Borders Family History Society

05/11/2025

Are you researching ancestors lost during World War1? We have a number of books covering local rolls of honour.

02/11/2025

Many families in Scotland followed the Scottish naming pattern. It is therefore all too easy to mix up the cousins. Use the occupation to work out who is who.

What’s the Scottish naming pattern I hear some ask? The most widely used pattern goes as follows:

1st son named after father's father
2nd son named after mother's father
3rd son named after father

1st daughter named after mother's mother
2nd daughter named after father's mother
3rd daughter named after mother

Let’s say John and Ann had two sons, James was born first, and William was born second. Both brothers would name their eldest son John. These two Johns may have been born about the same time and in the same place. It’s confusing! This was compounded in 1841 when the census rounded the age down to the nearest five years. One cousin could be 41 and another 44, but in the census, they may both be recorded as 40! It's very easy to get into a tangle.

Although people did sometimes change their occupation, it’s fairly unlikely that a married man would change occupation from a stone mason to a shoemaker. Both of these occupations would require an apprenticeship. Our ancestors would have served as an apprentice as a teenager and perhaps into their early 20s before they got married. How would a married man with children afford to be able to serve an apprenticeship and switch professions as we can today?

Of course, some occupations are the same but described differently. A shoemaker in one record may be described as a cordiner in another. A shipwright may also be described as a joiner. Or you may find a grocer being described as a victualler. If you come across an occupation that is uncommon today, check out the Dictionaries of the Scots Language to discover what it was.

By carefully noting the occupation and comparing it on each record, we are more likely to be able to trace our family history accurately and disentangle the cousins.

For more Scottish family history tips, join us at the Scottish Indexes Conference on Saturday 22 November 2025.

29/10/2025

Another of our library books focusing on the history of Scottish Gypsies and other travellers

26/10/2025

We appreciate Derrick Johnstone sharing the result of his research with us.

Here's a new resource that connects Borders and American families through connections originating in a Scottish colonial venture in the 1680s. It's called 'East Jersey Bound' https://eastjerseybound.scot and is home to a genealogical database with details of nearly 650 emigrants and over 2,000 of their kin and associates going back and forward a generation or so.

The emigrants were predominantly from the East of Scotland, and included from the Borders:
* merchants James and John Johnstone, sons of the minister in Lauder
* farmer's daughter Jean Moffat from Netherbarns and tailor John Foreman from Berwickshire, who were transported after their confinement with other Covenanters in the notorious 'Whigs Vault' in Dunnottar Castle
* John Cockburn from Kelso, successful as a mason in New Jersey and New York, and said to be one of the founders of freemasonry in America
* William Ridford, tenant farmer and Quaker from Lilliesleaf who emigrated with his whole family, and
* merchant William Haig from the Bemersyde family who played a significant role in the early days of the venture

East Jersey Bound also features, in addition to the database entries, a growing collection of:
* pen portraits of emigrants
* context pages: why did they leave Scotland and what became of them
* sources, maps, glossaries, and research notes
and a database user guide to help you get the most from your search.

The site is a by-product of research by Derrick Johnstone at Glasgow University https://theses.gla.ac.uk/85247/. This East Jersey story was arguably Scotland's only successful colonial undertaking, organised more than ten years before the disaster of Darien.

25/10/2025

23/10/2025

Kirk Yetholm was the home of the Gypsy Royals. This books follows their story till 1902

22/10/2025

20/10/2025

Exploring your Scottish roots?

Join us at the Scottish Indexes Conference this November, an online event designed to support family historians and researchers around the world.

Whether you're just beginning your Scottish genealogy journey or looking to deepen your expertise, this free conference offers practical insights, expert-led talks and guidance on using lesser-known historical records.

🎙️ Highlights include:

• Ordnance Survey Name Books and tax rolls
• Early records from the Isle of Arran
• NHS archives and medical history
• Dundee’s textile workers
• The 5th Duke of Buccleuch’s legacy

🌍 Time-zone friendly: Live from 7 am to 11 pm UK time, with each talk shown twice.

📣 More details will follow in the coming weeks.

19/10/2025

A new addition to our archive library

18/10/2025

If you find an ancestor recorded in 1855 - the "golden year”, when much more information was noted in statutory registers - their entry might open up whole new lines of inquiry!

Find out how 👇

bit.ly/MarriagesSP

16/10/2025

Claude Leblanc from Chertsey Quebec spent some time with us today, researching his maternal Rutherford / Hall ancestry. This is his first visit to Scotland and it was good to hear that he feels very much at home here.

16/10/2025

Birth entry of William Po***ck McLaren, 16 October 1923: better known to generations of rugby fans as commentator Bill McLaren.

A lifelong rugby fan, McLaren served as an artilleryman during World War II and later became a journalist, commentating on his first game in the 1950s.