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Courtesy of Rocco Forte Hotels
The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, stands behind Andy Fraser, its recently anointed "Tartan Butler" who helps guests learn about their family history.
America may be a diverse nation, but one thing most of us share is that our ancestors came from other countries. And many of us share a curiosity to learn more about those long-lost relatives.
The Rocco Forte’s Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, recently announced its newly anointed "Tartan Butler," a concierge named Andy Fraser who helps guests learn about their family history during visits to Scotland.
"It’s something I quite enjoy,” said Fraser, a Scotsman and longtime fan of Scottish and clan history, who has been informally assisting guests for some time on how to track down their Scottish ancestry. “Before I knew it, it really took off,” said Fraser. Both the position and title were recently formalized by the hotel.
Many Americans have Scottish surnames, and when they come to Scotland, wish to research their clan’s history, Fraser said. “We’ll sit down and have coffee. I plan itineraries to where their clan originally was from, where they ended up; I help with accommodations,” he said. “I just give whatever information I can.”
Sometimes it’s as simple as walking guests across the street from the hotel to the ScotlandsPeople Centre, where digitized copies of birth and death records as well as coats of arms are archived — going back almost 500 years. Fraser also arranges drivers and tour guides, organizes customized tours, and helps guests identify family tartans and arrange to have kilts made with the traditional clan designs.
Fraser’s interest in genealogy began when he researched his own Scottish ancestors, which he traced back to 11th century France. Such research can unearth some surprising results, he said. Two of Scotland’s more popular surnames — the MacDonalds and the Mackenzies — originate from “clans who were at war with each other over land,” he said.
Americans who share those surnames often want to visit Morar, in the Scottish Highlands, where a famous massacre took place in the 17th century between the two clans, a picturesque region of remote villages, where public transportation is limited. “It’s such a long drive there,” Fraser said, “but it is spectacularly beautiful to walk through the munros,” or mountains.
Prices vary depending on guests’ needs. Once, he chartered a helicopter, Fraser said. And some guests are particularly fond of including whiskey distilleries in their touring plans. “That’s the one thing I always get from Americans,” he said.
For travelers interested in tracing their own roots, Paul Nauta, public affairs manager for FamilySearch.org, a free, nonprofit, volunteer-driven website sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, offered some tips to get started:
- Begin with your own family. “The number one thing to do is to contact your oldest living relatives,” Nauta said, and also talk to other relatives. "Write down everything they know about family history. And gather family documents, like birth certificates, marriage records.” As you start asking around, it isn’t unusual to find relatives who have informally been family historians, he said. “They often have the proverbial shoebox with a lot of information and old photos in it.”
- Contact local groups. FamilySearch Centers, FamilySearch’s network of 4,500 facilities that offer public access to genealogical records, are located in more than 80 countries, Nauta said. And many communities have history and genealogy organizations and local libraries that are excellent sources for research. Many of them “have people who love to help you,” Nauta said, people who have done their own searches and “love to pay it forward.”
- Use online resources. The Internet has made family history search so much simpler and faster, Nauta said. On Facebook, for example, people can easily search others with the same surname globally. Other sites, like FamilySearch.org, offer more than 500 free courses and online ask-a-question forums to connect with a community of people worldwide who can help you with your personal research for free, Nauta said. Other sites he recommends include: RootsWeb, ancestry.com, archives.com, findmypast.com and myheritage.com. The site deadfred.com helps to identify old photos, such as the date and region of origin.
- Contact archives abroad before you travel. If you plan to visit archives in another country, get in touch in advance of your trip. In many countries, the record custodians or archivists do not like drop-ins and require appointments, Nauta said. “Elsewhere in the world, there is not necessarily open access and it is not so public-service oriented.”
- First and foremost, have fun. “Stay organized, be patient and realize it's going to take time,” Nauta said. “Realize that less than 20 percent of the U.S.'s genealogical records are searchable online today, and less than 5 percent of the world's,” but millions are being added online weekly, he said.
Cheryl Hargrove, president of HTC Partners, a consultancy specializing in cultural heritage tourism, said obtaining legal documents is important, as they “can verify original spelling of names and locations, which may have been altered over the years,” and that it is also a good idea to take copies when traveling to ancestral homelands for validation and further research.
Hargrove also suggests checking family Bibles, scrapbooks, wills and photographs for information, and recommends the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
“You can also hire a professional genealogist to help with your search. Ancestry.com can connect you, or you can also contact www.globalgenealogists.com for accredited professional researchers,” she said.
But perhaps Nauta’s best advice is this: “Beware,” he said. “You’ll get hooked.” His own family research began in the early 2000s when some preliminary digging began a journey that ended in a small Bari region town in southeast Italy called Cagnano Varano, where his grandfather was born and raised before coming to America in the early 20th century. “Like millions of people, I had an innate yearning to know my roots,” he said.
A younger-generation Italian relative had seen Nauta’s genealogy posted on FamilySearch.org and contacted him. “He had my last name and told me, ‘We're related.’ He put me in touch with the town archivist who contacted me and said, ‘You and I are second cousins, and you’ve got first cousins still living in town, who would love to meet you,’” Nauta recounted. “It was such a great emotional experience for all of us.”
Soon afterward, Nauta spoke on the phone with a number of relatives and later traveled to Italy. “It was like we had never not known each other,” said Nauta, who has since been back many times and has taken several family members. “Our family has become so much bigger and closer; it’s given us a legacy to live up to,” he said.
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This is great to see. I have several Scottish ancestors, and one of my hopes is to go to Scotland to see where it all began for them.
There is absolutely no question that the MacDonalds beat the Mackenzies in the land dispute...none.
and then they opened a hamburger and haggis stand on it.
That's awesome with the Tartan Butler! I have no Scot in my background and I would love it if each country would do something like what he does.
* Side note: LDS, may have a very large family search program but these b*st*rds posthumously convert the deceased. NOT at all cool. What's it their business to do that? They were told by the Jewish community to stop it. The LDS 'agreed', but still do it anyway. Quite disgusting.
I don't understand your comment 'they posthumously convert the deceased', will you please explain?
It is called "work for the dead". Basically they use lists of the deceased and "baptize" them Mormon.
I think you are mis understanding what is done. The LDS don't "convert" the deceased but we perform certain ceremonies that we believe must be done for all people to be able to live with God after you die. Now because not all people who have lived and died we able to have these things done and God being totaly fair, we do these ceremonies by proxy for them. However, if the people who have died don't accept the things that are done for them, then it doesn't really matter. However, every one has to have the chance. It's a way to remember and honor those who have gone before. We are also only supposed to submit names of direct ancestors to have this done, but sadly some people ignore this rule. It is not done to take anything away from the lives that people have lived nor are they counted as "members" on any roles or statistics. It is done out of service to our ancestors who we honor and revere. As it says in Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.
The LDS church teaches that its most devout members will inherit an entire planet for them to rule when they die. In order to populate this planet with servents, and of course their personal pool of wives they are baptised in the names of people both still living and dead; in essence they are converting these souls to the LDS church. That is why the LDS church has had one of the biggest geneological libraries in the world. A member goes to the temple, gets a printout of names, goes into the inner sanctum and is baptised in those names. The names have to be verified as people who actually existed, and once your name is claimed by a LDS member it is annotated as being claimed. After all you don't want John Smith flying over to Brigham Young's planet because Brigham has one or more of John's wives. Imagine the confusion!!!
I'm not sure where you got your information from but the LDS church does not teach that it's members will inherit a planet populated with the people they did temple work for. If you want to know what the LDS church does teach, try going to LDS.org or asking the missionaries when they knock on your door.
@Cat - You are somewhat correct in your answer that "...the LDS church does not teach that it's members will inherit a planet populated with the people they did temple work for." (emphasis added)
That being said, however, the church does teach that Mormon men in good standing who follow all the teachings of the church and who achieve the Celestial Kingdom, the highest of the three levels of Heaven in LDS theology, will become gods in their own right. They will rule their own planet with their spirit wife (or wives, depending), producing spirit children to populate that world. Part of the work required of them while still on Earth is temple work, which includes ordinances for the dead.
The God of our own world is said to live on a planet named Kolob with His spirit wives. In LDS theology, we are then all their spirit children.
kdtreyreynolds - You are close but not quite accurate. Kolob is the star near where God resides (Abraham 3:2-3). As to the whole inheriting planets. The only thing that I've ever been taught is that if we inherit the Celestial kingdom we will become like God and be able to continue in our progression. Now there are many that speculate as to what that will be like. I suppose it may entail creating our own planets for our own spirit children but there isn't really any definitive teachings in that regard. Maybe it's creating entire universes. Who knows. The doctrine can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 137 and 131.
Andy Fraser . . . now, there's a fine name for Scotsman!
Yeah, all ya'll should go back to your own countries while ur at it!! Go back & trash your own "Homelands" now since u all did a Bang-Up job with ours. U all Ran Away From Ur Own lands & Came To Ours & Trashed OUR land. u r Pigs & Cowards!!
I, too, have Scottish ancestors, who were intermarried with the Portuguese sailors who came to Scotland. You think you are pure Scottish, think again.
WOW there VLAYDAY...so are you just lazy or completely illiterate? Lot of bashing of unknown strangers there. SO tell me...what exactly have you personally done to make this a better country? Clearly learning basic English and grammar were not part of your improvement plan. I guess compassion, understanding, perspective of the actions of others were also totally out of the question. Must really suck to be you. seek therapy. Soon.
Catherine; never mind; Vladay is, unfortunately, an idiot. He fails to understand that unless he is a native American, a simple check of his surname would make him aware of the approximate land from where his family "escaped". That, of course, would require minimal intelligence; something he obviously lacks.
Now I know where Scientology got their game? Please tell me Mormons that the above is not true? We cannot have a man running for and good chance of being President who would swallow something like this. Somehow I do not think that becoming a God is exactly Christian. I would suppose the closest would be Buddhism where the point of all your effort is to become a Buddha. Please LDS people tell me the above is not true before I pee my pants from laughing.
It's true, and it gets even wackier if you Google it. I hate to cast aspersions on another's religion, but it does make for interesting reading.
I'd love to start looking but something tells me the name Murphy would be a huge undertaking.
Scottish ancestry appears where you might not expect. I am from Bogota, Colombia, of mainly Iberian ancestry and go all the way back to the Spanish colonies. Among my colonial ancestors was Francisco de Guzman y Cespedes, who was a descendant of King Alphonsus IX of Leon and Queen Berenguela of Castille. Berenguela was in turn the daughter of Leonor of Plantagenet and King Alphonsus VIII of Castille. Leonor of Plantagenet was a great-great grand daugher of King Malcolm III of Scotland and St. Margaret of Scotland. I believe Malcolm III's ancestry traces back to the Scotti of ancient times, who trace back to Ireland, and those Gaels trace back to the Sons of Mil and Scotta who arrived in Ireland from Galicia, Spain back in the late Bronze Age. Mil or Milesius was the son of Breogham, the great grand-daddy of Galicians, Irish and Gaelic Scots. It's a world tour!