Homecomings

I just want to know where I came from and to learn the history of my family tree and maybe to understand myself better.

JL, Washington, USA

I want to be able to tell my children where their ancestors came from. I think it gives them a sense of belonging in a world that sometimes moves too fast...

EL, New South Wales, Australia
Genealogy - the history of family descent. More and more people are interested in finding out about their families and forebears. More and more people of Scottish descent are making journeys back to their roots, from the USA, Canada, Australia and many other countries.

What exactly are they seeking? Are they hoping just to uncover their family histories in archives and libraries? Or are they looking for something more? Many homecomers describe their journeys as pilgrimages or quests.

Bonnie and Pat, ‘the American cousins’ from Washington, reunited with distant family at Carishader, Lewis. They all share a common Buchanan ancestor born in the 1750s. Photograph © Paul Basu

'Home' may mean Scotland as a whole, or a particular place - a village, a croft, a street. Many are moved to tears when they visit a deserted township, for example, where their family once lived, a church where they worshipped or a graveyard where they are buried. There seems to be something sacred about such sites. They certainly represent a very real link with the past.

Sharon Emslie Jameson from New South Wales, Australia, visiting the home of her ancestor in the Forest of Birse, Deeside. Sharon is compiling a history of the settlement. Photograph © Paul Basu


In a world that seems to be moving ever faster, the knowledge of having a past in a particular place can be vitally important to us. As we become more global in our outlook, we value the local all the more.
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