I've Taken The Plunge With Family Tree Maker

I've got a copy of Family Tree Maker and I've started moving the massive amount of my personal research onto the program. So far, so good, but with the number of individuals I have catalogued in my own widely distributed family tree, this process will take time. I already have several different, more muted versions of my family tree on several platforms (RootsWeb for example) and I would like to get my more updated information out there to benefit all those currently unknown cousins connected to my work. I started tracing my ancestry 30-plus years ago and felt so intimidated to discuss my progress with the more experienced genealogists I ran across. Ah, foolish youth! I should have thought to dive right in, ask questions and garner the knowledge of those far more experienced than myself. But I didn't. I did the trial and error method. I made errors (and still do), but with experience hopefully comes more wisdom.

I will continue to update this blog on my progress in uploading all my forebears, great-aunts and great-uncles families and try to provide some advice to those just starting out in the family history game as well as continue to pick the brains of those with 40-plus, and 50-plus years of experience in this extremely intriguing hobby. My family tree has taken me all over the United States and Canada as well as to Ireland, Scotland and England. In some areas the records are sparse, but in others, so many records exist that it is difficult to wade through them to find that elusive ancestor. And then you find him or her, one farm over, or in the next parish or even across the sea. The chase is on. Let's see what we can find today.

Scottish Census Records

If you want to take a look at census records for Scotland, then the place you will want to start is at ScotlandsPeople. They will allow you to search the seven census returns for all of Scotland from 1841-1901, but at a cost.

Access to the census indexes costs 6 Great Britain Pounds (about $10.87 U.S. Dollars). And you'll need a credit card to make this payment.

For this fee, you will receive 30 "page credits" which are valid for up to 90 consecutive days. When you view a page of index results the cost is one credit, but each page contains up to 25 search results. So you will want to narrow your searches down as much as possible. If you are looking for John Smith, you will use up all your credits before you even have a chance to figure out which one is yours.

Viewing an image costs 5 credits (equivalent to 1 GBP). Your session begins when payment has been authorized and additional credits may be purchased in 6 GBP increments. The session will restart with each new credit purchase.