Tracing Your Outer Hebridean Ancestors Part 3

A closer look at location

The locations where your ancestors lived, worked, and died can be great starting points for research. Regardless of whether you’re in the Hebrides yourself or conducting research from lands far away, it can be useful to have a map at hand to help you place your ancestors.

Jot down your ancestor’s place of birth, marriage and death. Add in the addresses you found in the census records (see Part 2 if you haven’t already). Do the same for their parents, and also their children. Continue for the wider family if you like. What does this information tell you? Did the family remain relatively static across the generations within one parish? Did the whole family relocate? Did individuals relocate for work? Did any move overseas? Any surprises?

Locations can help you narrow your search parameters when looking for ancestors. If you know your great grandmother was born in North Uist, this may be a useful clue when the time comes to look for her parents. However, much more about your ancestors’ lives can be gleaned by taking the time to research the locations and communities they lived in.

Getting to know a location can tell you lots about the people that lived there. What were the religious denominations, local occupations and industries, traditions and customs, schools, and population figures. Were there any major events or tragedies? Any medical outbreaks? Any local figures of note?

This is where your family history research will crossover into local history research, but the latter will add so much valuable context to your ancestors’ lives it is well worth doing.

Newspapers are your friends here. They can provide some fascinating glimpses into your communities of interest. Search the British Newspaper Archive for specific locations and see what was newsworthy. Don’t assume your ancestors were too boring to appear in the papers. You never know what you will find.

If you want a general overview of a place you may find Gazetteers of Scotland 1803-1901 helpful. Some descriptions are more detailed than others, but they can give a sense of the general topography, climate, population, landmarks and give statistics, such as number of churches and schools etc. For example, here is an entry for South Uist dating from 1901.

Museums are another great option. National museums may have holdings and displays relevant to your ancestors’ lives, but local museums are even better as they will have a greater focus on the local area. If you are able to visit them this is well worth the trip. There may be displays and exhibits relevant to the social and domestic aspects of their lives, as well as the more notable events to affect the area.

Historical societies should also be on your radar, and there are many covering the whole Outer Hebrides. Many of these societies have spent decades building archives of local genealogical sources and photographs, and the staff will be happy to help you with your research enquiries. They may also have publications of individual croft histories or other aspects of local history that may be invaluable.

If you discover in the census that your family are living in Laxay, for example, a great port of call would be Kinloch Historical Society. Meanwhile, if a marriage record reveals that the groom was from Bragar, then contacting West Side Historical Society may prove fruitful. You may even be able to find more recent ancestors (nineteenth century onwards) in local cemeteries. Again it’s worth asking local historical societies if there exists any cemetery plans or transcriptions of memorial stones. This research may have been conducted already by local volunteers. Otherwise, there are many online resources that may be helpful and there is a list of them here.

The various historical societies are listed below along with the areas they cover:

While nothing beats walking the same streets your ancestors did, where this isn’t practical you can do so virtually using services such as Google Street View.   If you know your ancestor worked in the schoolhouse, post office, mill or smithy, Google these places. You may even be able to identify them on historic maps. More permanent buildings, such as the churches your ancestors were baptised or married in, may well have images, histories, or even virtual tours online. If you get stuck, nothing beats local knowledge. Ask the local historical society, or see if there are any local history groups on Facebook that can help answer your question.

The National Library of Scotland has a huge collection of historic maps that are all free to view online. They have Estate Maps of the Hebrides here, which offer fascinating insights into historic estate management, such as acreage, which moors were common grazings, and which tenants had the use of which patches. You will find some historic town plans here, which may be useful if you had ancestors in Stornoway. Use the map finder to search for your particular area of interest and see what maps are available.

Also of interest may be Scottish Valuation Rolls, which you can access via Scotland’s People, though you will need to purchase credits to view them.  Valuation Rolls basically document property ownership from 1855 onwards. They were compiled to assist with the collection of local tax and include details about owners and occupiers of buildings, though only the heads of the households were named. They were compiled annually, so they can be a handy way of tracing ancestors between censuses. They can also be interesting if you want to explore the history of a specific building. If you are searching for crofting ancestors they may well appear in these records and you’ll see what rent they owed the proprietor for their house and croft.

Two more sources you may want to dive into are The Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-1845, and the Medical Officer of Health Reports 1891. Now these may sound like heavy reading but actually they are full of fascinating bits of information that can tell you a lot about your ancestors. The statistical accounts aren’t just full of figures. The entry for Lochs (1845), for example, has information about topography, climate, traditions, landowners, local industry, habits and language of the people, roads, churches, education, charitable contributions to the poor, and sources of fuel. Meanwhile, the Medical Officer of Health Reports offer insights into the state of health in each region, and what were the most common outbreaks, but are also full of observations on things like the state of dwelling houses, and schools, and whether they had access to fresh water and were properly ventilated. This may give you a fresh perspective on any ancestors that were living on the Hebrides in the 1890s or roundabouts. 

Hopefully this has inspired you to take a deeper look at the locations where your ancestors lived and worked. In the next part we will explore how to put their lives in historical context so you can better understand their behaviours and day to day challenges.