FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SCOTTISH ANCESTORS
INFOTECH - IT NEWS FROM BRITAIN - ANGELA SINGLETON
MARCH 2002
Source: www.britainincanada.org

A website has been created to encourage those interested in uncovering their Scottish family ties to go to the country and find out for themselves what life was really like for their ancestors and what it means to be a Scot.
The new site - http://www.ancestralscotland.com - has been devised by VisitScotland (formerly the Scottish Tourist Board) and aims to become the definitive web portal for people interested in discovering their Scots roots.

For the first time, it will be possible for people to enter a place name, parish name or even a surname and find out where their ancestors came from, what their life might have been like and how Scotland has developed into the vibrant nation it is today.

A typical case study is that of Hamish Clark who plays the role of Duncan in the popular BBC TV series Monarch of the Glen. His family are from the Angus and Dundee region, then later on from adjacent parishes in the Carse of Gowrie n Perthshire. After a thorough investigation it was found that many of Clark’s family were agricultural workers and, on the female side, jute weavers, one of the most significant industries in the Dundee area of Scotland.

It was also discovered that the Clarks had once lived on a farm at Flatfield, which still exists today, and Hamish Clark has since been able to visit the farm and surrounding area. He is pictured at the recent launch of the website in Glasgow that took place onboard the tall-ship Glenlee, moored on the River Clyde.

With an estimated 28 million Scots living around the world, VisitScotland has undertaken extensive research and consultation on genealogy tourism and is confident that genealogy forms an important stimulus for travel.

Maureen Sprott, marketing manager at VisitScotland, said: “Among certain markets, particular North America and Canada, we have discovered that genealogy is a strong motivational factor in travelling to Scotland. Because electronic marketing is the most effective method of reaching this market we felt that a web portal needed to be created.

“An extensive number of Scots heritage websites are 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 web portal and other sites will be that the portal will seek to create an interest in travel to Scotland and not just a general interest in Scotland,” she said.

“It is an opportunity to persuade consumers already interested in their Scottish family roots that they will learn much more about who they are if they travel here and stand on home soil, and to inspire them with the range of experiences they can include in such a trip.

“Only when they are in Scotland can they truly appreciate the culture that they and their ancestors are part of,” added Ms Sprott.

United States citizens Bill Gates, Tommy Hilfiger, and Donald Trump are just a few of the well-known names laying claim to Scots descent and the site lists a host of famous Scots from inventors to poets and from where they came.

Visitors to the website could find they embark on a journey which leads them to discover that their great-great-grandfather fought on the battlefields of Culloden alongside Bonnie Prince Charlie or that a distant cousin grew up in Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh around the same time as Sean Connery.