|
Ancestry Daily News
3/25/2003 - Archive
Scottish Directories
Lists and databases are nothing new; it is the way the information is stored
and presented that has changed. Directories can be described as early databases
because they are collections of names and associated facts; they list merchants,
manufacturers, traders, professional people, justices, and the landed classes.
People either paid to be included or paid to purchase the volumes.
Directories were an early form of advertising, telling businesses about other
businesses and informing those with purchasing power who was providing supplies
and services. Scotland before 1900 was not a consumer society and most people
had little or no disposable income. In other words, directories list very limited
numbers of people before the 1850s, and although more people are in the post
office directories of the late Victorian period, this is far from being anything
like the coverage of the census enumerations.
This immediately brings up a question of the value of directories at a time
when indexes to Scottish census returns are not far from being completed. Why
consult directories? The answer lies in dates and availability. Census returns
happened at ten-year intervals, 1841, 1851 and so on, up to the most recent
one available, 1901. Directories, on the other hand, were printed more frequently,
eventually annually, especially in the large cities. Also, directories begin
much earlier than the first nominal census return of 1841 and records of civil
registration in 1855. Researchers in Scotland have access to valuation rolls,
which survive completely from 1855, but those living elsewhere have very limited
access (there are a few in the Family History Library).
In Scotland directories can be used to find locations and occupations either
between census returns or before government records begin. If you stop and think
about it, you realize that there can be long periods when an individual does
not appear in vital records; for example, between early adulthood and marriage
or between the birth of the last child and death. Following an ancestor through
directories can tell you whether or not he remained in the same area over the
years or changed his occupation. You might learn that he died and his wife assumed
the management of the business.
As you may have gathered by now, I am suggesting that directories are widely
accessible. In Scotland, they are in libraries and archives. For genealogists
living elsewhere, they can be found in the Family History Library, and they
can be found online. The Family History Library collection includes a long run
of Glasgow directories from 1787 to 1886 as well as directories for other cities
and counties, or for all of Scotland. They have many directories available that
are later than 1830. Using the CD-ROM version of the catalog, with its keyword
search capabilities, the words Scotland Directory produced 98 results of which
half were trade and post office directories. The most effective search is by
place; do this three times using Scotland, the county name and the town in turn.
Online, you can search all pre-1830 Scottish directories within the Ancestry
subscription databases under the title "UK and US Directories and Lists
1680-1830." You need to experiment with the search tool because it is searching
all the items in this database and it does not work to try and single out these
entries by using 'directory' as a keyword. I found the most effective way to
find what I wanted was to enter a surname or a full name and to use the county
name in the location field.
Before beginning a search in the database look at the list of the contents.
The list is available on the database
main page.
The search box is at the top of the page and a detailed description begins just
below it. Places represented are a mix of counties and towns: Aberdeen, Angus,
Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greenock, Paisley, Renfrewshire. Many of these
titles include listings for other places and you will be able to find what these
are when reading the descriptions of the items in which individual entries appear.
Directories remain a useful research tool for Scottish research, especially
in populated areas before civil registration and census returns. Their usefulness
is enhanced by the fact that a significant proportion are widely available and
that large block of these can be searched in database form.
Sherry Irvine, CGRSsm, FSA(Scot) is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing
in English and Scottish family history. She is the author of Your English
Ancestry (2nd ed, 1998) and Your Scottish Ancestry (1997) and a regular
contributor to several journals including Genealogical Computing. Since
1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for
the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, Samford University. She
teaches online for the family history program of Vermont College and has lectured
at conferences in Canada, the United States, and Australia. She is president
of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
|
|
 |
|
