Janealogy - Scottish family history research

19/02/2026

Tracing a Harris family from Shropshire - relatives of my husband. Interested to find any connections.

Joseph Harris born 1857 Ratlinghope, Shropshire, married with five children. We can trace him up to 1914 but then? And his children?

31/01/2026

I’m speaking about Crofters and Crofters Commission records. 5.50pm UK time.

Hi ,

Love tracing your family history? Don't miss our conference tomorrow.

Coming up at the January 2026 Conference:

'How did my Scottish ancestors get married?' by Tahitia McCabe, Head of the Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies

'Taking The High Road' by Andrew Armstrong, genealogist at Relatively Scottish

'The Edinburgh Public Dispensary, Patients and Doctors' by Daisy Cunynghame, Heritage Manager & Librarian at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE)

'Dive Deeper Into Scottish Church Records' by Alison Spring, genealogist at Scottish Ancestral Research

'Crofter ancestors and the Crofters Commission records' by Jane Harris, retired genealogist

'Using DNA for Family History Research - A Beginner's Guide' by Chris Paton, genealogist and author

'Locating Scottish Burial Records' by Emma Maxwell

Scottish Genealogy Q&A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell, genealogist and co-founder of Scottish Indexes

15/10/2025

Any followers in the area?

Come and meet us (and many societies and vendors) at the Oxfordshire Family History Society Family History Fair on Saturday 25 Oct 2025. 10am to 4pm at Cherwell School (North Site), Oxford. Free entry, free parking, and chance to chat about !

30/09/2025

A peedie bit aboot crofters rent reductions in the 1880s.

with Jane Harris

22/07/2025

This is something I’ve been involved in over the last months. My father was a Crockness boy. The collaboration with Orkney Museum has been very worthwhile.

05/06/2025

Haven't written a blog for a long time, until today. It's a bit long but it needed to be written. Hope you can follow.
https://janealogy.co.uk/blog/father-and-three-sons-lost-at-sea/

Family information said Walter Ross and his three sons, from North Walls, Orkney, were all lost at sea but was this really the case?

15/04/2025

Thinking about “doing” the NC500? Forget it. You don’t “do” a living community, it’s not a Disneyland-like theme park or a tickbox exercise.
But do come and explore the north of Scotland courteously. So much to see, history, nature and living places to enjoy. The train is a great starting point - I really recommend a trip on the line north from Inverness. This page has lots of ideas for a start : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573792583684&mibextid=wwXIfr

The Far North Line Community Rail Partnership works with local communities to promote our rail service and other integrated transport modes, encouraging sustainable tourism, developing community cohesion and advancing economic development.

31/12/2024

Happy New Year for 2025.
Though I'm not really doing client work any longer, family history is still a passion. After about two weeks with little or no research I've had a very enjoyable afternoon sorting photos donated to St John's Kirk - Walls Heritage (Orkney) where I'm a trustee. Really exciting, I think I've found my great-grandmother Helen Wilson (1853-1938) in one of them as a guest at a wedding! She's the elderly woman with the hat in the photo below, with her daughter Johannah, grand-daughters Nelly and Edith, and two great-grandchildren Albert and Delphine.

08/11/2024

Looking for an online genealogy community? Desperate to leave/have left the former Twitter? I'd try Bluesky. Signed up at the end of last week, it's very like Twitter used to be in format. Over the last days a LOT of genealogy and related people have joined so the content is starting to have a real buzz and community feel. It would be great to see more societies, organisations etc there too eg Orkney Library & Archive Orkney Family History Society Association of Professional Genealogists ScotWays Scottish Indexes But I appreciate that it can take a while to get agreement to move platforms. Here's hoping...

Social media as it should be. Find your community among millions of users, unleash your creativity, and have some fun again.

17/09/2024

Booked for this. Looks really interesting even if you have no Shetland ancestry (I have a x3 great grandmother, Clement(ina) Johnston). Book now!

The conference will start at 4 pm British Summer Time. After we have watched all the presentations, a Q&A with the speakers will be held.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5317242274361/WN_c52oP3GOQ-StVsPNwlg7ZA

Here are the UK times:

4:00 pm - Introduction and welcome by Susan Cooper and Alan Beattie

4:08 pm - ‘How To Get The Most From Your Local Newspapers Online’ by Rose Staveley-Wadham, Findmypast

4:45 pm - 'The Shetland dialect through Poetry' by Mary Blance and Laureen Johnson

5:40 pm - 'Honouring ‘Shetland Heroes’ WWI memorials' by Linda Riddell

6:20 pm - 'Spinsters, Widows and Wives: Telling the Stories of Shetland’s Women' by Karen Inkster Vance

7:10 pm - 'Introduction to the Shetland Archives' by Mark Smith

7:50 pm - Q&A

06/08/2024

Very good news!

We have an announcement

We are very pleased to say that our Archive Catalogue is now online. For the first time you can now explore all our collection descriptions at home.

https://www.orkney.gov.uk/latest-news/access-to-orkney-s-rich-heritage-easier-than-ever-as-museum-and-archive-services-launch-online-catalogue/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEe529leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYIpF2IcKHNPxGq3ur1N0Cwzq12w7M5ddVYS16usfggJeMTDTmQ48TymlQ_aem_YQTo64s2nt4xnvzhIPHmIA

13/06/2024