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  1. #1
    Join Date
    11th June 17
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    Red face Just getting started.

    Hi everyone. When I was young, and really had no interest in where I came from, my dad told me that our family descended from Scotland. He also told me that we left Scotland and migrated to Nova Scotia and then on down to New England. Well, now that I am older I have discovered that I now want to know this history. Unfortunately, all of the older folks of my family have past and I have very few family members that I can discuss this with. So, my wife and I recently went to the Scottish Highland Festival in Blairsville, Ga. I talked to a number of Clans that where there and discovered that my name, "Morris", on my dads side, is either from the Clan Gordon or the Clan Buchanan depending on what part of Scotland we originated. I have gone on line and via Nova Scotia vital statistics found that my grandfather and grandmother did indeed come from there. But so far haven't found any thing beyond them. So I guess I am asking for suggestions on how to go back further. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Don Morris.

  2. #2
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    5th August 14
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    Well met Don. I hope some members will be able to help you with the family search. I'm sorry to say I can't with that subject, but will assist with anything else if you seek. Glad to have you with us.

  3. #3
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    23rd March 12
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    from Reno, NV.
    "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.' Benjamin Franklin

  4. #4
    Join Date
    11th June 17
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    Cleveland, Ga.
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    Thanks.

    I appreciate your replies. I will be continuing my research and hopefully will find out more. Really wood like to find out what area we came from. And----Ben Franklin is correct----"beer does make us happy".

  5. #5
    Join Date
    9th July 15
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    Banks of the Black Warrior River USA
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    Can't help specifically, but, nonetheless Fàilte from Alabama!
    "We are all connected...to each other, biologically; to the earth, chemically; to the universe, atomically...and that makes me smile." - Neil deGrasse Tyson

  6. #6
    Join Date
    9th October 10
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    Outskirts of Chicago IL
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    Don,
    First, welcome.

    Second, genealogy is a paper chase. Find a record of a birth, death, marriage or immigration. Find out the whos and wheres, and go there. Lather, rinse, repeat. If it was a birth, who were the parents? If it was a death, where? Marriage, when and to whom? Immagration? Dates, tos and froms.

    Depending on how far back you want to go, you might be in for some travel. There is so much handwritten that is not available online.

    Good luck!
    Quote Originally Posted by Alan H View Post
    Some days you're the bat, some days you're the watermelon.

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  8. #7
    Join Date
    8th January 08
    Location
    The Bayou City - Houston, TX
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    If you're lucky, you will live close to a genealogy library. If not, I recommend that you join ancestry.com. Work the census and property records. Also, Find-a-Grave.com can help you locate past generations. The further back you go, rely on consistent spelling less. Use family stories up to a point and realize what may be family lore may be empty on facts.

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  10. #8
    Join Date
    16th February 13
    Location
    Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England
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    You may already have discovered this (?), but the main source for Scottish genealogy records is www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

    Also, the Latter Day Saints (LDS) have done a lot of work. At one of their places, I was shown a disk of Scottish Parish Records called (I think) "Scottish Church Records". It was useful for the pre-1850s period (before Civil Registration), and had the advantage of being searchable - so you don't have to trawl through hand-written records in date order!

    Hope this is of some help.

  11. #9
    Join Date
    27th September 17
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    United States
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pawdiddle View Post
    Hi everyone. When I was young, and really had no interest in where I came from, my dad told me that our family descended from Scotland. He also told me that we left Scotland and migrated to Nova Scotia and then on down to New England. Well, now that I am older I have discovered that I now want to know this history. Unfortunately, all of the older folks of my family have past and I have very few family members that I can discuss this with. So, my wife and I recently went to the Scottish Highland Festival in Blairsville, Ga. I talked to a number of Clans that where there and discovered that my name, "Morris", on my dads side, is either from the Clan Gordon or the Clan Buchanan depending on what part of Scotland we originated. I have gone on line and via Nova Scotia vital statistics found that my grandfather and grandmother did indeed come from there. But so far haven't found any thing beyond them. So I guess I am asking for suggestions on how to go back further. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Don Morris.
    Start with yourself and what you know. Write every detail down. Often we know more that we think we do. For example you might not remember where your great grandmother was from but perhaps you heard stories of them sled riding as children or swimming in the ocean. They wouldn't be from GA if they were sledding and they wouldn't live in the mid west if they were swimming in an ocean. Also think sideways when searching records. For example I was trying to find my g grandparents names and thought the best place to look would be on the death record of their son, my grandfather. But I could not find his death record anywhere. I decided then to look for a death record for my grandfather's brother. Sure enough I found it and found his parents names, which were of course the names of my great grandparents.

    I live in the U.S. so I can't speak for Scottish records but if you are starting here in the U.S. don't discount the records of funeral homes. (these are different then cemetery records and official death records.) funeral homes recorded a lot of useful information.

    I would encourage you to visit...
    Ancestry.com (A paid site)
    Familysearch.org (A free site)
    Scotlands people (A pay per click site.)
    and Cyndi's List (A site with a vast amount of resources from all over the world.)

    You might also want to research the highland clearances. Many families moved to Nova Scotia (which means New Scotland) after the clearances. I can't say that your family was among them but it is certainly plausible.

    Lastly, I will just caution that you check and double check your records. So many times, family names were used and re-used. It was not uncommon for a family to have two children with the same name. Also, remember that communities back in the day were not what they are today. Often children married members of families in town, so you could have 3 children from the McDonald family marry 3 children from the Allen family and it can get confusing. Don't take what others say as absolute. Do your own research and then check it again.

    Happy Hunting.
    ~Tracy

  12. #10
    Join Date
    27th December 16
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    Colorado, USA
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    Welcome. If you have information about your grandfather and grandmother there are several of us on here who could help you out. Do you know what part of Scotland your family came from? The name and place of birth are sometimes listed on a ship list. This would be a huge clue about if your family came from a Scottish clan, and what clan your family came from. If they were from lands governed by Gordon or Buchanan it would be simple. In some times of history immigrants sometimes had shortened last names or spelling changes after immigration and Morris could be from Morrison, Morse, or a few others. I have seen on several records.

    As a Morris myself I have looked into the name and found it could be from several places. The name could be Scottish (sept of clans Gordon and Buchanan or a shortened name from Morrison), Welsh (perhaps the most common for Morris families in America as Morris and spelling variations were common in Wales from 1400-1800 when the Welsh were using their fathers name as a family name), English (commonly from moor, or an old English word for the dark skinned people from parts of Africa, yet could also be geographic for people living in the moorland), Irish (commonly from either paternal names or as a description of people living in the wetlands), German, or French.

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