Making Scottish connections

                                                                     Turf house at Glencoe

In North America especially in the west, history is less readily apparent that it is in Europe. When in the UK, I indulge my love of history. Exploration of historic places enlivened my latest trip to Scotland. It was interesting to see how the other half lived when we explored castles and other places of historic note. But those place didn't make me feel closer to my Scottish ancestors although part of our tip took in the west of Scotland where my family had lived.

The homes my ancestors inhabited would not have compared favourably with the castles we explored but I did see mention of typical Islay houses at the National Museum of Scotland. I could imagine my farming ancestors in the parish of Kildalton living in places similar to those depicted. It added to my knowledge of my family's past to see the illustrations and artifacts that had been found when archeologists went digging on Islay.

Islay seems to have been well studied, perhaps because it was known to have had links to the Lords of the Isles, a powerful faction in bygone days. In my experience, information about Skye is harder to come by. That's too bad as, before they immigrated to what was to become Canada, my Scottish lines came from both places.

Something I remember from my one and only trip to Skye was seeing Glencoe. It was only a fleeting glimpse as the bus didn't stop and my photos left a lot to the imagination. This time I was determined to stop and see Glencoe for myself. I booked a tour that would take us there. I found it to be a very moving site. Of particular interest was the turf hut which had been built there, a replica of similar homes that had been there before the infamous massacre. It made me wonder if any of my family were affected by that historic event. I'd like to find out of there was a connection beyond the eerie feeling that Glencoe gave me but Scottish research is difficult at best. I've not had much success taking my research in that country back that far. Maybe it's time to make a concerted effort to see how far back I can get.