Those Elusive Margarets

I spent much of the last two weeks searching Ancestry.com for my Margarets. I managed to find a census record for Detroit, Michigan in 1930 that showed my mom, her sister and parents living on Martindale Street.

Unfortunately, I found little else on any of them, including myself. Yes, after not finding very much at all on my relatives, I decided to search for something I knew existed: my birth registry. Nope. I also looked for a Pennsylvania cousin (maybe Michigan birth records aren't there?) - no luck there; then I looked for my siblings - nope. I even watched the "help for searching" video (maybe I'd missed some key check box or something that would magically make the records appear). Still nope.

At one point in one of the based-in-Scotland searches I got a little notice box saying that Scottish records aren't readily available. No doubt ScotlandsPeople sees Ancestry as a competitor and being Scots, are making sure their interests are protected.

So, where from here? I found a few more books on Scottish Genealogy at the local library (kudos to AADL!) and they give some additional hints and places to look. One includes a good deal of Scottish history and insight on traditions impact the search for relatives. It includes many pictures, drawings, maps and sidebars explaining naming conventions and the evolution of shires and counties and parishes over time. I think Amazon is going to make a sale soon (there's always a good excuse to buy a book!)

Once I have more detailed background information on how things might have been I'm going to try again on ScotlandsPeople and look at parish records. The 1930 census listing I found shows that my grandmother noted that her father came from North Scotland. That covers quite a bit of territory and without more detail it might be hard to narrow down my search for him. But, in 1976, I spent a weekend with some cousins (some number of times removed) in Thurso, Scotland "away up in the North," not far from John O'Groats, a harbor town on the Northeastern coast line. You can take the boat from there to the Orkneys and the Shetlands.

I managed to find the little notebook I had on the trip which includes addresses of various people, including a descendent of the elusive William Money (my maternal great-grandfather). The information in the book I'm reading gives me pointers for resources that might help me find him. I found a another name in my little book: my grandmother's sister, Chriss. Having her address might help me find the missing Margarets by going "sideways."

That's where the search stands for now. Hopefully I will be able to make efficient use of my credits on ScotlandsPeople. Ciao for now.