Trace your roots in the Scottish Borders
You can’t beat a bit of local knowledge! Continue your search at the Heritage Hub in Hawick, the state-of-the-art home of the Scottish Borders Archive, Local and Family History Service. They acquire, preserve and make available to the public the documentary heritage of the region.
Find the places where your ancestors lived, worked and died: the streets and houses they lived in; the schools they attended; the churches where they married; the countryside they knew; the headstones marking their graves.
Long centuries of dispute between the Scots and the English resulted in many changes to the border between the two countries – the town of Berwick itself changed hands from Scotland to England several times. You may find that your research will take you to and fro across the border.
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Aitchison
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Dalgleish
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Johnson
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Renwick
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Anderson
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Darling
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Johnstone
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Riddell
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Armstrong
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Dickson
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Kerr
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Robson
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Baillie
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Dodds
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Laidlaw
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Rutherford
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Baptie
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Douglas
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Liddell
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Scott
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Beattie
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Elliott
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Lillico
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Tait
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Bell
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Fairbairn
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Lindores
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Telfer
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Bouglas
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Gowanlock
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Little
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Thomson
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Borthwick
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Graham
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Maitland
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Trotter
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Brydon
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Henderson
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Maxwell
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Turnbull
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Burn
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Hepburn
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Moffat
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Waldie
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Chisholm
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Hilson
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Nisbet
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Whillans
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Cockburn
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Hobkirk
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Nixon
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Wilkie
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Craig
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Hogg
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Oliver
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Young
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Cranston
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Hume/Home
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Pringle
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Craw
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Irving
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Purves
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Croser/Crozier
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Jardine
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These are the names of just some of the long-established Borders families. The history of the Scottish Borders is part of the story of the Scottish nation, and of the wider world. Evocative names such as Mungo Park, Sir Thomas Brisbane, Earl Haig of Bemersyde, Ann Redpath, Jim Clark, John Buchan, Sir Walter Scott and many more: sportsmen, writers, artists, scientists, explorers – all have strong family ties with the Scottish Borders.
Who knows? You may even be related to someone famous!