It is estimated that globally there are between 25 and 100 million people who make up the Scottish Diaspora. The developing interest in discovering your roots is being met by a growing range of resources and facilities and we are proud to have created a further such resource at the Salmon Bothy. Visiting researchers are most welcome to consult our library of materials and information. Please note that research will be self directed, our volunteers are not trained in geneolgy.

We have compiled specialist guides to resources of particular help when researching seafarers and rural ancestors.

In association with Aberdeen & North East Scotland Family History Society, volunteers from our team have dedicated countless hours of work to two long-term projects. As a result, family historians with local roots can now access transcriptions of gravestone dedications in Portsoy cemetery and in Fordyce old kirkyard. These immensely useful publications are on sale at the Bothy Shoppe.

Researchers whose relatives are commemorated on Portsoy town war memorial will also find brief biographical details of all those who lost their lives during the First World War.These are arranged in alphabetical order of surname; this personal information has been collated from a variety of reliable sources.

An unexpected and valuable record for Fordyce parish dates back to 1798, when contributions were handed in for a national defence fund at a time when fears of a French invasion were rampant. A note of all the contributors, their names, places of residence and the amount of their contribution, has survived in the registers of Fordyce Kirk Session. Our verbatim transcription uses spellings of personal and place names as they were recorded in the original.

For additional suggestions regarding source material for local and family history research, we can recommend this guide compiled by Banffshire Field Club.