Scotland and guides people to websites that can help in
the genealogy search. But its main aim is to encourage people to
come to Scotland to discover their origins for themselves.”
Maureen Sprott, marketing manager at VisitScotland, added: “Among
certain markets particularly in North America and Canada, we have
discovered that genealogy is a strong motivational factor in
travelling to Scotland.
“As electronic marketing is the most effective method of reaching
this market a web portal needed to be created.
“An extensive number of Scots heritage websites are currently
available on the Internet, but we felt that none of these
specifically linked genealogy and tourism for the consumer’s ease of
use.
“The essential difference between this and other sites is that
the portal will create an interest in travel to Scotland.
“It’s an opportunity to persuade those interested in their
Scottish roots that they will learn more about who they are if they
travel here and stand on home soil.
“Only when they are in Scotland can they truly appreciate the
culture that they and their ancestors are part of.
How Hamish found his family tree:
WILLIAM CLARK b. 1780 m. 1799 ELIZA WATSON b. 17?? m. 1799
GEORGE CLARK
-
DAVID CLARK - JESSIE WILSON
-
GEORGE CLARK b. 1880 m. 1902
Journeyman shipwright
JOHN SMITH CLARK b. 1907 m. 1931 d.1986
Waiter
NORMAN GARLAND CLARK married 1956 Artist VERONICA STRACHAN
married 1956 School teacher
HAMISH CLARK
(36 years)
Actor
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