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Sources and acknowledgements

One of the great things about Genealogy is that it has been a popular hobby/pursuit for many years. A lot of information is accessible and available to the Public. Reported below are the main sources that have been used to pull together the genealogical data reported in the FAMILIES DATABASE. Other sources used for particular families are identified on the relevant Family List page. Our aim is to identify our sources sufficiently well so that, should you obtain copies of those same sources, you could reproduce the relevant page to be substantially the same as what we show - normally exactly the same, possibly apart from the odd date or other detail found elsewhere and perhaps the occasional difference in interpretation or reliance between different sources.

We try to be consistent in the way we identify sources. However, as some pages are made up of data taken from several different sources, it is not always easy to do so without cluttering the page. We therefore compromise which means that, if there are clues to help you find the source of some data, we may not spell it out on the page. If you wish to check our data, we suggest you adopt the following approach:
1. Find the Main Source(s) identified at the foot of the page. Sources used many times throughout the database are identified in abbreviated form. The abbreviations used are given below. In a few cases we show Main Sources as "various web sites" without identifying them. This means that we have not yet found a reliable source to cover that particular family but, rather than ignore that family, we show the data we have managed to obtain from other web sites which, perhaps because they have not clearly recorded their own sources, have not convinced us that they are fully reliable. Such data should be viewed with caution.
2. Where the data we show is not found in any of the reported Main Sources, see if the relevant data is found in the Main Sources on a connected page. Many sources do not list all of the female family members so we find daughters through the sources used for the families of the spouses who married them. Similarly, some sources do not name younger sons. If a son has only daughters or granddaughters, the identification of that son might be found through one or more of their marriages. Sometimes we have to guess which generation someone belonged to, usually by reference to dates. This is not always easy to do so we will normally highlight where we are not sure. Sometimes, even when we are reasonably confident that the person is of that generation, we add something like "probably of this generation" to evidence that that person was not identified in any of the Main Sources reported on that page but comes from a source on the linked page.
3. The above two steps should normally be enough to enable you to reconstruct a page but sometimes we add in details, sometimes including the names of spouses, from other sources - in particular, for peers, from 'The Complete Peerage' and, for baronets, 'The Complete Baronetage'. If you still cannot check key data to your satisfaction then we suggest that you repeat Step 2 again. Sometimes information on a family is found in a source used for another family for which the connection is several generations distant.
4. If you find a source that contradicts what we show, before you contact us to point out 'the error', see if another relevant source does support what we show. When sources disagree with each other, which happens frequently, we have to decide which source to follow. If we are not sure which is right then we will normally follow one of them but identify also the alternative(s).

Don't forget that we have placed a signficant caveat (in bold) on Introduction to the Database. We KNOW that some of the sources we have used are not fully reliable. From this we accept that some of the data in our database are likely to be wrong. However, if we were not to include a datum unless it had been professionally verified we would never be able to develop this type of database - nor would anyone else. Be assured that, subject to the constraints of our available resources (which are limited), we are doing the best we can to ensure the validity of the information we show. Please also remember that we are steadily improving the database and are gradually receiving more & more support from a wide range of people who are working (informally) with us to reduce the number of errors & inconsistencies given in our sources. Some of these errors & inconsistencies have been around for centuries, and many are still being propagated today, so even with the help of others it will take time for us to identify & correct them.

Should you find information in our database that you 'know' is incorrect, please advise us of your suggested corrections by e-mail, giving your reasons for why you disagree with what we have shown and quoting your sources. We are always open to suggestions on how we may improve the reliability of the database. For some families in particular we actively seek assistance - see Can You Help ?.

So, how reliable are our data ? See our response to this question on Occasionally Asked Questions.
How do we rank our sources ? This too is answered on our OAQ page.
Click here for a page on some of the most famous traps/howlers/challenges that haunt many genealogical databases.

ITEMS BELOW
Note on the initial development of the Database
Main sources
Acknowledgements including some links to other web sites with useful genealogical information
Key to abbreviated references used in the Family Lists

NOTE ON THE INITIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE DATABASE
The initial core of the database was developed from family records on certain branches of Graham, Meldrum, Carstairs, and associated families. These came as notes in my Grandmother's old scrapbooks or as handwritten schedules and notebooks, some quite old. Without that start, and some preparatory work by my father, it would have effectively been impossible to track connections to many families and so the idea of developing the database would never have arisen.
One notebook was found to be a copy of schedules (an original of which was later found in a Library in Edinburgh) that had been prepared by James Balderston in 1832 to track the relationship between my great-great-grandfather Patrick Graham of Robshill and his wife Janet Pollok who had been married the year before. [It turned out that they were 3rd cousins once removed. Click here to see that relationship and some of the other relationships found.] James, a baker in Glasgow, had been asked to look into the matter by his cousin Jean Pollok (nee Coats, mother of the bride). One can imagine him tracking around East Kilbride, Glasgow and the surrounding area in Central Scotland, talking to distant cousins and digging out family bibles into which names had been entered. He pulled together a significant database that showed all the then-known descendants of Patrick Graham, 1st of Lymekilns (1658-c1720), and his wife Margaret Lindsay (1663-1733) who were the common ancestors of Patrick Graham of Robshill and Janet Pollok. Looking through his database, seeing how people of different ambitions and lifestyles were in fact quite closely related even though they probably did not know it, made me realise how quickly genes spread around a community and how inter-connected we all are. This was the inspiration behind my expanding this database beyond the limits of my own ancestors and close relations.
Peter Barns-Graham

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MAIN SOURCESfor abbreviations used in the database see below The great start provided by the family records identified a few ancestors as being members of well-documented Scots families. With these leads we were able to track back into many Noble and even Royal Houses using (amongst other sources):
	'The Scots Peerage', founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's 'Peerage of Scotland'. Edited by Sir James Balfour Paul. Published 1908. This comes in many volumes. You can find copies of them in many good libraries in the UK, particularly in Scotland, although not all of them have a full set. Alternatively, you can buy a copy of the set, in PDF, on a CD from The Scottish Genealogy Society (www.scotsgenealogy.com). This is a fantastic source of the kinds of snippets of information that make History more personal and more interesting.
We also turned to those stalwarts of genealogical data, Burke's Landed Gentry and Burke's Peerage. The main editions used were:
	'Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry', both the 7th Edition (by Sir Bernard Burke in 1886) and the 17th Edition (published by Burke's Peerage Ltd in 1952).
	'A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage' by Sir Bernard Burke, originally just the 92nd edition (published by Burke's Peerage Ltd in 1934) but later also the 32nd edition (published in 1870).
	Most of the larger public libraries in the UK have copies of at least some editions of these. For some families the early editions provide more detail on certain generations than the later editions (because the information on those generations is scaled down to provide more room for later ones); for other families it is the other way round (showing the fruits of additional research). Remember that, probably with some exceptions, most of the information shown in these books was obtained by the editor/publisher from the families involved and so is variable in its reliability. Families placed entries into some editions but not others. Families also 'died out' which sometimes makes the early editions (particularly of Burke's Landed Gentry) the only places where one can track them with any ease. You can buy copies of the latest editions through www.burkes-peerage.net or look at them online through that site for an annual subscription fee.
Also greatly used have been the following:
	- for many Noble British families	'Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire by Burke' (1883 edition). Copies of this are held in many of the larger public libraries in the UK. It proved particularly useful when we started the database although we have learned not to rely on it completely as it appears to be at least partly responsible for the propagation of several genealogy howlers. Nevertheless its broad coverage make it a truly valuable source.
	- for many Noble British families	'The Complete Peerage' (or 'A History of the House of Lords and all its Members from the Earliest Times'); based on work by George Edward Cokayne (Clarenceux King of Arms, died 1911) and published in 12 volumes from 1910 to 1959 (volume XII in two parts) by The St. Catherine Press; each volume was edited by one or more of Vicary Gibbs, HA Doubleday, Lord Howard de Walton, Geoffrey H. White and R.S. Lea; volume XIII was added in 1940 for new creations from 1901 to 1938; a volume XIV was created in 1998 for "addenda and corrigenda". Copies of some if not all of the volumes are held in many of the larger public libraries in the UK. This is particularly highly respected and has been widely used as a data source for genealogy-based web sites. We view it as one of our most reliable sources.
	- for many Noble English families	'The Peerage of England' by Arthur Collins (2nd edition, 1741), in 4 volumes, covering all titles extant at that time. An extended and updated edition by Sir Egerton Brydges was released in 1812. Copies of some if not all of the volumes are held in many of the larger public libraries in the UK. This is well respected although the very early generations reported for some families merit some caution. We did not use it regularly until late in 2004 but now view it as very useful.
	- for many well established British families	'Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies' by Burke, using the 2nd edition either in its 1841 version or its 1844 version. Copies of at least one edition are held in many of the larger public libraries in the UK.
	- for many well established British families	'The Complete Baronetage', edited by G.E. Cokayne. Copies of this are held in many of the larger public libraries in the UK., either in its original version in 4 volumes or in the modern version in one volume (4 original pages to a page, published by Alan Sutton Publishing in 1983, ISBN 0-86299-004-1). We view this as a reliable source.
	- for many established English families	The Visitations of the Heralds. In the 16th and 17th centuries, most of the counties of England were visited by officers of the College of Arms for the purpose of identifying the pedigrees of those entitled to bear arms. In the 19th-20th centuries, a number of people & institutions (in particular The Harleian Society, formed in 1869: see http://harleian.co.uk) produced books which pulled together one or more of these Visitations. These books are the best sources of early data on many families that died out before the 19th century and provide a useful supplement for many other families. We did not use them much until early 2005 but now view them as amongst our most useful (if not always reliable) sources. For the Visitations we have often, but not exclusively, used a CD of works by The Harleian Society that includes a selection of the Visitations. Some of those works included additional information to extend or correct the Visitation records, in particular: - Rylands Additional Berkshire Pedigrees, 1908 - Campling's East Anglian Pedigrees, 1939 - Berry's Essex Pedigrees, 1878 - Metcalfe's Hertfordshire Pedigrees, 1886 - Maddison's Lincolnshire Pedigrees, 1906 - Mundy's Middlesex Pedigrees, edited by Armytage, 1914 - King's Staffordshire Pedigrees, edited by Armytage & Rylands, 1912 - Walker's Yorkshire Pedigrees, 1942 Except for these Pedigrees, we normally identify Visitations with the format 'Visitation (editor or publisher & year, county, year(s) of the visitation(s), family)', sometimes with the name of the original leading compiler given just before the year of the visitation. If the editor/publisher & year is omitted then the source was one of the works by The Harleian Society.
	- for many established British families	Burke's 'History of the Commoners', in 4 volumes (vols i & ii published in 1836, vols iii & iv in 1838). An excellent source on many families, 'Commoners' appears to have been the forerunner to Burke's 'British Landed Gentry' and offers the same key advantage and disadvantage, ie. it can be the only place to find information on a particular family but it is of variable (albeit normally good) reliability.
	- for a number of Northern England families	'Familiae Minorum Gentium', a collection of genealogical papers produced by Rev. Joseph Hunter (1788-1861) on families mainly but not exclusively from Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and Lancashire. Published in 4 volumes in 1894-6 by The Harleian Society (see note on Visitations above), with a Continuation (mainly on Yorkshire) called 'Hunter's Pedigrees' published in 1936, this is an excellent source on a range of families not easily found elsewhere.
	- for many established Irish families	Burke's Irish Family Records (1976) An excellent source on many Irish families, this book offers the same key advantage and disadvantage as the others in Burke's catalogue, ie. it can be the only place to find information on a particular family but it is of variable (albeit normally good) reliability.
	- for early Royal and Noble Houses of Continental Europe	'Royal Genealogies. The genealogical tales of emperors, kings and princes from Adam to these times.' by James Anderson, 1736. This is probably a very rare book. It was found by chance, hidden in a public library (we won't say which as it shouldn't be handled too much), and helped us expand our database to before medieval times. Although its reliability is highly questionable, as some of its data is clearly mythical (it is where we found our first descent from Adam and Eve), much of its post-1100AD data has been found to be supported by other sources.
	- for Royal and Noble Houses of Continental Europe genealogy.euweb.cz	'Genealogy.EU'. This is a fantastic web site for all genealogists who have found a connection to a European royal or noble house. Although other web sites have been very useful for a few particular families, this was the first web site that we used as the basis for our records of several different families. As it is set out in a similar way to that used in this site, we have found it particularly easy to follow. We have often used it for those generations of Continental families that we have found to be relevant to the British families that we have tracked. 'Genealogy.EU' also includes many other Continental families and, for those that we have shown, often shows more recent generations than we have covered. Purists who dislike the occasional anglicisation of names that we have sometimes used in our site should note that 'Genealogy.EU' appears to be more precise than we are. Many congratulations and thanks to Miroslav Marek for his work on the site.
The following have been particularly useful for families of particular regions of the British Isles:
	- for many different parishes in England www.british-history.ac.uk	A wide-ranging site which includes, amongst other things, many of the publications produced by 'Victoria County History', an encyclopaedic record of many parts of England, started in 1899 and continuing today. The VCH project is reported on at www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk.
	- for families in Ayrshire, Scotland	'History of the County of Ayr with a Genealogical Account of the Families of Ayrshire' by James Paterson (volume 1 in 1847, volume 2 in 1852). This is now available on Google Books.
	- for families in Fife, Scotland	'Fife: Pictorial and Historical. Its People, Burghs, Castles, and Mansions' by A.H. Millar (printed and published in 2 volumes in 1895 by A. Westwood & Son, Cupar). This is a rare book.
	- for families in Renfrewshire, Scotland	"A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew .... (and) a Genealogical History of the Royal House of Stewart" by George Crawfurd (published in 1710) "and Continued to the Present Period" by George Robertson, published in Paisley, 1818. This is a well known book by a well known author.
	- for families in Wales http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en	"Welsh Biography Online" produced by The National Library of Wales which reports various publications by the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. This provides many useful connections and helps to clarify some of the confusion caused by the lack of use of family names in Wales in early times.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS including some links to other web sites with useful genealogical information
In my book, "Familial But Unfamiliar Roots", I thank various members of my (extended) family, and a few others, for their help and co-operation in lending me books, keeping me advised of changes to their own families, etc.. I thank them again but spare them from being named here. I want here to acknowledge the work of other people whom I do not know, and will probably never meet, but who have inspired me to take to the Internet to share with others the information I/we have found. In some cases, their sites have given us leads which we had not found elsewhere (where this happens, this is recorded on the relevant Family List).PCBG, June 2002.

	SITES THAT SHOW HOW AN 'ORDINARY' FAMILY'S ANCESTORS CAN HELP YOU REACH INTO HISTORY
	www.american-pictures.com/genealogy/genealog.htm	** 'HOLDT' or 'Holdt'- for the interesting family tree prepared by Jacob Holdt. For it to be of any use for research you need first to identify a common ancestor (and bookmark the relevant page) but thereafter it can help you find many ancestral descents not easily found elsewhere. We have used it only for some pages in the 'Ancient & Mythical' section.
	www.mathematical.com	** 'MATHS' or 'Mathematical' - for an impressive site by Charles Dean Druit in which his family tree is only one of several interests shown (and is rather hidden at present). For access to the genealogical data it is best to use our link to the master index, which is still being developed, and bookmark any relevant pages. The database provides some connections not found elsewhere and is not always reliable (Ancestry.com appears to be one of its main sources) but it is no different from many other databases in that respect and is better than most. This site appears to have gone offline. We are presently considering how best to amend the various references to it that we have made in the Database.
	click here for shortcut to Master Index
	SITES THAT SHOW HOW PROFESSIONAL SOME 'AMATEURS' CAN BE
	www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk	** 'MEDGEN' or 'MedieGen' - in a world where, increasingly, people call themselves 'expert' just because they managed to pass a trivial course, it is refreshing to come across a site by a self-professed 'amateur' that is so professional in its approach and makes so much knowledge and expertise accessible to many. It even provides some corrections and additions to 'The Complete Peerage'. The existence of this site makes it unnecessary for us to do many things that we were considering for the future. Thanks and congratulations to Chris Phillips for a most interesting site that must have taken years to develop.
	www.tudorplace.com.ar	** 'TUDOR' or 'Tudor' - for an excellent well-presented site with a large and most useful database that needs only more information on its sources to make it truly formidabale. Although the number of incomplete links can be disappointing, this may simply be a sign that the site is still under development. Congratulations to Jorge Castelli for his excellent work.
	AND WE CAN'T FORGET ...
	www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/public/genealogy/GEDCOM.html	** 'RODATA' or 'RoyalData' (Royal and Noble Genealogical Data on the Web) - for a huge database that is well-known and well-respected by many genealogists. The site also contains several links to other sites of interest. Congratulations to Brian Tompsett and his team at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hull.
	click here for shortcut to Master Index
	AND THINK IT RIGHT TO MENTION ...
	www.familysearch.org	** 'IGI' - the International Genealogy Index prepared by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ('the Mormons'). We do not ourselves use this enormous database as one of our standard sources as, fairly or not, we have received the impression that it can be overly presumptuous with its identifications, particularly of people in Renaissance and earlier periods. However, we sometimes receive suggestions and comments from our site's visitors that refer to the IGI and which we think foolish to ignore. Except when it is just one of 'various web sites' used to source data, done only rarely, we make it clear in our site where any data is sourced from the IGI.
	www.ancestry.com	** 'Ancestry.com' - a most interesting facility to share research & data online. We don't use it as a standard source ourselves as it only rarely identifies its sources and we have obtained the impression that many of its contributors have not given due care to checking their data. However, it is often one of the 'various web sites' we have seen providing data on a family which we can't cover using one of our standard sources.

We also wish to acknowledge the most valuable help and assistance we have received from many visitors to this site who have contributed corrections & suggestions that have enabled us to steadily improve the scope, accuracy & reliability of the database. Our Thank You page identifies many of those who have helped most.

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KEY to abbreviated references used in the Family Lists
Throughout the Family Lists are reported the sources used for the relevant families and also acknowledge other relevant input. The following have been used (or may be referred to) many times and so, to save time, have been given abbreviations or shortened descriptions as identified below.

BE1883	Burke's Extinct Peerage	See under Main Sources above.
BEB****	Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies	See under Main Sources above.
BLG****	Burke's Landed Gentry	See under Main Sources above.
BLGI****	Burke's Landed Gentry (Ireland)	See under Main Sources above.
BP****	Burke's Peerage and Baronetage	See under Main Sources above.
Collins	Collins's Peerage of England	See under Main Sources above.
Commoners	Burke's History of the Commoners	See under Main Sources above.
BIFR****	Burke's Irish Family Records	See under Main Sources above.
Crawfurd (Ren)	Crawfurd's Renfrewshire	See under Main Sources above.
Fife P&H	Fife: Pictorial & Historical	See under Main Sources above.
FMG	Familiae Minorum Gentium	See under Main Sources above.
GENEU or GenEU	'Genealogy.EU'	See under Main Sources above.
HOLDT	'Holdt'	See under Acknowledgements above.
IGI	International Genealogy Index	See under Acknowledgements above.
MATHS	'Mathematical'	See under Acknowledgements above.
MEDGEN	'MedieGen'	See under Acknowledgements above.
Paterson (Ayr)	Paterson's Ayr	See under Main Sources above.
RODATA	'RoyalData'	See under Acknowledgements above.
ROYL	'Royal Genealogies'	See under Main Sources above.
TCB	'The Complete Baronetage'	See under Main Sources above.
TCP	'The Complete Peerage'	See under Main Sources above.
TSP	'The Scots Peerage'	See under Main Sources above.
TUDOR	'Tudor'	See under Acknowledgements above.
VCH	'Victoria County History'	See under Main Sources above.
Visitation	'Visitation'	See under Main Sources above.
WBO	'Welsh Biography Online'	See under Main Sources above.

where **** gives the year in which the relevant edition was published. A number of Pedigree collections by county are reported under Visitations above.

Other types of abbreviations used in the site are explained on the Occasionally Asked Questions page.