Quote Originally Posted by Pawdiddle View Post
Hi everyone. When I was young, and really had no interest in where I came from, my dad told me that our family descended from Scotland. He also told me that we left Scotland and migrated to Nova Scotia and then on down to New England. Well, now that I am older I have discovered that I now want to know this history. Unfortunately, all of the older folks of my family have past and I have very few family members that I can discuss this with. So, my wife and I recently went to the Scottish Highland Festival in Blairsville, Ga. I talked to a number of Clans that where there and discovered that my name, "Morris", on my dads side, is either from the Clan Gordon or the Clan Buchanan depending on what part of Scotland we originated. I have gone on line and via Nova Scotia vital statistics found that my grandfather and grandmother did indeed come from there. But so far haven't found any thing beyond them. So I guess I am asking for suggestions on how to go back further. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Don Morris.
Start with yourself and what you know. Write every detail down. Often we know more that we think we do. For example you might not remember where your great grandmother was from but perhaps you heard stories of them sled riding as children or swimming in the ocean. They wouldn't be from GA if they were sledding and they wouldn't live in the mid west if they were swimming in an ocean. Also think sideways when searching records. For example I was trying to find my g grandparents names and thought the best place to look would be on the death record of their son, my grandfather. But I could not find his death record anywhere. I decided then to look for a death record for my grandfather's brother. Sure enough I found it and found his parents names, which were of course the names of my great grandparents.

I live in the U.S. so I can't speak for Scottish records but if you are starting here in the U.S. don't discount the records of funeral homes. (these are different then cemetery records and official death records.) funeral homes recorded a lot of useful information.

I would encourage you to visit...
Ancestry.com (A paid site)
Familysearch.org (A free site)
Scotlands people (A pay per click site.)
and Cyndi's List (A site with a vast amount of resources from all over the world.)

You might also want to research the highland clearances. Many families moved to Nova Scotia (which means New Scotland) after the clearances. I can't say that your family was among them but it is certainly plausible.

Lastly, I will just caution that you check and double check your records. So many times, family names were used and re-used. It was not uncommon for a family to have two children with the same name. Also, remember that communities back in the day were not what they are today. Often children married members of families in town, so you could have 3 children from the McDonald family marry 3 children from the Allen family and it can get confusing. Don't take what others say as absolute. Do your own research and then check it again.

Happy Hunting.
~Tracy