Ancestral Tourism - Preparing for your 'Genealogy Holiday'

Introduction

Perhaps the best line of the entire U.S. Who Do You Think You Are? series was spoken by Angie Harmon as she stood on her family's farm, looking out at the same land her ancestors had once owned.   

"I just feel so whole" nicely sums up the entire ancestral journey. Year after year, as I take people to Scotland to research their family history, I hear participants tell me, "as soon as I stepped on Scottish soil, I felt like I was home. I knew I belonged."  There is no greater, more humbling experience than traveling to the land of your ancestors. The feelings of belonging and connection are powerful and make a compelling argument for the idea of memory being passed down through our DNA. 

As any family history researcher will tell you, there is great excitement when you find your ancestor in a document. Tangible verification of their existence. And there is a sense of wonder when you see their signature. It is almost as if you could reach out and touch them. Multiply that by infinity when you walk the streets they walked, see the houses they lived in, the factories they worked in, the churches they worshiped in. These moments provide a deep sense of affinity for your ancestors. A deep appreciation of their battles and struggles. A sense of pride as they overcame in order to carry on.

All of this culminates in an irreducible sense of belonging as you come to understand not only their story but also your own history. How you came to be.

Traveling to the home of your ancestors takes planning. It is not enough to show up in the village, head to the local pub and start asking questions. You need to do some planning ahead of time. Do some research before you go. Learn about what repositories are available, what archival materials they hold, who can access the documents and what identification is required to research in each repository.

Make sure that your Family Tree is up to date. Make it portable. Have it on a laptop, iPad, or tablet so that you can access the information in Scotland. If you want, you can print off Family Group Sheets or create a spreadsheet and write down what you are missing and hope to find when you are in Scotland. 

Create a Research Plan

• Make a list of all of the documents you already have copies or originals of. This will prevent you wasting time searching for information you already have. Remember, you will be able to see births newer than 100 years, marriage records newer than 75 years and death records newer than 50 years, so you will want to make a list of the more recent records you want to have a look and transcribe at while you are in Edinburgh. 

• Think about the next steps. What questions are you hoping to answer with your onsite research? What documents would you still like to get? What else do you want to know about your ancestors?

• Write out your brick walls and think about what you want to find out to help break those down. Do you need to look at parish records, voters rolls, apprentice records, maps, directories, newspapers? This will help to focus and guide your research time. 

Create a Travel Plan:

Decide which repositories you want/need to visit. Visit their websites. Learn what hours and days they are open then plan accordingly. Are they in the same city? If not, how many can you realistically visit in the time you have?

Create an Itinerary 

Where else do you want to visit? Do you want to see the village, town or city your ancestor lived in? How will you get there? How long will that take?  

• Prioritize what you want to see, what records you want to get. If time is limited then decide to work at only the top three. If time allows, you can get to the next items on your list. 
• You may want to consult a professional genealogist before you go. This will help you to better plan your time and keep you focussed on exactly what it is that you hope to achieve during your quest to learn more about your ancestors.
  

When you are finished researching for the day, take the time to enjoy this fascinating country. Edinburgh is an ancient city. A wonderful combination of old and new. A wealth of history. Full of culture. And, yes, tourists. Edinburgh has a brilliant bus system and you can get to anywhere fairly easily. Of course, for those so inclined, Edinburgh is a fabulous city to walk. Edinburgh is a central hub for train travel as well and you can catch a train from Waverley to nearly every region of Scotland, making it easy to get to the area where your ancestors lived.  

Glasgow has a rich history as a working man's town. Glasgow was the main port of departure for our ancestors, thanks to the River Clyde and the Shipbuilding industry. I have to admit to not using the bus system in Glasgow. Everywhere I need to go, I walk to. However, like Edinburgh, Glasgow is really quite easy to get around in. On foot, by bus, by train or by subway. Again, Glasgow is a major hub for train travel and you can easily catch a train to almost anywhere you want to go.

Inverness.....Oh Inverness....the Highlands, the history, the scenery.

Take Time to Learn the Social History of Your Ancestors

There is so much more to understanding the lives of your ancestors than simply knowing the dates of the vital events in their lives. Take time to really understand the times in which they lived. How they lived. What they did for entertainment, where they worked, what the laws and social norms were. You can do this by:

• Visiting Museums
• Visiting Historic Sites
• Talking to Locals
• Take City Tours
• Reading, reading, reading

Discover Your Own Scottish Heritage

One of the realities for the descendants of the Scots diaspora who return to Scotland to research their roots is that they are neither visiting nor touring. They are returning HOME. So many of Scots heritage will tell you that the moment they set foot on Scottish soil, they had a sense of "coming home" Indulge yourself in your heritage. Take pride. Drink it in. Absorb it. Here's how:

• Visit Pubs
• Attend Festivals
• Take part in Highland Games, Clan Gatherings, Celebrations, Re-enactments

Scotland doesn’t need to be expensive. There are a number of quaint B&Bs and mid-level hotels that provide comfort and cleanliness and a safe place to stay for relatively reasonable rates. The Scottish Tourist Board http://www.visitscotland.com/en-ca/ is the best place to check for accommodation. 

Planning ahead will help you to make the best use of your time in Scotland. And ultimately that will make your quest to discover your ancestors and your own Scottish heritage more fulfilling. You can download an eGuide to researching your Scottish ancestry and preparing for an ancestral holiday from the VisitScotland website: http://www.visitscotland.com/en-ca/about/ancestry/start-your-ancestral-journey-to-scotland

If you wish to join an organized tour, please be aware that less than a handful of the Scottish-based Ancestral tour companies are run by genealogists. They are in fact travel companies, and while their tours may be a great way to see Scotland, you will not get the assistance you need in furthering your genealogy research. While you may get to the village or town where your ancestors lived, very few will take you to see your ancestral haunts (churches, schools, places of work, churches, graveyards). None of these companies include time in archival repositories.

My company,  (http://www.genealogytoursofscotland.ca, although based in Canada, provides protected time at the ScotlandsPeople Centre, the Scottish Genealogy Centre and the National Library of Scotland. These are all based in Edinburgh and while on the tour, you will receive personal assistance from the archivists in each location.

In addition to the repository visits, time is available to travel to the area of Scotland where your ancestors lived. I provide connections to ancestral tour companies, run by genealogists in Scotland, who will give you a personalised tour of your ancestors home area including graveyards, churches, streets, business and anything else you may wish to see that is still standing.

If a visit to Scotland is on your bucket list, I guarantee as soon as you arrive, you will get the sense of "being home". If genealogy research is on  your to-do list while in Scotland, give me a shout and I can assist you to make the most of your ancestral visit. (Contact Christine) Either way, you won't be disappointed.

Live Q&A with Christine

Come and join #AncestryHour on the 10th September at 7.00pm BST and chat with Christine live online, about how you can get the most out of your "genealogy holiday"! Please register at http://www.ancestryhour.co.uk/ancestraltourism-live-qa.html

Links

Keep up to speed and see what Christine is up to by following her:

Website: http://www.genealogytoursofscotland.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scottish-Genealogy/149525735139281
Twitter: https://twitter.com/genealogytours
Blogs: http://scottishgenealogytipsntricks.blogspot.ca/
http://genealogytoursofscotland.blogspot.ca/