Family history posts about ancestral research, family records, photographs, migration stories, and connections between Irish and Scottish roots.
A mysterious portrait marked “J. Slimming Cowdenbeath” led to a genealogy search through Fife archives, James Slimming’s photography studio, mining families, possible Blyth/Blythe connections, and one family photograph that opened a wider story.
Use town twinning and sister-city links to support Irish genealogy travel, diaspora research, local contacts, heritage visits, and family-history storytelling.
Scottish wedding traditions blend ceremony, folklore, family, music, and symbolism. This guide explains handfasting, the quaich, sixpence in the shoe, the wedding scramble, blackening, Luckenbooth brooches, oathing stones, ceilidhs, pipers, and how couples can include these customs today.
Life and Loss at the Big Mary Mine tells the story of Hugh Donlan’s six years underground at Mary Colliery in Lochore, Fife, connecting family memory with Fife coal mining, mine accidents, Waverley Street, and the lasting legacy of Scottish miners.
Roots in Penicuik and Marriage in Fife My grandmother, Isabella Fraser Donlan, was born on 19 November 1880 in Penicuik, Scotland – a hardworking town surrounded by coal mines and paper mills. In 1903, she married my grandfather, John Donlan,…
A 2017 Ballina family visit became a Mayo homecoming through cousin meetings, Lissaniska ancestral homes, Mount Falcon Hotel, cemetery visits, Ballina pubs, the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, and the Jackie Clarke Collection.
Chapter 2 of a 2017 Ireland and Scotland journey follows the Crew from Dublin to Newgrange, Belfast, Titanic Belfast, Troubles murals, and the Giant’s Causeway. This personal travel story blends ancient history, family memories, Northern Ireland heritage, and practical route ideas.
Plan a 2026 Scotland heritage trip around Highland Games, Celtic music festivals, agricultural shows, and local gatherings. This guide highlights Highlands events to verify before booking, with dates, locations, planning notes, transport cautions, and genealogy-friendly stops.
(where flat stones meet deep ripples, and legends refuse to sink) Easdale, one of Scotland’s small slate islands off the coast of Argyll, hosts every September the World Stone Skimming Championships. A flooded slate quarry becomes the arena where hundreds…