Tracing Family roots

[jordanjm]

A really good website to help you get started doing geneology is http://www.familysearch.org

[gilmore]

A really good website to help you get started doing geneology is http://www.familysearch.org

Unfortunately, the LDS (Mormon) genealogical archives are not as accurate as one would like. They accept almost anything that is contributed at face value, with very little in the way of quality control. While there is much that is of value, there is also much that isn't, with no way to distinguish between the two. It is a good place to start, but after you start, the next thing one would be well advised to do is to go back over everything one has gotten from it to ascertain its reliability from original sources.

[Riverkilt]

Aye Gilmore, for sure...some real dissappointments and bad leads - even typos from putting the old info into the system. Methinks some of the LDS mainstream want so bad to find their ancestors that they accept most anything....a fine effort, and there is some good stuff. But some of the LDS info on that website ain't even close...

Ron

[LK-13]

my Great Uncle Robert Shaw (not the actor)
worked with several other people in our clan and has put together a book
that documents the Shaw line back to the 1340's.
there are records that go back farther, but i found everything to be a very confusing read earlier than 1300.
we get a very mixed bag with the MacDuff, Macintosh, MacPherson, Macbean, Davidson and Farquharson all uniting under one flag as Clan Chattan.

i have also found that the name SHAW spelt this way apparently means "WOLF"
"An Old English word "sceaga" (meaning a small wood or thicket) gave rise to the Shaw name in the Lowlands, particularly in Lanarkshire. There were three landowners from there who were forced (along with thousands of others) to sign the "Ragman Roll" in 1296, swearing loyalty to King Edward I of England. The name spread across southern Scotland and into Northern England and also Ireland (giving rise, later, to George Bernard Shaw).

In the Highlands, the name came from the Gaelic "sithech" meaning "wolf" and was initially used as a first name but became a surname early in the 13th century. Shaw Macduff, a younger son of Duncan, Thane of Fife (a descendant of Kenneth mac Alpin) assisted King Malcolm IV in putting down a rebellion in Moray and he was made keeper of Inverness castle. Shaw's grandson was granted land in Rothiemurchus (in Strathspey). His son married a daughter of the Macdonald Lord of Islay in 1291.

The Shaws and their Mackintosh allies supported Robert the Bruce against the Comyns (Cummings) and took part in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

James Shaw of Rothiemurchus, a descendant of Shaw "Corrfhiaclach" (Bucktooth) is regarded as the first chief of clan Shaw. He was killed at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411. In the 16th century the Rothiemurchus lands were lost after a Shaw chief murdered his stepfather and the lands were forfeited to the Crown who sold them to the Laird of Grant. " <= www.rampantscotland.com