Scotlands People

weechrissie · Post by **weechrissie** » Sat May 09, 2009 9:53 am

I find this to be a terrific resource to research my Mothers Family, thankfully she has an unusual maiden name of Doak. Married name Menzies will no doubt be more difficult.
I decided to do the research when I realised that at 63 I am the oldest in our small family, didn`t know my father, he died when I was 3, don`t know his birth date or when he died, have managed to get my Mothers birth Cert. Have no clue about my Maternal Grandparents, deceased when I was born, I know my Mother had 2 sisters, Who are they?
So wish me luck in my search? Such a pity I didn`t ask anyone about all this before they died, my Sister last year. I would have saved a lot of searching.

Chris.

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Sat May 09, 2009 11:36 am

Welcome to Talking Scot,

Scotlands People is the very best place to get information on Scottish relatives, though the other resources can help in narrowing down the fields before paying for the certificates.

I know of a family by the name of Doak, they lived in the Glasgow area, I've never heard of the name otherwise.

As you have your Mother's Birth, you should be able to get her parent's names and [if they were married in Scotland] find thier marriage details on SP, with their parent's details and then you can look for census details which will fill the picture in a bit more.

There are cut of dates for veiwing the certificates on-line:
» Births up 1908
» Marriages up to 1933
» Deaths up to 1958
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6601
and on TS we can't help with folks after these dates,
but I think you will be outwith many of these.

You don't say if your own parents were married in Scotland or Australia? if in Scotland you will be able to see thier marriage too and that will help you start on the Parental line.

Happy hunting!

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Sun May 10, 2009 1:24 am

Hello Chris
I just had a look on the LDS Vital Records Index CD's and it would appear that up to 1854 the Doaks came exclusively from Ayrshire (160 entries).
On the actual LDS (IGI) site there are hundreds of entries for Doaks, but most of them seem to be LDS submissions, but I am sure once you get past the grandparents there should be a lot of information there for you.

diane.campbell · Post by **diane.campbell** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:41 pm

Hi Chris

I wish you good luck in your search - I think we all wish we had spoken more to our older relatives about there memories etc. If only we had a time machine

Diane

Post by **paddyscar** » Mon May 11, 2009 2:51 pm

My late father was a great story teller, giving graphic details about conversations, locations and adventures in and around Glasgow. He referred to his brothers and sisters by their names. Unfortunately, he didn't refer to family beyond 'oor Tommy' (as opposed to a friend name Tommy) leaving me to wonder what the surname of that relative would be.

Believe me, I had a lot of interest in Dad's big city adventures, as they always seemed so exciting compared to living on the outskirts of a quiet little town in northern Ontario. My Mother wasn't so keen on his stories, but that may have been due to my grandmother being no stranger to the courts

A time machine is a great idea - to be able to walk awhile in our parent's or other ancestor's shoes would be great - but I'd want to have the only key to the vehicle with me so I couldn't be left behind. We live very pampered lives and I'm not willing to give that up

Frances