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Join our Bothy Family History Group!

Come and see us at: Crathes Castle on 10th and 11th July

Banff History Festival 31st July and 1st August

Aberdeen Tartan Festival - Aberdeen Town House 31st July and 1st August

**LAST MEETING BEFORE SUMMER HOLIDAYS - 12th JUNE **

RETURNING 4TH SEPTEMBER 2010

12th June - Graveyard -Monumental Inscriptions Project

Meet at Portsoy Cemetery at 2pm and finish up at the Bothy.

Anne Park active member of the Aberdeen and North East Family History Society will provide an illustrated and interactive talk on the Scottish War Memorials Project. She has been involved in compiling a detailed database of war casualties which can be used to further family history research. She covers WW1 and WW2 and has invited participants to come with information of their own family history searches that have lead them to either of the World Wars.

Come along and gain tips and techniques on how to pursue your family history research, listen to speakers, participate on hands-on activities and get to know other like-minded people!

Last month Alison lead a practical session looking at the sources and software available online and to download to your PC to assist in your family history search. It was interesting to hear of other peoples experience and engage in discussion about varying techniques. After the tutorial, we were able to have a go on our own computers/laptops and put some of what we'd learnt into practice. It proved very popular and I think we will be ready for part two by the time October comes around.

The group met on 6th March when John R Barrett talked about Banffshire's clearances and deserted settlements. John is well regarded as a historian and has appeared on TV when 'Who do you think you are' researched Fiona Bruce's roots in Hopeman. He has also written several books, has contributed articles to the Knock News, and has been heavily involved in Scotland's Rural Past.

Scotland's Rural Past is a five year initiative, run by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) with partnership funding. The project, which was launched in October 2006, is working with local communities to research, record and promote Scotland's vanishing historic rural settlements and landscapes.

For more info see http://www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk/

The first meeting took place on February 6th and was a real success. People from around the area gathered to listen to Alison Smith give a seminar on Sources of Banffshire Family History Research. She covered every avenue possible from Civil Registration Records to Local news paper adverts as well as the many online sources.

The group discussed potential topics for future weeks which included special interest talks as well as practical sessions on performing an actual search. We were very pleased with the turn out and and welcome such keen and enthusiastic members.

It is estimated that globally there are between 25 and 100 million people who make up the Scottish Diaspora. The developing interest in discovering your roots is being met by a growing range of resources and facilities and we are proud to have created a further such resource at the Salmon Bothy.

Our team of volunteers has been given training in helping visitors to explore their roots and the facility includes PCs where online investigation can be carried out.

Additionally the museum will house a steadily increasing library of information and photographs about the history of the area, providing that all important extra dimension by which our visitors can discover what life was actually  like for their antecedents.

Catalogue of ancestor charts

As we build up our resources library, the focus will be on collecting material with specific relevance to the local area, i.e. Portsoy and the parish of Fordyce.

One of the tools we intend to create for genealogical research will be a catalogue of ancestor charts. Anyone with an ancestral link to Portsoy is invited to complete a family tree, so that other researchers sharing the same ancestors can make contact and exchange information of mutual interest