SCOTTISH RESEARCH ONLINE
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
Readers interested in researching their Scottish ancestry online will find the Scotland’s People website most helpful. This official government subscription website at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ contains nearly 37 million names in a fully searchable index of Scottish births from 1553-1902, marriages from 1553 to 1854 and deaths from 1855 to 1952. It also contains indexed census data from 1881 to 1901 while data from censuses 1841-1871 is planned to be added to the website during the Winter 2003 or Spring 2004.
To respect privacy of living people, internet access on this website has been limited to birth records over 100 years old, marriage records over 75 years, and death records over 50 years.
Another aid to Scottish research is a reprint of The Gazetteer of Scotland originally published in 1892 by Rev. John Wilson. Based on the Scotland’s Census of 1881 the book is reputed to contain locations and descriptions of every town and village in the Country.
This indispensable reference is now available for $29, postpaid, from Willow Bend Books, 65 East Main Street, Westminster, MD 21157-5026 by telephone 800-876-6103.
SCOTTISH MEET IN HOUSTON AND ARLINGTON
Over the next several weeks two Celtic Festivals will be held in Texas. One in Houston and the other in Arlington. Both festivals will feature educational classes plus world class Scottish Highland athletic, music and dance competition.
The Houston Highland Games and Celtic Festival will be held during daylight hours at the Houston Farm and Ranch Club on Friday, Saturday and Sunday May 16 through May 18. The HFRC is located at Bear Creek Park on Highway 6 at Patterson Road two miles north of Interstate 10 in West Houston.
Admission to the Houston event is $12 for adults on Saturday, $10 on Sunday and $5 for seniors over age 65 and children accompanied by a parent.
For more information call 713-622-0611 or visit their website at
The second festival, the Texas Scottish Festival and Highlands Games, will be held Friday June 6 through Sunday June 8 at the University of Texas at Arlington’s Maverick Stadium, in Arlington.
This Highlands games is the largest in Texas and the Southwest. It hosts tents representing over seventy different Scottish clan societies and has five large entertainment tents featuring many musical entertainers from Scotland.
Admission to the Arlington event is $15 for adults on Saturday and $10 on Sunday, $7 on Saturday and $5 on Sunday for teens ages 13-17 and $4 each day for children ages 6-12.
The games and competitions are held during the daylight hours while music and entertainment continue until midnight Friday and Saturday night and until 6 p.m. on Sunday.
SCOTTISH SYMPOSIUM
A daylong Scottish Family History Symposium is held each year in conjunction with the Texas Scottish Festival and Highlands Games in Arlington. This years’ symposium, Scottish Immigration to America, will feature renowned genealogist and historian David Dobson of St. Andrews Scotland. Dobson is considered the foremost expert on the Scottish diaspora and is the author of numerous books on the subject.
The symposium will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday June 6 at the LaQuinta Conference Center which is located adjacent Six Flags Amusement Park in Arlington. Registration is $45 and includes all seminar costs, buffet lunch and break refreshments.
For more information and to make reservations call 800-650-1918 or visit the Festival website at http://www.texasscottishfestival.com/index2.htm .
