Family name, to Clan, to Tartan

[Scotus]

I agree with Big Paul. I have been into genealogy for about 24 years and am working on editing my second published book. GenForum is a good place to find cousins you never knew you had. Others out there might be searching for the same family and will be able to save you a lot of time and work. I have just two warnings. Firstly, realize that you must take the non-primary and non-secondary sources with a grain of salt. Books based on these two types of sources are very good too. Family tradition is probably the worst source of information. You must prove everything. Secondly, genealogy can be addictive and it is rather an anti-social hobby. You can find yourself spending long hours in genealogy libraries or walking through cemeteries looking for dead ancestors.

[Big Paul]

You can find yourself spending long hours in genealogy libraries or walking through cemeteries looking for dead ancestors.

I agree totally! I have spent many a hot summers day wandering the cemeteries of Kentucky... And many a night head long in books..

Another gret place to visit is the Allen Co. Liberary in Ft. Wayne IN.
http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/index.html
It is the largest Genealogial depostitory out side of Saltlake City... I spent two weeks there, every night after work, till they kicked me out at closing.. I found a ton of data.

[macwilkin]

Thanks, Paul -- how could I forget Allen County?

For those working on Scottish genealogy, the Odom Library in Moultrie, Georgia is a "must":

http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/

http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...about_odom.htm

They are the depository for a large number of clan & family societies, etc. -- a veritable "treasure-trove"! :mrgreen:

Another good source for genealogical information is the Mid Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri:

http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/genlh/

Cheers,

Todd

[Big Paul]

Also, be very careful of the information you get from LDS (Mormon) Church. I have found, and heard of, many inaccuracies with their data. Much of it is unreferenced and unchecked. don't get me wrong, it's still a great source, just verify everything.

[macwilkin]

Also, be very careful of the information you get from LDS (Mormon) Church. I have found, and heard of, many inaccuracies with their data. Much of it is unreferenced and unchecked. don't get me wrong, it's still a great source, just verify everything.

I've heard good & bad things about LDS's Family History program, Paul -- but you are right, verify everything.

T.

[Scotus]

The Newberry Library in Chicago is one of the larger genealogical libraries in the country. That's where I have spent many-a-day. I believe have broken the addic.... I mean.... hobby of genealogy. I had better not post too many replies on this thread or IT will draw me back into it's clutches. hehe

[Rufus]

I've heard good & bad things about LDS's Family History program, Paul -- but you are right, verify everything.

T.

One of the main problems is that anyone is able to submit unverified information to the LDS Family History records. It even warns you on familysearch.org that you'll need to very the records.

If you're a member of the LDS church, you can gain access to more complete records concerning baptisms (incl. for the dead), confirmation, temple endowments, etc. My sister told me this weekend that she's been using this information, because it's much more accurate. Just a little tip for any LDS people on the forum.

[Sir Robert]

Verify your geneology, You would think that you would know what your parent's names were, right? I didn't untill I did the geneology. My Father was a Craig raised by his Mother's sister and her husband who adopted him and gave him their name Von Whupperfeld. My Father's signature was J.W.Craig. So I am Barron Von Whupperfeld right? No. I found that I have an older brother named Jerry so he gets the Barrony and I get the shaft.

My Mother's side is even more wierd. Verify everything.

Now sometimes it just don't matter for example there were 5 families of Donnells in North Carolina in 1703. now the hardcorp geneologists have confirmed that 4 of those families were blood kin to each other but the 5th can NOT be tied to the others not by the records anyway. You are warned sternly that the fifth family is not related to the others by the geneologists. OK I started looking at the records and low and behold in my family (the fifth bunch) a Donnell married a Donnell, well I do not beleive he married his sister, more likely he married his cousin from the other group of four Donnell families.
So dispite the most stern warnings I treat this whole set of Donnells as kinfolk. These people were Presberierians and thus were Scots who came over from Ireland. The famous Scotch-Irish. I know because the cemetary where they are buried is Presberierian, if they were buried in a Catholic church I would guess Irish.

[Sir Robert]

As I have said before but nobody listens to me, The Picts (Native Britons)were Matralineal while the Scots (Irish immigrants to Pictland) were Patralineal so look as hard on your Mother's side as your Dads'. It is traditional.

Start with a simple ancestor chart and start to fill in the blanks. You will be lucky to get back very far by asking Grand-Dad but the farther you get the better. Next ask the oldest relitives that you can, fill in that chart, cousins, aunts as much as you can. From this point research the oldest names in each branch, when and where were they born, look up those records that will get you that person's parent's names. Now when you are stumped then start the internet searches If you are lucky you will find that some Aunt or Cousin has don all of the work for you. Then you connect your tree to their's and you get a free ride back several generations.

What you want is a Scottish name like MacX, this is your link. If you are just looking for a tartan, that is as far as you need go.

Leatham looks English and Jeppsen might be Danish, so keep going farther back.