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Archiver > ABERDEEN > 2011-10 > 1317767290


From: Alexander Bisset <>
Subject: [ABERDEEN] Free access to Post Office Directories and Old Maps
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 23:28:10 +0100 (BST)


I note that the National Library of Scotland (NLS) has published a whole lot of Aberdeen Post Office Directories, 88 in total stretching between 1824-25 to 1911-1912 mostly this is Aberdeen City but there are some shire ones too. You can see the complete list of them here.

I've spent a most interesting evening looking through the 1841 and 1851 ones for Bisset's for my One Name Study I chose these so I could look up the census to work out which Bisset in my tree the individual was prior to looking at other years and tracing that individual's activities. If Joe is reading this then I did find your great grandfather James with his father at Lodge Walk being a "writer" and the father also James as Keeper of the Courthouse as you know already. Interesting to see another source. I'm not entirely sure what the profession of writer means I'm guessing since it is NOT a novellist but instead something connected with solicitors. Perhaps someone on the list will know.

Also on the NLS website are interactive maps for 1747-52, 1843-1882, 1920s, 1926-1935 and 1944-1950 aerial photographs. These use the Google Maps interface so you can zoom in, pan around etc. Its really handly to have all the maps stitched together like this so you can switch between periods. Finding those old farmsteads & cottages where family lived and their relationship to other nearby locations for other family members is very interesting. It can also prove useful to find places that no longer exist.


They are even more interesting for a One Name Study like mine where I have 4-5 trails in Dyce/Fintray either side of the river in the mid 1700s which we KNOW are related due to the successful Bisset DNA project but for which there is no paper trail found yet. Seeing the names of all the places and realising from the maps they are actually in an exceptionally close cluster adds more physical weight to the DNA and gives options as to how the links might be made. Finding extra paper sources such as parish minute books to be published on Scotland's People sometime soon will have to wait until a visit to Edinburgh or they put them online. However using the maps does help visualise the likely options as to where to search for paper records.


I assume Gavin already knew about this if not then I'm sorry Gavin I've probably caused you hours of online time pouring over these maps comparing them to your extensive collection. :)

For everyone else I hope the Post Office Directories and the Maps prove useful.

Regards,
Alexander Bisset


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