Genealogy is a scavenger hunt that sometimes requires the tenacity of a pit-bull and the courage of a lion combined with the deductive reasoning of a super-sleuth. It can be both a great adventure and a tedious, frustrating search amongst volumes and shelves and libraries full of book and papers... That is when you can find the book and papers. Due to the ravages of time and inconviences like war, earthquakes, floods and fires, those tedious records are not always available. Compounding this problem can be when the records you want are in another country. But don't despair! This may be tricky and require true detective work, but you can still pick up the trail on the other side of the ocean.

So what do you do when you arrive in a village and everone is named MacGregor?

To begin with, naming traditions can give the researcher avenues for exploration when there is uncertainty about which family line to follow. A string of Christian names that matches the names in your own line can signal a place to begin investigation. Below is a list of how names are commonly passed in families.

1. First son gets father's father
2. Second son gets mother's father
3. Third son gets father
4. Fourth son gets father's second oldest brother or mother's oldest brother
5. First daughter gets mother's mother
   
6. Second daughter gets father's mother
   
7. Third daughter gets mother
   
8. Fourth daughter gets mother's oldest sister
   
9. fifth daughter gets mother's second oldest sister of father's oldest sister

Where to go for records

Note: Though most people begin with marriage, baptism and funeral records, they are the more likely to be missing than governmental registries. Military and criminal records are better preserved. It's a distressing thought that you might have fly-by-night ancestors, but this isn't a task that should be under-taken unless you can live with what you find out about your ancestors. Every family has black sheep.

Resource	Source
For wills,deeds, valuation rolls and pre-1855 baptismal records of churches other than The Church Of Scotland contact:	National Archives of Scotland (SRO) General Register House Edinburgh EH1 3YY Scotland email: research@sro.gov.uk
For records relating to coats of arms and recorded genealogies contact:	Lyon Office New Register House Edinburgh EH1 3YT Scotland
For records of births, deaths and marriages in Ireland contact:	The Registrar General Oxford House 49-55 Chictester Street Belfast BT1 4HL The Resistrar General 8-11 Lombard Street East Dublin Republic of Ireland
For records of births, deaths and marriages in Wales and England contact:	The General Register Office Smedley Hydro Southport Marseyside PR8 2HH England The Family Records Centre Myddelton Street Islington London EC1R 1UW England

Note:Many ehtnic groups followed definite migration patterns. It was not uncommon for Scots emigrating to the Americas to stop over in Ireland for a generation or two. There were also favorite destinations by those sent to penal colonies or forced out by The Clearances. Cultural history holds many clues. It also pays to investigate family Bibles and oral traditions. For example, if granny used to sing you a Hebridean lullabye, and you can discover that it is a traditional song from a specific region, you have a very large clue about where to start looking.

One last thing to check is The National Archive for a record of ships arriving in America. The pre- Revolutionary War records are only 1 percent complete, but records after 1800 and fairly intact.

This is also the electronic age, so there are some services to help you. One is PERsi (Periodical Source index).

For those of Gaelic ancestry who have hit a brick wall and need some help, there is a Gaelic Research Centre called Co Leis Thu? The resident geanealogist is Bill Lawson. You can contact him at:

The Old School House
Northton (An taobh Tuath)
Isle of Harris HS3 3JA
Telephone 01859 520258

You have a good chance of triumphing in this search. The Scots are among the most genealogicaly-minded folks on the planet. There is a possibility that you will be able to hook into someone's family tree and be saved massive amounts of effort. The Clan Gregor Society of Scotland is compiling genealogical databases even as we speak. Visit the Clan's home site at: clangregor.com. If you are fortunate enough to belong to the MacAdams sept of the MacGregors, the MacAdams Historical Society has a massive database. They can be reached at: The MacAdams Historical Society.

Happy Hunting!