Trace Your Family's Tartan Roots on Tartan Day 2010!
Issued: 31 March 2010
Researching family history is one of the world's most popular pastimes - and, thanks to TV programmes such as 'Who Do You Think You Are?' and events such as the Angus and Dundee Roots Festival, large numbers of people across Angus and Dundee are currently tracing their own family tree.
On Tartan Day – Tuesday, April 6 – the local archives containing hundreds of years of records will throw open their doors so people from near and far can discover more about their family's ancestral links to Angus and Dundee. The Angus Archives at Restenneth Priory provide access to records which can help immensely when undertaking genealogical research, including Census returns, Old Parish Registers of the Angus parishes, school log books, trade records and poor relief records.
During the Angus Archives Tartan Day Open Day, which is from 10am until 4pm on April 6, Angus Council's Senior Archivist, Fiona Scharlau, and her team will be on hand to provide assistance and advice. "Tartan Day often inspires people to find out just how Scottish their family is," said Fiona. "We're really looking forward to participating in this year's Tartan Day Scotland celebrations by helping anyone interested in their family's history to find out more about their Angus ancestors.
"However, I often warn visitors to the Archives that, as we also hold confessions from Forfar witches and accounts of pirate attacks on Arbroath, it's very easy to be sidetracked!"
Dundee Family History Centre's Tartan Day Open Day runs from 10am until 12 noon and 2pm until 4pm on April 6. Dundee Family History Centre - which is at Dundee's Central Library in the Wellgate - provides access to records such as Old Parish Registers, Census returns for Dundee from 1841-1901 and Dundee Electoral Registers from 1857 to the present day. The Centre also holds local newspapers from 1803 onwards – if your relatives were in the papers, you might be able to read all about them!
During the Open Day, the Archive's highly-experienced family history researchers will be on hand to assist with genealogical research. In the morning, they will be joined by experts from Tay Valley Family History Society, the main centre for family history research in the Tay Valley area, which covers Angus, Fife, Kinross and Perthshire.
In addition, the highly-rated genealogical website Deceased Online, which provides online access to Angus burial records, will be giving free demonstrations at Dundee Family History Centre on the morning of April 6 and at Angus Archives in the afternoon.
"There's a treasure trove of genealogical information to be found in burial records," explained Stewart Wilkie of Deceased Online. "Angus is the first local authority in Scotland to provide online access to their burial records, which is a real bonus when looking for information about a local family, whether from Angus or Dundee, as many Dundee families have strong links to Angus."
To find out about all the events taking place across Angus during Tartan Day Scotland, which is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, the Tartan Day events guide can be downloaded at the What's On in Angus page.
The Tartan Day Events Guide is also available from accommodation providers and visitor attractions in Angus, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeenshire and at museums, libraries and Access offices in Angus.
Angus Council's Senior Archivist, Fiona Scharlau, shows visitors one of the ancient documents held by the Angus Archives.
