Value of In-Person Search?

[kennedy314]

Hi there,

Heading to Scotland soon.  In possession of genealogical research done by another family member, not sure all of the sources used.  Have an interest and have done some dabbling from time to time including Scotlands people, but haven't made any further headway.  It has been some time since I have done any research so not sure how much is available these days.  The records that I have go back as far as the mid 1800's to late 1700's in a couple cases.  Areas include Kingussie, Perth, Stirling and Dundee, family names primarily Kennedy and Stewart.

The trip is not planned for genealogy, but since I will be there I am considering options.  However I would like to make the most of my time and try not to spend too much time in a dead end.  I have looked at the lists of what is available online, but for those that have visited in person, such as in Edinburgh, is there much chance of finding anything older than early 1800's or something that would not be online already?  Any general sense of whether it might be worth it given the extent of the records I already have?  I know it's a tall order, but any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[DonM]

You need to explore Scotland's People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk the same BMD and Census records you would find in Edinburgh but you can obtain these online.  These are not transcriptions these are the scanned images of the actual records.

I would urge you to explore their site be sure to visit here https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/advanced-search to see what records are available.  There is a fee associated with downloading specific types of records. 

Don

[mckha489]

Perth and Kinross Archives site seems to suggest they have records that are not available elsewhere
( I hope they do as I plan to visit this year)

http://archivecatalogue.pkc.gov.uk/Aboutcatalogue.aspx

[Forfarian]

If you visit the Scotland's People Centre, you pay just £15 for a day, and for that you can view and transcribe as much as you want at no extra charge, or save images to your account at a smaller cost than downloading them online. It's a much cheaper way of doing your research, and you can look at much more recent information than you can see online.

Every archive in the country, including the National Records of Scotland, has information that is not available online. You need to spend some time before you leave home investigating their online catalogues to see whether there might be something that you would find useful.

If you don't have sources for what you already have, then you might want to verify your existing information by referring to the originals, just to be sure that your previous researcher hasn't added two and two and made five, or seven, or some other number.

[carlineric]

The charge for saving to your account at the Centre is the same as online - 6 credits (£1.50). There is the option to print out the record for 1 credit (25p). Long gone are the days when you could save to an USB drive for 30p.

[Forfarian]

The charge for saving to your account at the Centre is the same as online - 6 credits (£1.50). There is the option to print out the record for 1 credit (25p). Long gone are the days when you could save to an USB drive for 30p.

I stand corrected - I have never either printed a certificate nor saved one to a stick, so was out of currency with the costs.