Locating missing relatives in Scotland

March 31, 2009 11:21 AM

My Father-in-law and wife are going to Edinburgh, Scotland this summer to try and locate his relatives. I thought I'd try to help by visiting geneaology forums and posting some information, but for the life of me I can't find a genealogy discussion forum that doesn't require a subscription. Is there such thing?

In general, I am open to any tips about finding relatives in europe, but finding a good, free forum seems like it would be a good start. I can get help on the non-internet portions of this search (I live near Salt Lake City) but was wondering about online resources. Thank you!


And here's the information on the relatives, for what it's worth:

(from my wife)

Jame Cunningham (died 10/6/1876) --> married to Margaret White

They had 5 children:

Alexander Baike Cunningham
Susan Wallace
Walter Cunningham
Margaret Rennie
Janet Agnes Rennie (born 1847, died 1912 on 65 Bellevue Rd, Edinburgh) who was married to Gordon Rennie (born about 1845 and son of James Rennie and Annie Orr)

Janet Agnes and Gordon Rennie had 10 children born between 1856 and 1900:

Jesse Rennie
James Rennie
Maggie Rennie
Johanna Rennie
Jesse Rennie
Gordon Rennie
Agnes J C Rennie
William Rennie
Susan Rennie
Mary Rennie

Agnes JC Rennie emigrated to Detroit and is my grandmother.

posted by mecran01 to Human Relations (7 answers total)

Best answer: See Scotland GenWeb Project.

You can post surname queries on RootsWeb. You could also post surname queries on http://wayne.migenweb.net/.

GenWeb and RootsWeb are free. Also see Cyndi's List for more sites to try.

You can also cover a fair bit of ground with ancestry.com's trial subscription. I realize this is not much help for international stuff, but get a free trial, plug those names in, and see what happens. Trust and verify is the rule of thumb for ancestry.com.
posted by jgirl at 11:31 AM on March 31, 2009

Best answer: Also:

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/

http://www.sctbdm.com/
posted by jgirl at 11:37 AM on March 31, 2009

And the National Archives of Scotland.
posted by penguin pie at 12:34 PM on March 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also, Edinburgh was included in the Google Maps Streetview launch a couple of weeks ago, so they can take a look at 65 Bellevue Road right now if they want to whet their appetite before they come. I just looked it up in the A-Z, and the street still exists. It's not far from the Scotland's People Centre, so your wife and father-in-law will be able to take a look at the real thing when they visit.
posted by penguin pie at 12:44 PM on March 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: This is great stuff, thank you!
posted by mecran01 at 1:14 PM on March 31, 2009

I'm going to point out that the Edinburgh Fringe is on in the summer, so Edinburgh will be rammed in August, but also really really fun.
posted by djgh at 2:27 PM on March 31, 2009

Response by poster: My father-in-law hired a genealogy detective, and it would appear that most of the family left for America or died along, based on 1901 Scottish census results.

If anyone can find anything more substantial, especially surviving relatives, I will see if he can pay you for your efforts.

Thanks!
posted by mecran01 at 12:37 PM on May 22, 2009