Welcome

Meetings Programme 2026/2027

Full details of the meetings programme can be found meetings page of this website. The programme for the 2026/2027 session has now been posted with the first meeting on the 17th of September on 'The Air force in World War One.'

Scottish Records recently added to Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added some new Scottish collections:

Midlothian, Scotland, Burials, 1834-2025

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63107/
Source: Midlothian Burials. Midlothian, Scotland: Midlothian Council Archives.

This collection contains records from cemeteries in the county of Midlothian, Scotland, dated between 1834 and 1997. Most of the records are registers and lair books with burial information for several people on one page. Lair is the Scottish word for a burial plot in a cemetery, and there are some records of lair purchases and lair-holders.

Edinburgh, Scotland, WWI Roll of Honour, 1914-1919
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63263/
Source: not given

This collection contains a roll of honour for people associated with the University of Edinburgh in Scotland who served in the British armed forces during the First World War.

Edinburgh, Scotland, Poor Law Records, 1817-1852
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63246/
Edinburgh Poor Law Records. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh City Archives.

This collection contains records from government poorhouses in Edinburgh, Scotland, dated between 1817 and 1852. The records include registers of poor house residents, lists of people receiving relief but not living in poorhouses, applications for relief, and questionnaires filled out by relief applicants.

This information comes from Chris Paton's Scottish Genes Blog.

Irish Censuses

The National Archives of Ireland, https://nationalarchives.ie, has recently released the 1926 Irish Free State Census. It can be searched on its website. It is also available on Ancestry and Find My Past

Information from Chris Paton's Scottish GENES Blog

Exchange Journals in digital format

With the coming of Spring a fresh batch of exchange journals have arrived: Aberdeen & NE Scotland FHS, Glasgow & West of Scotland FHS, Tay Valley FHS, Renfrewshire FHS, The British Columbia Genealogist and Cedar Log from New South Wales.. All those received by us are listed below and are available to members only, as PDFs, by sending a request including their membership number to info@troonayrshirefhs.org.uk

Ayrshire Archives

The Ayrshire Archives have opened the search rooms at the new Headquarters in South Harbour Street, Ayr and for East Ayrshire Council at the Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock. Access to search rooms is by appointment only. (Tuesdays only at Ayr, Wednesdays at Kilmarnock). To book an appointment contact the archives at archives@south-ayrshire.gov.uk or by phone 01292 616260.

Ayrshire Archives HQ is the home of the Ayrshire Local and Family History Library collection. This is a reference library of resources specially chosen to support anyone researching family or local history in Ayrshire. It can also be used as a resource in its own right - you have free access to this specialist library when you make an appointment to consult archive records but you are also welcome to make an appointment simply to view the library. This library is well stocked with a range of Scottish and Ayrshire history and local interest books and pamphlets. It also includes our Ayrshire wide collection of valuation rolls and electoral registers and a set of catalogues for our collections held at our HQ, as well as those in our East Ayrshire facility at the Burns Monument Centre and at the Townhouse in North Ayrshire. Perhaps you're looking for a historical research project and don't know where to begin - browsing the library is a great way to gather ideas of what might be possible. If you are wanting to understand more about the world your Ayrshire ancestors lived in - browsing the library can provide context to your family history research. It is a great way to both start and continue your interest in the heritage of Ayrshire.

eMagazines available on application to info@troonayrshirefhs.org.uk

The following family history journals/ newsletters are available in pdf format to members by email quoting their membership number.

East Ayrshire FHS. Bulletin No.29 December 2025. One article tracing Wilson families and and another on Camerons. Additionally there is an appeal for anyone who has knowledge of any person commemorated on the Kilmarnock War Memorial to get in touch with the Society for a project that seeks to tell the life story of all 1023 individuals by the centenary of the monument in 2027.

North Ayrshire FHS Journal 89 Autumn 2025. One interesting article (Cousin Charlotte) tells the story of how wrong information about an adopted ancestor's biological father was unexpectedly resolved by a DNA link. Elsewhere there is the life of a Lighthouse Keeper on Little Cumbrae and articles on the Aircraft Factory in Dumbarton during World War Two, the immigration procedures at EllisIsland Island and the group identifying of the remains of deceased WW1 soldiers.

The British Columbia Genealogist. The journal of the British Columbia Genealogical Society. Volume 56 No 2 June 2026. Work on the Holten War cemetery continues with, this time, the life story of John Myles who was born in Shettleston, Glasgow, emigrated with his parents to Canada and served in the Canadian military in Italy before being killed in action in the Netherlands in April 1945. Another soldier buried in Holten and memorialised in this issue is rifleman Joseph Leo Tourand born in Manitoba and killed in September 1945. NEW

Aberdeen & North East Scotland Journal No. 177 February 2026 Many interesting articles on families from North East Scotland and their travels in the wider world. NEW

The Journal of Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS Issue 136 June 2026. A number of members of the society relate their experiences in following trails in family history research. An account is also given of a major disaster at the Templeton Carpet Factory in 1889 that resulted in the death of a large number of the women who worked there. NEW

The Quarterly Newsletter of the Lothians Family history Society. September 2025. Apart from news items about the Society there is an article tracing the family name Primrose.

Cedar Log - Richmond Tweed FHS, New South Wales, Issue No.168 June 2026. An interesting set of articles is headed "Myths, Legends and Family Secrets". They show how family history research can debunk fondly held beliefs about ancestors. Elsewhere in this issue there is an article about an unfortunate railway accident and another giving the experiences of the women of the town of Ballina during World War 2. For them of course the principal enemy was the Japanese and they could be very close when their submarines could sometimes send crewmen ashore in the night to collect fresh water. NEW

Kiwi Kith and Kin - Scottish Interest Group NZSG, Issue 139 September 2025. Among other articles there is a Robert Kennedy who is seeking information on ancestors from Banffshire and Morayshire. Another article gives the story of Drummond and McDougall family members who emigrated to New Zealand.

Renfrewshire FHS Journal 55 February 2026. There is an account of a talk by Ken Nisbet on Making the Best Use of the updated Scotland's People Website that can be very useful. Among the other articles there is a strong military collection. The life of Captain John Orr who served at Waterloo and became Superintendent of the Scottish Naval and Military Academy is given along with Information on some distinguished graduates of the Academy. There is also an account of men from Renfrewshire towns who served at Gallipoli and coming up to more recent times a Jack McLeish tells of his National Service in the 1950s in Malaya. NEW

Dumfries and Galloway FHS Newsletter November 2025. The first article in this issue relates the history of some doctors who came from Annandale and worked with distinction in Russia in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Other articles trace various families from the area - Blackstock, Burnet, Lupton - and one is on Thomas Telford, designer of the Caledonian Canal and so many fine bridges, who was born in Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire in August 1757.

Family History. Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies Vol. 28 No. 230 The IHGS offers educational resources and courses in genealogy and heraldry, promoting research and training in family history. Among its resources are zoom courses and on-line talks on a variety of genealogical and heraldic topics.

The Historian: The Journal of the Tay Valley Family History Society. Edition 134 June 2026. With this year’s Historian theme being ‘The Crafts and Creativity of our Ancestors’, theJune issue contains articles on some very different aspects of this. On page 4, John Hardy writes about the works of local poet John Craik (1760s-1818), and this is followed later in the journal by two articles which highlight the skill needed by our ancestors who worked in heavy industry’ (John and Doreen Brown’s ‘Dundee Lino Memories’ and Evelyn Jardine’s Papermaking in the Tay Valley’). In ‘The Humble Book’, Louise Bowles explores the bookmaking craft of her great grandfather. With further articles on soldiers from the two World Wars, and an entertaining item on a ‘right royal mix-up’, there is plenty of good reading in this issue.

Central Scotland FHS Journal Issue 70 Autumn 2025. Articles include one on Alexander Nicoll Black and the Forth Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Alloa. Another is about the artist James Scott Stewart and his 60 year career in Glasgow. Information is looked for on the names Dawson, Drummond, Glen, Shearer and Thomson in the Central Scotland area between 1750 and 1855. Also on Spears, Spiers, Speirs from Falkirk, McLaren brothers left Larert in 1851 and a Cowan family from Falkirk.

The Ancestral Searcher, The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra. Vol.48 No 4 The Society runs an annual short story competition now in its seventh year for the E M Fletcher award.This issue of the journal is largely devoted to the winning and highly commended stories in 2025.NEW