Yesterday I attended the Researching Abroad Roadshow. Canberra’s event was one day only, with the British Isles and German/European streams running in different rooms.
I chose the British Isles stream, as it reflects my ancestry. We started the day with Scottish land records, and Scottish research resources before 1800 and after lunch moved on to Irish family history resources online and “Down and out in Scotland”.
When a speech focuses on types of records there’s a danger that the presenter will spend a lot of time rattling off lists. I’ve seen it happen before. Fortunately, this this was not the case yesterday. Chris Paton was an engaging speaker with plenty of examples that related the records back to the real people and events they describe.
I had looked at some of the resources that were covered before, but not in any depth, and others were completely new to me. I now feel that I have a head start on knowing where to look and what I might find when I’m ready to dig into Scottish and Irish research. Learning how to pronounce all those Scottish and Irish words might take a bit longer!
Chris very kindly indulged me with a quick selfie as he was racing off for the airport.
The Roadshow has two more stops, in Adelaide and in Perth. Get to it if you can!
Disclosure: In return for acting as a Roadshow Ambassador I received free entry to the event.
Oh I love Chris' Down and Out talk ... so many great ideas on places to look ... way beyond the norm.
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