Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors

This guide to Scottish ancestry records offers detailed social history on how our ancestors lived, as well as resources for family historians.

Scotland's history has been influenced by many factors—the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands, the feudal system, the Reformation, the industrial revolution —that have shaped the country's past and impacted on the lives of its people. Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors is a lively and accessible introduction to this long, complex and fascinating story.

Aiming primarily at family historians who are eager to explore and understand the world in which their ancestors lived, Ian Maxwell guides readers through the wealth of material available to researchers in Scotland and abroad. In addition to covering records held at the National Archives of Scotland, Maxwell examines closely the information held at local archives throughout the country. He also describes the extensive Scottish records that are now available online.

Essential reading for anyone who is researching Scottish history, this pioneering book breaks new ground in that it offers a detailed social history showing how the lives of our ancestors changed over the centuries and how this is reflected in the documentation that has survived A must-read for family historians looking to put their research in historical perspective, Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors gives fascinating insight into ancestral history.