Our next holiday will be to the UK. Although our main focus is touristing, as we will be in ancestral territory, we will have to spend some time ancestor hunting.
On a previous visit to Scotland in 2004 (was it that long ago?) we visited Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. The local history and genealogy collection was housed in a cramped little gallery area upstairs in a library. The staff were amazing and so helpful and gave us some very useful leads. We were so impressed that Mr GeniAus wrote to the local authority to compliment the staff and comment on the poor conditions in which they were working and the records were housed.
While in Haddington we were able to add several leaves to the Gowans tree when we found several family members resting in St Mary's Church Graveyard.
Today I was doing some planning for our next jaunt which includes a few days in Scotland after an organised tour from London to Scotland. I'll visit General Register House in Edinburgh, The Heritage Hub in Hawick and return to Haddington.
I discovered that Haddington now has The John Gray Centre "The John Gray Centre brings together East Lothian Council’s Archaeology, Museum, Archive and Local History Services, alongside Haddington’s branch library." Wow! Did they listen to Mr GeniAus?
What was even better was that I was able to consult their online catalogue where I found numerous references to Mr GeniAus Gowans ancestors. The industrious folk at East Lothian have indexed newspapers and local archives and records. We'll be having a busy and fruitful day in Haddington when we visit the John Gray Centre to access all those references I found today.
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| Gowans Headstone |
While in Haddington we were able to add several leaves to the Gowans tree when we found several family members resting in St Mary's Church Graveyard.
Today I was doing some planning for our next jaunt which includes a few days in Scotland after an organised tour from London to Scotland. I'll visit General Register House in Edinburgh, The Heritage Hub in Hawick and return to Haddington.
I discovered that Haddington now has The John Gray Centre "The John Gray Centre brings together East Lothian Council’s Archaeology, Museum, Archive and Local History Services, alongside Haddington’s branch library." Wow! Did they listen to Mr GeniAus?
What was even better was that I was able to consult their online catalogue where I found numerous references to Mr GeniAus Gowans ancestors. The industrious folk at East Lothian have indexed newspapers and local archives and records. We'll be having a busy and fruitful day in Haddington when we visit the John Gray Centre to access all those references I found today.
That is marvellous! I wonder if Mr GeniAus' Gowans are somewhere connected to my Gowan ancestors way back when.
ReplyDeleteReally excited to learn of this great online resource. A quick scan through pages referring to my Carrick ancestors from nearby Athelstaneford, found many references. Thank you Jill.
ReplyDeleteThat would be cool Caitlin.
ReplyDeleteWow Betty - pleased to be of service.
ReplyDelete