Tracing Family roots

[Scratchy's Lass]

http://www.siol-nan-gaidheal.com/battles.htm

Year Place Location

977 Skida Moor, Caithness - local battle

100*? Skidhamyrr, Caithness - Norsemen attack Scots

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb..../bbattles.html

977 Skida Moor - Caithness - Liotr beat Magbiodr

10th Century Skidhamyrr - Skitten, North West of Wick, Caithness - Two battles between Norsemen of Orkney & the Scots of Moray. Results & Dates unknown

So, I dig up Caithness info, inter alia, here: http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/caithnes.htm, and here: http://www.frayston.demon.co.uk/genuki/cai/index.htm, and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caithness

and I finally track down "Liotr"..... but ARGH! There seems nothing to be found via google for "Magbiodr" (whether it be a place-name or a person name). I even hunted through endless sites online pertaining to Scotland-relevant definitions, all manner of relevant dictionaries, and so on.

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were.... and there's a total dead end trying to attack it from the "Magbiodr" angle. *sigh*

Why, one might ask? Well........... maiden surname is "Skidmore".

As kids we were told by my father (Skidmore) that those ancestors originated from "English criminal(s)" exiled to Australia, and my mother's side of the family (Anderson) were determined to be decended from [UK/British] "sheep herders"

The immediate Skidmore family was "Protestant". My mother's parents and all the way up the immediate line on her side were Catholic. (And no, NEITHER sets of my grandparents could tolerate each other or my respective parents - go figure ) Kinda fits the scenario.....

I have fleeting memories of either my great-grandmother or one of my great-aunts singing Irish lullabies (AND of being told, "Shush. We don't talk about the Irish in the family, dear.")

I actually found online documents indicating a George Skidmore, a "plumber's " labourer" came to on the "Clara", at age 18 having been sentenced in 1852 in "Lewes" (East Sussex) to 7 yrs. incarceration for "Larceny from the person" and arriving in NSW/Western Australia in 1857. But, whether I am of his line, I can't establish yet.

Which takes me all 'round the circle to wanting to know more about the location "Skida Moor"/"Skidhamyrr" - cause the similarity between those place-names and my maiden surname is just too close to leave a mystery.

*searches for a :crazymaking: smilie *

[Celtic Amazon Goddess]

Magbiodr is a name you can find out more about it on this site.....
http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/...h-battles.html

then go to your edit tab and click "select all" then click on" find in this page" then click enter and it will highlight all the place that name appears.
here is what i found by doing that.
under A List of Scottish Battles by Region Including Dates & Other Information
Region- Caithness
Year -0977
Location-Skida Moor
other informaion- Liotr bt Magbiodr
sounds like a name to me, due to the fact that most of the others are names .

hope this helps

[Mike1]

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were.... and there's a total dead end trying to attack it from the "Magbiodr" angle. *sigh*

Don't give up yet, you're actually getting closer than you might imagine.

Try using Skitten Moor for your search. I think you will be able to center your search in the area north of a line between Wick and Keiss.

The airfield at Skitten was the base for Operation Freshman. You will do better to use older maps of Scotland in your search.

[gilmore]

Don't give up yet, you're actually getting closer than you might imagine.

Try using Skitten Moor for your search. I think you will be able to center your search in the area north of a line between Wick and Keiss.

The airfield at Skitten was the base for Operation Freshman. You will do better to use older maps of Scotland in your search.

I would VERY strongly advise giving up that line of inquiry.

In genealogy we ALWAYS work from the present backward, NEVER the other way around. Rather than unearthing several place names that are the same as one's last name and then deciding to be decsended from people who lived at one of them, one would be much better served tracing backward from what one knows. It can be tedious, boring and not at all glamorous going through old records, and troublesome sometimes to have to travel great distances to get to them, but there really is no substitute if you want to do sound research that will withstand the scrutiny of others. Otherwise one is just wasting everyone's time with fanciful stories.

If you want to know who your father's ancestors were, the simplest thing is to ask your father, if he is living. Failing that, one goes to the census records, if in the US. You can see them at no cost at the closest federal archives, or you can subscribe to ancestry.com and access them online, up to the 1930 census.

[macwilkin]

You can see them at no cost at the closest federal archives, or you can subscribe to ancestry.com and access them online, up to the 1930 census.

I would add that many public libraries maintain subscriptions for their patrons to use free of charge in their local history & genealogy departments.

T.

[Mike1]

I would VERY strongly advise giving up that line of inquiry.

Take a deep breath and re-read my post. I wasn't working the genealogical angle of anything, I was referring to a GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. Do you see me making any reference to any family names in my post? I was simply explaining that her search for Skidhamyrr or Skida Muir might be made easier by using the name of the area as it is known today, Skitten Moor.

Take a second look at the lassie's comment, where she (not I) highlighted the word 'where' -

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were....

She knew the name referred to a place, rather than a family, and I gave her a direction to look into. The area has also been known as Skida Myre and also as the Moss of Wester.

I would VERY strongly advise remembering Scottish PEOPLE lived in Scottish PLACES and your explanation of how to perform proper genealogical research is utterly useless in locating those places.

[oregonscot]

I must agree with Sir Robert. My last name,Greenly, is not very common, at least not on the west coast. I found and talked with someone from Pennsylvania, with the same last name and spelling as me. Lo and behold he had been told the same story as me,of how 3 brothers had come over from Ireland, one stayed back there, one went to the south and one went west. So far enough back we are related.

[Frank McGrath]

My wife and I are amatuer geneologists. We have been researching the McGraths and the Moores. We have found that I am a 5th gen Washingtonian (DC), On my father's side and a 5th gen Carroll Countian, On my mother's side. We were doing so much research in Carroll county, that we decided to move here. Oh, yes, Carroll County Maryland.
I guess that the Carroll People write much down. We are stuck At just before the Revolutionary war. Could be Mohr, Could be Moor, or Moore. I will just keep looking. Got to be a Scot in there somewhere.

[scoutniagara]

This thread is leading me to get into geneology again in tracing my Scottish roots. Years ago I stopped, when I ran into a road block, looking for the parents of my GGGGGF, Peter Glennie (1800), born in the Kemnay/Invernessshire area. I've been to my GGF's grave at Coulsalmond, but couldn't find records of Peter's parents. Now that the internet is better, is there an inexpensive way to search from home?

[gilmore]

This thread is leading me to get into geneology again in tracing my Scottish roots. Years ago I stopped, when I ran into a road block, looking for the parents of my GGGGGF, Peter Glennie (1800), born in the Kemnay/Invernessshire area. I've been to my GGF's grave at Coulsalmond, but couldn't find records of Peter's parents. Now that the internet is better, is there an inexpensive way to search from home?

You might try these links:

http://www.nas.gov.uk/

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/

http://scotfamtree.11.forumer.com/index.php/

but none of them is particularly inexpensive, by US standards. In stereotypically Scots fashion, they get every nickel and dime out of the researcher they can, even the government's sites. The other day I came across some one on eBay who says that her rates are cheaper, but did not bookmark her. You could probably find her in search there. I think she lives in NZ or Australia.