Family trees are fascinating but putting one together from scratch requires a lot of research.  Some knowledge of family names and dates of birth, marriage or death is essential.

Through this web site, we receive many requests for information about family members but our resources are extremely limited and we have little knowledge or experience of genealogy.  As a result we are unable to be of assistance in such research.

We therefore ask you not to contact us directly, but rather to use the following information as a means to carry out your research.  If you are trying to contact someone who lives locally or to find out about a recent relative, then we suggest you post a notice in our Guest Book.

The nearest professional group is the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society which has volunteers who may be willing to do research (at a price) for people who join it.  But before you approach them, try to pull together as much information about your forebears as possible, especially dates, addresses, known relatives/descendants, etc.  Visit: www.anesfhs.org.uk .  This organisation has a wide range of publications on all aspects of family history, and we recommend you make use of those relevant to your area of interest.

The next place to look is the official government site which again charges a small fee for online use, but gives you access to census, birth, death and marriage records and old parish records from the whole of Scotland, sorted by county and parish. You can also access wills, testaments and coats of arms.  http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

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For births, marriages and deaths before about 1850, you could try contacting the National Archives of Scotland about Marnoch church records, which they should have (not available on-line):   http://www.nas.gov.uk .

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The Scots Origins site provides data for family history research in Scotland, as well as an enhanced link to the LDS International Genealogical Index. This is particularly useful if you have only the surname of the person you are searching for.  www.scotsorigins.com

An interesting site, particularly if your ancestors were landowners, is run by the Scottish Genealogy Society.
 www.scotsgenealogy.com
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For a general and expanding history of Aberchirder and district – including street plans for 1866 and 1904 which could help you to locate any addresses you come upon in other documents – visit:  http://www.foggieloan.co.uk/4museum/museum.htm
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A useful source, which unfortunately is not available online, is the collection of valuation rolls – lists of every property with owners and occupiers - from around 1900.  These are are currently kept in Aberdeen (a 100-mile round trip away from Aberchirder!) and the archivist has no resources for doing research on people’s behalf.  It may be that one day this material will appear online, but this is probably years away.

The Aberdeenshire Library and Information Service has a fine local history collection.  Details can be found on www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/alis.  If you intend to visit in person, it is worth checking opening times and phoning in advance to the Library you will be using advising them of your area of interest.

To celebrate the 2009 Year of the Homecoming, Aberdeenshire Council has published a very attractive 40 page booklet 'Routes To Your North East Roots : Researching Family History In Aberdeenshire City And Shire'.  This contains detailed lists of which records, relevant to the North-east of Scotland, are held where, as well as additional background information.

The booklet is available online at
www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/familyhistory/index.asp

We hope these references will help you with your research and we would be interested to hear of any interesting information you have concerning Aberchirder and district – in particular photographs with a local connection – for inclusion in our Virtual Museum.