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The previous page gave a general background to searching for your Scottish roots. This page will attempt to give you your first steps in tracing your family tree. If you believe you have Scottish roots, then strangely enough, the Scottish Records Office will not be your first port of call.

Where then should you start? Do you have any living family relatives, normally elderly, who are/is interested in the family and often acts as the family memory?

Of course that memory may not necessarily be a reliable, especially if the family member is elderly. However, the memory may be as reliable for at least a few good pointers for example family members' names, family members dates of birth, family members wife's or spouse's name, family Members children's names or indeed where family members came from originally.

A word of warning here. Families can often inadvertently lie regarding their roots or ancestry. Sometimes it is for the best of intentions, or sometimes it may be based on a simple romantic notion of their families. You may not even have Scottish roots, but it sometimes suited the person who was telling the story to let it appear as if you did. It may seem laughable now to you, but one of our family stories was that a long-lost Grandparent sold ice cream at the battle of Bannockburn. The battle of Bannockburn took place in 1314 and ice-cream almost certainly was not in commercial production at that time!!

Another area in which relatives can be of assistance is in terms off old documents or letters which have been kept. Some family members may have kept birth certificates wills, bank documents, records or copies of housing or property or other such documents. Some family members be also be able to advise you where ancestors are buried and it may even be of advantage to look in the local graveyard or kirkyard as it may be termed in Scotland. This is your first step and based on this information your next step would be to visit your local library assuming of course that your relatives were local. If not, can you visit the local library off where your relatives of the area where your relatives came from?

Another classic piece of misinformation is the long lost ancestor who had either money or a title (such as Baron, Lord,Lady etc). If your family was genuinely a noble family then there would almost certainly be a record in the "Scottish Peerage" or Burkes Peerage (both of which can be purchased from good bookstores). You may also find an obituary in the National papers as well as the local ones. Often this would be accompanied by a picture. Is there any resemblance-BE HONEST !!!