The Family History Society of Buchan

Registered Scottish Charity SC035593

4 Nov 08 - FHSB reaches it Century

The FHSB has reached a new milestone with our 100th Member. An outstanding achievement in only a few months. If you have not signed up please complete the membership form and forward it to us. Remember we accept payment in five currencies.

8 Oct 08 - Open Evening

The FHSB hosted an Open Evening in Arbuthnot House in Peterhead where the guest speakers were Shirley Dickie our local Registrar and Rita Gordon our Family History Centre Manager. The talks were highly informative and interesting. The FHSB would like to extend a special welcome to the 5 new members that joined on the evening. Our thanks go to Shirley and Rita for all their efforts.

8 Oct 08 - Aberdeenshire 1837 Trade Directory

Today the FHSB obtained the above publication. It lists all the tradesmen within the towns and villages within Aberdeenshire including a brief description of the said towns and villages. All members can utilise this resource within the FHC.

3 Oct 08 - Open Meeting 9th October

The Family History Society of Buchan will be holding its next open meeting on Thursday 9^th October at Arbuthnot House in Peterhead at 7pm. This time we will have two speakers; Shirley Dickie, our local Registrar, will be giving us an insight into the records she has available for the family researcher in the registrars office in Peterhead, and Rita Gordon will be talking about other records available for the local area, such as the Poor Law registers . Click here for more details

22 Sep 08 - Aa the Claik No3

Our latest newsletter is published today - Its bigger and better than ever... Click on the Aa the Claik” logo(upper right). Edited by Sheila Allan and the DTP carried out by Elizabeth Robertson

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Aug/Sep 08 - St Fergus MI’s

Over a weekend in August the Society started to record the MI’s in St Fergus Churchyard. The weather was very kind to us and over a quarter of the graveyard was recorded. Next trip to St Fergus will be the 27th Sep 08. St Fergus Kirkyard is locally known as the ‘Pirate’s Gravies’ and is renown for the skull and crossbones appearing on many of the gravestones. Any volunteers please contact Anne.

27 Jul 08 - Scottish Week in Peterhead

The FHSB had a very successful Scottish Week display in the Arbuthnot House in Peterhead. Around 200 members of the public visited the display and a number then joined the Society. See the latest newletter for details

1 Jul 08 - US, Canadian, Australian and NZ Dollars Now Accepted

After lengthy discussions with the our bank the FHSB is pleased to announce that we can now accept US, Canadian, Australian and ZN dollars as payment for membership and publications. Simply covert from GBP and round-up into dollars (this helps with banking costs). For security we prefer cheques (or should I say checks) as cash can get lost in the post. 

30 Jun 08 - Open Meeting - Aberdeen Archives

The FHSB hosted a very enjoyable and very rewarding evening - over 40 people turned up. The Archives located in Aberdeen are a fantastic resource for any genealogist researching in NE Soctland. They hold many documents not available via any other agency.

25 Jun 08 - Family History Centre Opens

Today the FHC opened it’s doors to the public. A state-of-the-art research room with PC’s printers, scanners, fiche reader, access to the Internet and a growing library of reference documents. Two new members signed up at the FHC today and a warm welcome to them.

18 Jun 08 - Family History Centre Set to Open

After less than six months in existence, the Family History Society of Buchan will open it’s Family History Centre (FHC) in the Arbuthnot Museum, Peterhead at 11:00hrs on the 28 Jun 2008. The FHC has a growing collection of resources including PC’s, A3 and A4 printers and scanners, microfiche readers, film readers, Internet access, a database with over 4500 records of genealogical information relating to the Buchan area, A copy of the Aberdeenshire 1851 Censusand a great deal more.

Please pop along on the 28th to see the FHC, and keep an eye on the ‘Contacts’ page for up-to-date- opening times. 

15 Jun 08 - Open meeting on the 30th Jun 08

Following on from our very successful meeting in April, can now give you details of our second open meeting. This time our speaker will be Ruaraidh Wishart from the Aberdeen Archives. Many of Aberdeenshire’s records are kept there, and all are available to researchers.

But just what is stored there? Come along and find out!

The meeting will be on Monday 30^th June, starting at 7.00pm at Arbuthnot House, Broad Street, Peterhead. As before there will be a cup of tea or coffee available afterwards and time for a chat.

12 Jun 08 - Update on FHC

The good news is that our Family History Centre should be up and running by the end of next week. The equipment has arrived and we are busy unpacking it and learning how to put it together and use it.

The telephone number at the Centre is 01779 481819, and once we are up and running there will be an answerphone when the centre is closed.

To start with we will only be open for a couple of mornings or afternoons a week, so check back to this website for the opening times or phone before you come.

We are all very excited to be finally opening our doors, and hope that you will call in to see us if you are in Peterhead.

9 Jun 08 - Scottish Week in Peterhead

Peterhead holds the only remaining Scottish Week left in Scotland and this year it runs from the 18^th to the 26^th of July. Check out their new look website for details of what’s on – www.peterheadscottishweek.org

For the first time we will be holding a special family history event throughout Scottish Week – from Monday to Friday we will be in Arbuthnot House with a display of memorabilia. The Peterhead Registrar will be on hand to show you how to access records and we will have some local booklets etc for sale. If you are in town, come and see us.

Some of our members are also working with the local schools to organise a Heritage Fair, which is being held on Saturday 19^th July at the Central School. Again it will be well worth a visit.

And that is not all. Have you ancestors buried in the St Peter’s Kirkyard? On Sunday 20^th we are facilitating an open day there. We will be on hand to point out some of the more interesting graves, but this could be your chance to find your own family stones. Have a look at our CD to help you pinpoint where they are, and come along.

6 Jun 08 - 1851 Census films for Aberdeenshire

We have been fortunate to get funding which has allowed us to buy the 1851 census on microfilm for all of Aberdeenshire, including the City. We will be expanding on this as funding allows, starting with the OPR and Census records for the area we cover, then the rest of Aberdeenshire. In the meantime our members can access the films for the immediate area downstairs in the Peterhead Library, where there is also a large local history book section.

4 Jun 08 - Film progress

Work has finally started on filming the Kirkburn Woollen Mill in Peterhead, capturing it before the company moves out and it is flattened to provide space for a shopping centre. Parts of the building are very old, and the site incorporates two old streets, one of which has been roofed over. The original street sign is still visible on the wall. We are hoping to produce a short DVD from the footage. Some of our members will also be undertaking oral history recording with some of the workforce, past and present, to record their memories of the Mill and the people who worked there.

1 Jun 08 - Personal stories

We are looking for stories from our members for our newsletter. Have you a story to tell?  Have you discovered the family’s black sheep? Have you traced distant family members? Or have you hit that proverbial brick wall and would like help to break through it.

Our editor would be happy to hear from you.

28 May 08 - Membership update

Membership of the Society has grown to almost 70 in the few months since we were formed.

We would like to produce an annual membership list as part of our newsletter. The list will have name, address and email address.  Would any member who does not want their details to appear on the list, please let us know by writing to the Membership Secretary.

13 May 08 - Review of the April Public Meeting

This evening was a very successful event and Anne Allan has written a review of the evening which has been included on our “Articles” page. See here.

4 May 08 - St Peter’s Churchyard CD Rom now Indexed

Our very highly successful St Peter’s St Churchyard MI CD has now been indexed. Thanks to Rita for all her hard work undertaking this project. The index will be available to members at no cost please see the next newsletter for details.

1 Apr 08 - April Meeting

Our first meeting will be held on Monday 7^th April at 7pm in Arbuthnot House, Broad Street, Peterhead. Our speaker will be Jean Shirer of the Aberdeen and North East Family History Society, who will be speaking on the subject of “Starting Researching your Family “ Tea/coffee will be available. If you can, come along and meet other members of the Society, and discuss your research problems

20 Mar 08 - St Peter’s Churchyard CD Rom.

The first publication of the Society, a CD Rom containing all the Memorial Inscriptions from St Peter’s Churchyard on South Road, Peterhead, together with photographs of all the gravestones and Lair numbers, is now available from the Society

Click here for an order form.

1 Mar 08 - Kirkburn Mill Project

The Kirkburn Mill has been one of the main industries in Peterhead for generations. It is shortly moving to new premises, and the Society is working with the owner, Marian Shildrick, a direct descendant of the founder, to record as much as we can before it is lost.

We have arranged for Roll-it Productions, a local group, to make a film of the Mill as it is now. We are also interviewing past and present members of staff, recording their memories of working in the Mill. If you would like to help with this project please contact us initially at the email address

28 Feb 08 Family History Centre

Work is progressing towards an April opening for our Centre, situated within the Arbuthnot Museum in St Peter’s Street, Peterhead.

The room has been decorated and we are just waiting for the carpet to be laid and then the desks and equipment can go in. We will have Computers, Film Readers, and Fiche Readers available for use by our members. Non-members are also welcome to use our facilities, for which there is a charge of £TBC per hour. 

Hours of opening will be within the Museum opening hours, and will be determined by the availability of volunteers to staff the facility. If you would like to volunteer to help, please contact us using the email address above

Copyright (c) 2008 Family History Society of Buchan

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