{"id":333,"date":"2017-11-22T10:06:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T10:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/statacc.blogs.edina.ac.uk\/?p=333"},"modified":"2017-11-22T10:06:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T10:06:12","slug":"family-history-and-the-statistical-accounts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/statacc\/2017\/11\/22\/family-history-and-the-statistical-accounts-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Family history and the Statistical Accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re always\u00a0<\/span><\/span>interested<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to hear how\u00a0<\/span><\/span>you<\/span><\/span>\u00a0use the Statistical Accounts. Family historians are one of the key groups who make use of our service<\/span><\/span>\u00a0so w<\/span><\/span>e were delighted to see\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Jane Harris<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>recently publish a blog on using the Statistical Accounts for family history research. Jane has kindly agreed that we republish her<\/span><\/span>\u00a0post\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u2013 we hope it\u2019s useful for those of you researching your Scottish roots!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"portrait<\/a>

Jane Harris<\/p><\/div>\n

Jane<\/a>\u00a0specialises\u00a0in\u00a0Scottish genealogy and family history.\u00a0A member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Scottish Genealogy Network, Jane provides\u00a0both\u00a0family history research and\u00a0tutoring so you can do research yourself. Her particular interests include the Stirling area, where\u00a0she\u00a0lives, and Orkney, where she\u00a0was born and grew up.\u00a0Jane described her experience with the Statistical Accounts for us:<\/p>\n

A row of books with rather dull dust jackets; a couple of interesting quotes in a lecture or course book. That sums up my knowledge of the Statistical Accounts from my student days. When I started seriously researching my own family history many years later that view changed rapidly. Checking the earlier censuses, I was fascinated by the number of distinctively Highland surnames in my father\u2019s home parish of Walls, Orkney. The Old Statistical Account provided an explanation: that a large number of people had come from \u201c<\/i>Strathnaven<\/i>\u201d, having been cleared to make way for sheep, so early victims of the clearances. I was hooked.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Statistical Accounts are now one of my standard sources for client research in the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth centuries, both for general background and also for specific information on churches, migration, occupations and so on.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Now for Jane\u2019s original blog, with some great pointers\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

S is for Statistical Accounts of Scotland\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep reading! They are far more than numbers.\u00a0The Statistical Accounts are two fascinating sets of reports on each Scottish parish in the 1790s and the 1830s\/40s.\u00a0 They cover economic and social activities as well as natural resources.<\/p>\n

What, when, who, how?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sir John Sinclair of\u00a0Ulbster\u00a0sent out 171 queries to the ministers of each of the 938 parishes in Scotland in the 1790s. Their responses form the Old Statistical Account (OSA). In 1832, because of all the changes that had taken place in Scotland, a new survey was agreed. The responses are collectively known as the New Statistical Account (NSA).\u00a0Find out more about the background<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0How are the Statistical Accounts useful for family history?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n