Searching for your
Perthshire Roots

Tracing your family history, or genealogy has become a hugely significant with a history like that of Perthshire. The advent of the internet has enabled a generation of genealogists to identify ancestors from hundreds of years ago and to establish biological, genetic or distant family links with the county.

Since the 1970's, there has been an imense amount of data converted and stored in computer databases vailable via the internet or CD. This information is available from many dedicated genealogical resources throughout the county.

Perthshire experienced large-scale migration throughout the 18th and 19th centuries as Scots headed for North America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and beyond. Whole communities were displaced as a result of The Highland Clearance, while others left of their own accord looking for that new life of opportunity. It is estimated that today some 11 million Americans have some Scottish ancestry, making them the eighth largest ethnic group in the United States. Events such as Tartan Day celebrate that fact and has led to a huge increase in genealogy research from across the Atlantic. So how do you start this quest. The following are a few thoughts for you to ponder on to help you find your Perthshire roots.

• Where did your ancestors come from
• What did they do?
• How did they live?
• Were they rich/poor?
• Are there any skeletons in the cupboard?

Whether you are just starting out on this quest to research your family history, or already well down the path of tracing your ancestors, the following pages and useful links are to help make the task a little easier.

The following links take you to a page explaining in more detail the topic.

• Prepare a Plan - Work from here and now with you as the start point going back in time.
• Keeping Records
• Visit your ancestoral home

You never know where a paricaular lead might take you . When I was researching my own paternal family history, I found some interesting facts concerning the way they lived and the work they were involved in. The one thing you must have is patience and a methodical recording system. Always write ALL the information you find or receive down. Some may not seem relevant at the time but may be the key to something you come across later on in your research.