I know from ancestory notes from my grandmother's family that a Kendall came from Scotland in the 1600s to Virginia as an identured servant at the age of 7.
Where in Scotland do I go to find where he came?
I know from ancestory notes from my grandmother's family that a Kendall came from Scotland in the 1600s to Virginia as an identured servant at the age of 7.
Where in Scotland do I go to find where he came?
Have you traced him or her back to the 1600's in Virginia for specific dates? Do you have her listed on a ship? Do you see his Freeman papers (not as in indentured, but that might just be New England). Often the papers here will indicate the area; i.e., Skye, Iverness, etc. Records from the family/person to whom they were indentured might help pin down the area, etc? Wills/Probate? Property records? Being an amateur genealogist my entire life, the best place to start is here and work backwards. I can't see where you live, but there is much data online from many genealogical societies, some you need to belong to, some you don't. The LDS and NEGHS are two organizations with many records and many database access. If this indentured servant was male, you should have an easier time of this than for a female.
You can access some overseas records from here. I don't know that Scotland has a centralized location, as most European countries do not yet...from my experience. In other words, it is hard to tell you how to find more when it is unclear where you have looked. If you can determine the approximate areas, you can check the church records, municipal records, etc.
You might start with the page on ancestry on VisitScotland. Also, explore this site. Here's the link the National Records site that you should review. I don't think that Kendall is an Orcadian name, but if you find a link to Orkney, here's a great site with tips to search further. I found my great grandfather through one of the links.
Hi, jkmorrow1,
There are several regional genealogy offices in Scotland. I discovered through one of them that I am descended from a long line of unmarried mothers, two of whom were mill workers, and one a lady of the night. I'm not kidding! At least I get a lot of mileage out of the stories. :)
If you have a general idea where your forebear was taken from, you may be able to search regionally rather than nationally. Good luck with your search.
Mike (Auchterless)
Is this the only information you have? Seven is quite a young age to be alone so did he come with family? It might be easier to find records of adult family members. It is best to discover as much as you can on this side of the water or your quest in Scotland will be difficult. I tried, while in Northern Ireland, to find information on my great grandfather, but had no luck. I found out years later that he had lied about his age, and he had such a common name that it was impossible to figure out if I was on the right track. Just looking at his death certificate and some census records helped me figure out a few things. Also, be aware that misspellings are common in the online records because the handwriting in old records can be difficult to read. If you know what area of Virginia he came to then I would start with those records and gather as much information as you can before trying to find him in Scottish records.
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
Visit this website.
In it you'll find how to have a whole day there for about 15 UK pound.; and you can look up everything you could possible think of about family history in Scotland.
I did it a few years ago, and it was a wonderful day.
I'm presuming you are going to Scotland, of course.
Otherwise you can join, get credits (you pay) and look stuff up from home.
There is also ancestry.com , and RootsWeb, and familysearch.org.
Good luck!
I've used www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ to good effect. But, I had names and locations of my ancestors prior to their arrival in the USA. Most of the info was from 1700 onwards. Things like Parrish records were not available on line. I found those on microfisch through LDS. One helpful thing is the Scottish women carried their maiden name through life.