Family history across the seas

My A2Z 2016 theme is how to pursue an interest in family history/genealogy – I’d love you to join me on the journey.

K is for KIRK SESSIONS

One of the great things about the Church of Scotland is their obsession with right living, sin, and public confession. They had a great skill of getting to the bottom of the story. In the course of this process it’s amazing what is revealed. When I was last in Scotland I wanted to look up the Kirk Sessions for this reason. In the end I spent far more time than I intended, reading page after page of the Glenorchy and Inishail parish Kirk Sessions. Apart from a huge scandal involving one of my ancestor’s siblings and her brother-in-law, there are more mundane snippets to be discovered like the following short extract:

“…. declarant that he had seen the parties come out of a small house belonging to Duncan McCorquodale, declares further that this statement was made to declarant by Dugald Fletcher Balimore who is in the employ of Mr Campbell  Inverawe and under the charge of Andrew Davidson who is  grieve with said Mr Campbell Inverawe, … declares further that during the course of the night in question an Irish Pedlar who that night lodged in Duncan McCorquodale’s house …”[i].

Not only does it give a place of residence, but also often the person’s employers. Even more special to me is that it identifies my 4xgreat grandfather’s house as a small one – meaning even by the local standards of small houses, it must have been especially small, as evidenced by the remains of the house’s footprints that we later saw. Not only was his family living there, but obviously he even accommodated pedlars from time to time.

If there’s one record I would absolutely love to have digitised, it’s the kirk sessions, though it would have to be as a paid subscription – just searching by name wouldn’t work for me.

If you’re looking for further information on Kirk Sessions and all matters genealogical relating to Scotland you may be interested in this book by Scottish researcher Chris Paton and published by Australia’s Unlock the Past.

K is for KIVA

You may wonder what a “charity” has to do with genealogy,  but it’s because of a group established by Australian professional researcher Judy Webster in September 2011, and which is called Kiva Genealogists for Families. In less than five years, over $181,000 loans in 78 countries have been made by 315 genealogists keen to make a difference in the world. It’s important to know these are loans to families, like our own, who want to work hard to help their families. As the loans are repaid you can choose to relend or take the cash back.  You can read my FAQs here.

[i] Kirk Session held at Inishdrynich June 5th 1839, Inishail Kirk Sessions, National Archives of Scotland.