Like many other Outlander fans, I have a rare fascination with Scotland. As a Genealogist, it was all I could do to prove that the stories from my aunt and grandmother were true, that we were descendants of the land.

If it’s an amazing book series, or even a movie somewhere that speaks to you, it’s always worth researching to see where you fit in.

Sometime around the 90s, a distant cousin I’d connected with on an old family tree website had sent me a family story, photos of churches visited, weddings that had been held, places that had been lived, mills that had been owned, in Scotland. Also like the 90s, all that information is probably on a floppy disk somewhere, lost forever in time. All the research they’d done, all the stories they knew, all the photos they’d shared, lost to the way I wasn’t properly documenting and saving these treasures at the time.

Fast forward to 2020 and I need to now prove my Scottish ancestry, all on my own, because I plan to visit! No way would I keep telling people I’m Scottish, and not be able to figure out where from. Easy enough to do with those of my family stories that were still alive. I knew we were from there, I knew the names of those involved, those that had even migrated to the US. These people were already all in my tree. They had been for decades. I had ZERO idea where they lived or what their story was. So the hunt began.

To make this long story, a little less long, through dogged research I was able to locate the ownership of a family jute mill dating before 1850’s, newspaper articles tying to such and it’s current address! I was able to locate where my 4th and 5th great grand parents were buried, and that the very church they’re lying within feet of was built in 1820s, indicating it was the one they physically attended. I was able to track down people that still own and live on the mill site today (their ancestors purchased the mill from mine!), and visit the old mill site! I contacted the church where my ancestors were buried, was allowed to visit (it’s under lock and key on a daily since 2020), and they even honored me with the ability to renew my wedding vows there for our 20th anniversary.

I cant explain to you the connection to looking at the church’s stained glass, knowing these were the same images they’d gazed upon. Walking the land that they’d worked on the mill, and visiting the refurbished house that had once been theirs, driving the cobbled streets of the many different addresses they’d had within one neighborhood. Standing next to their grave, knowing my roots lay within that dirt. Memories I have created not only to cherish for myself, but for my own children that came along on the journey. I promised my kids (ages 14 and 17 at the time) I’d only make them do one “dead people” day on our full tour of the highlands, but what a day it was.