Kinnaird, Lorna

Description

I started genealogy in 1986 when my late father and I started discussing where our unusual [Muat] surname came from.  This turned into a quest to find both sides of my ancestry – and I have not looked back.  Fast forward to 2010 where I started on my IHGS Correspondence Course, and then qualified in 2013.  I then enrolled with Strathclyde on the Postgraduate Diploma in 2014 and passed in 2015, and during that time I became a probationer with ASGRA (Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives) becoming a full accredited member two years later and being asked to be a course tutor with IHGS.  Since then I have carried out many client commissions from around the world on simple record searches to breaking a brick wall problem, to carrying out house histories and family research to imaging and cataloguing collections for archives abroad.  My interest in Scottish heraldry has allowed me to look further into estate records where I can now advise clients on pursuing their own Coat of Arms through the Lyon Court.  I have been a course tutor with IHGS since 2014 supporting students throughout the course and beyond to gain their qualifications in order to practice.  I am also a course tutor for East Renfrewshire Culture and Arts at Giffnock Library and run up to six classes each year.  I am also a very proud Chairman of the Lothians Family History Society and help carry out research from public enquiries on their behalf.

However, my ultimate passion is to find evidence through documentation of Scots in other depositories throughout the British Isles and to  find the links back to parishes in Scotland.  The Napoleonic time is a fascinating snapshot in Scottish history that can allow other sources to connect and take a family line either back in time or forward.  I seek out militia and fencible documentation from any collection within the National Records of Scotland, The National Library of Scotland as well as others depositories in Stirling, Aberdeen, Hawick, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Perth.  A Scottish genealogist and heraldic expert once told me that genealogy is the only science where a step back, is a way forward – and he was completely correct.

I enjoy speaking at events on many subjects relating to Scottish genealogy.  Some of my past talks have been on The Register of Sasines; The Register of Deeds; House History Research; How to navigate the ScotlandsPeople Centre; The Sources at the National Records of Scotland; The Fab Eight Depositories in Scotland; Delving Deeper into your Ancestors and lately The Caledonian Asylum Petitions from 1815 to 1924.