Jonas Linda - A Genealogists Guide to Discovering Your Scottish Ancestors

Because we live thousands of miles apart and have different backgrounds, experiences, viewpoints, and access to resources, we have been excited by the process of learning from one another as we have written this book. We find our collaboration to be a perfect combination, especially because finding our Scottish ancestors is a subject about which we are both passionate.

Of course, none of this could have been done without the assistance of many others. We first wish to thank the many students, clients, workshop participants, and library patrons who over the years have asked questions that forced us to learn and to become better teachers.

We gratefully acknowledge the following researchers who read our book and gave us valuable input: Sharon DeBartolo Carmack cg, fuga ; John and Glenys Dyer; Diane C. Loosle, ag; George F. Sanborn Jr.; Paul F. Smart, M.A., fsg, ag, cgrs ; Jacqueline B. Torrance; and Judith Eccles Wight, ag, cgrs . Our foreign reviewers were especially insightful: Dr. David Dobson (Scotland), Michael Gandy (England), Tony McCarthy (Ireland), and David Thomson, ag (Australia). We are also grateful to our editor Brad Crawford, who patiently understood our desire for perfection.

We thank the staff and volunteers of the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their continuing efforts to make accessible the original records and tools needed by family historians all over the world. Family history would not be as popular today as it is without their ongoing efforts.

We now thank some people who have helped us individually.

A great number of people helped me write this book. I have spent thousands of hours with some of the best family historians in the world: reading their books and articles, listening to their lectures, listening to their personal advice, and bouncing ideas off of them. The following people offered to help me in any way they could, and I appreciate them more than they will ever know: Nancy Ellen Carlberg from the Los Angeles Family History Center; Judith Eccles Wight, Paul F. Smart, Darris G. Williams, and Dean Hunter from the Family History Library; David Thomson from Australia; Peter Wilson Coldham from England; David Dobson from St. Andrews, Scotland; and Kathleen B. Cory from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Two family historians went above and beyond the call of duty. Nancy Lee Bier (Los Angeles), and Michael Gandy (London), toured cities with me, showed me relatively unknown sources in American and foreign repositories, and spent numerous hours discussing their vast knowledge of British and Irish family history with me.

Two professors of British history, David A. Cressy (The Ohio State University) and Donna L. Boutelle (California State University at Long Beach), took a special interest in me. David taught me how to research; Donna taught me how to think. Both of them inspired me with their love for British history and have encouraged me to do much more than just read about it. I will be forever grateful for their time, personal dedication, and interest.

Of course, good family history research takes more than just knowledge. It takes money, access to resources, and the patience, understanding, and encouragement of friends and family. I gratefully acknowledge the staff of the Los Angeles Family History Center, especially Director Ross Birdsall and his wife, Barbara, for supporting the tremendous British collection there. A deep debt of gratitude goes to the Board of Directors and membership of the British Isles Family History Society-U.S.A., and especially Sid Maddocks, for their personal support and for their interest in bringing great family history resources and talent to the United States. I also wish to thank the staff of the McLean Family History Center and the McLean, Virginia, Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, especially John and Glenys Dyer and Richard and Jackie Thomas, for their support of family history in the area and for helping to build the British collection there.

My family members are the most important people in my life, and without their support I could do nothing. I want to thank my husband, Bill Jonas, and my children John, Kimberly, Stephen, Robert, Katie, Annie, Betsie, and Julie Jonas for pitching in (and sometimes taking over) while I was writing. They are the best family anyone could hope for.

Paul Milner, my friend and colleague, aside from coauthoring the book, has been an enormous personal help. We work well together. We have gone through every emotion while writing this book, but mostly we have spent a lot of time laughing and getting excited over new ways to present the material. I thank him for his support, patience, understanding, dedication, and humor.

I dedicate this book to two men who are directly responsible for its writing. David G. Cameron at his death wanted his family history to be preserved. The family in this book is his. My friend Frederick A. Hill has for many years supported me in my obsession to bring British family history resources to the United States and to make them more accessible. He was the one who urged me to write this book, but his subsequent stroke prevented him from reading it. I hope that both David and Fred will somehow be able to read this book and be pleased with what they started.

In preparation to write this book, we have spent a lifetime reading almost everything in print dealing with how to do Scottish genealogical research. This has been, and continues to be, a wonderful journey to learn from the experience of others and become knowledgeable about a topic we lovefamily history.

On that journey I have encountered many individuals who have taught, supported, and encouraged me and struggled with me to solve problems. Some of my contacts, particularly at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, overlap Lindas. Over the years Dean J. Hunter, John M. Kitzmiller II, Diane C. Loosle, Bert J. Rawlins, David E. Rencher, Paul F. Smart, Judith Eccles Wight, and Darris G. Williams have guided me in my work there. I have watched each one of them light up with excitement as we all learned something new after being asked questions that were a little out of the ordinary. These people have become friends as we have worked together in Salt Lake City, at national and regional conferences, and on the Board of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.