Almost on a daily basis Archive.org seem to have more and more digitised copies of the National Library of Scotland's collection - the current count stands at 3,069 items!

I have only looked at fraction of what is available but I have spent a fair amount of time on Pigot and Co.'s national commercial directory for the whole of Scotland and the Isle of Man. This particular edition was published in 1837 and not only does it contain lists of the higher status members of each area and tradesmen but also contains a 'gazatteer' type description of the area.

I came across this particular edition while searching for ancestors of a friend who came from Pitsligo and Rosehearty. There are a variety of file formats that are available that can either be downloaded or read online and all verions can by searched by keyword.

What other commercial directories have you found useful?

While researching the history of my house in Edinburgh I came across this fantastic resource which lists all pupils who attended Edinburgh Academy from its foundation in 1824 to 1914. It is out of copyright and can be found in various formats at the Internet Archive.

Entry for physicist and mathematician, James Clerk Maxwell

It lists information about the pupils' achievements both in school and also after leaving school in addition in gives information about parents and wives. The PDF version is fully searchable.

Entry for author, Robert Louis Stevenson

A document I recently came across while doing some researching for a friend was the Farm Horse Tax returns. They are a valuable resource for anyone in search of their rural ancestors to find a hidden gem, because they name tenant farmers, who can be difficult to find otherwise. The tax was introduced in 1797 raised to help the war effort against the French and was abandoned soon after. The returns for the whole of Scotland can now be searched free online at the Scotlands Places website

There were several other taxes introduced into Scotland in the late 17th and 18th centuries including:

• Hearth Tax
• Poll Tax
• Window Tax
• Cart Tax
• Shop tax
• Carriage Tax
• Dog Tax
• Clock and Watch tax
• Male and Female Servant Tax

The National Library of Scotland has a fantastic collection of early photographs taken in Scotland Belgium, Italy and Malta.

St. John's Chapel, West End Princes Street, Edinburgh.

Photographed by Hugh Lyon Tennent (1817-1874) and Robert Tennent (1813-1890)

These two albums of the Edinburgh Calotype Club, the first photographic club in the world, are among the earliest photograph albums in the world ever assembled. They contain over 300 images by a group of pioneering Scottish photographers working in Edinburgh and St. Andrews.

South Street, St. Andrews.

Photographed by Hugh Lyon Tennent (1817-1874) and Robert Tennent (1813-1890)

The calotype process was discovered by William Henry Fox Talbot; Talbot’s friends coined the term Talbotype. The calotype process was novel in a number of ways. It can be regarded as a direct forerunner of modern photography with its use of both a negative and a positive; the paper negative was the earliest process to allow the manufacture of several prints and it was also the first paper process- its predecessor, the daguerreotype, primarily used for portraiture, was printed onto a silvered copper surface.

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877)

The albums can be browsed or searched and contain a number of images taken around Edinburgh, Fife and Ayrshire.

While researching using the 1841 Scottish Census I came across the abbreviation "F S" under profession. As I was not sure what this was I did a quick search online and came across this useful list of commonly used abbreviations in a rootschat.com forum here.

These are the official abbreviations used in the censuses:

Ag. Lab. 1841-81 Agricultural labourer
Ap. 1841-61 Apprentice
Army 1841 Members of HM land forces of whatever rank
Cl. 1841-61 Clerk
FS. 1841 Female servant
H.P. 1841 Members of HM armed forces on half-pay
HLW 1841 Hand loom weaver (followed by silk, cotton etc for material they work in)
FWK 1841 Frame work knitter
Ind. 1841 Independent - people living on their own means
J. 1841 Journeyman
M. 1841 Manufacturer
m. 1841 Maker - as in 'Shoe m.'
MS 1841 Male servant
Navy 1841 Members of HM naval forces, including marines,
of whatever rank
P. 1841 Pensioners in HM armed forces
Rail Lab. 1851 Railway labourer
Serv. 1861 Servant
Sh. 1841 Shopman

Are there any others that you know of?

Most people searching Google will have learned the usual basic search techniques such as:

• quotation marks ("  ") for phrases
• a minus sign (-) to exclude certain terms
• Using OR to specifically allow either one of several words
• wildcards (*) to 'fill in the blanks

Easy Google Genealogy Searcher goes one step further as the website explains you can:

Learn to do effective genealogy internet searches with the Easy Google Genealogy Searcher. Can't remember all the Google tricks you've heard for genealogy searching? Want to learn some things you probably had no idea Google could do? The Easy Genealogy Google Searcher puts advanced Google features on one page with suggested keywords and advice about how each feature is useful for genealogy searches.

The most interesting part I found was the Google search by family tree. Simply enter in the details of an individual, their spouse and parents and a choice of Google complex searches are automatically created for you.

Example:

I am searching fort more information on the Islay branch of my tree. I filled in the details as shown below:

Select the search that you wish, in this case I selected the first one:

Then your complex search is automatically generated. You are given a choice of three different saearches. In this case:

1. "Isabella McArthur" OR "Isabella * McArthur" OR "McArthur, Isabella" "Robert McWhinnie"  ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

2. "Isabella McArthur" OR "Isabella * McArthur" OR "McArthur, Isabella" "Robert * McWhinnie"  ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

3. "Isabella McArthur" OR "Isabella * McArthur" OR "McArthur, Isabella" "McWhinnie, Robert"  ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

Although there are only subtle differences between these search strategies it may well make the difference between finding that elusive information.

As you start researching your family tree and recording the results you become familiar with various technical words associated with it. The Ahnentafel numbering system is one that most are familair with.

What I have found fascinating as a Mathematics graduate who teaches Computing and is addicted to genealogy is the link between the binary Ahnentafel number and the ablilty to identify how the ancestor is related to the subject.

If you look at the table below the first column is the standard Ahnentafel number, the second is the binary equivalent and the third is the relationship to the subject.

Now for the interesting (geeky?) part. If you know the binary representation of the Ahnentafel number then you can work out the relationship tro the subject:

The first 1 indicates the subject

A 0 represents a father

A 1 represents a mother

Example

1011 represents: subject - father - mother - mother

So Ahnentafel number 1011 is my Father's mother's mother.

Is it just me or is that not just fantastic?