Angus Heritage Week has attracted visitors from as far afield as the US to find out more about their backgrounds.
Tayroots Family History Day at Brechin Mechanics’ Institute attracted almost 200 people. American Jeannie McGuire was the farthest travelled visitor.
“I’m here on behalf of my sister-in-law, Wendy,” said Jeannie, who is from Oregon but whose ancestral roots lie deep in the Angus soil.
“Wendy, who is married to my brother, is researching the McGuires and when she heard I was coming to Scotland, she asked me to attend this event in search of information about the Powrie and Doctor branches of our family tree and I’m having a wonderful time carrying out this research.
“In addition, I’ve also visited several of the places in Angus that feature in the Powrie and Doctor families, including Denmill, Liff and Forfar, where I found it very easy to imagine my ancestors walking around 100 years ago.”
Ruth Patterson from London travelled to Brechin specifically for the event.
“I’m here to find out more about Andrew Patterson, my great-grandfather on my father’s side,” said Ruth. “And, as Andrew Patterson worked in the Dundee jute mills, as did his son, I’d also like to find out more about the jute industry so I found the talk about the local textile industry interesting.”
Ruth said she is researching her family tree so she can tell her nephews and nieces about their ancestors, and also share this information with the many long-lost cousins she’s discovered across the globe as a result of her genealogical investigations.
As well as providing attendees with opportunities to seek advice from genealogy and local history specialists and groups, the Tayroots Family History Day featured a programme of talks by nationally-renowned genealogists and historians, including MacDonald and Rees chief genealogist and historian Dr Bruce Durie and DC Thomson’s Chris Van Der Kuyl, who gave a very well received talk about the future of family history research.