Clan Council Meeting December 7, 2013
Genealogy Initiative
Preamble
The Genealogy Initiative consists of three separate but related streams, i.e., the Chisholm Genealogies International forum (The Forum),The Chisholm Genealogies web site (the Genealogy Database) and the DNA Project.This report deals solely with the Forum and the Genealogy Database. The DNA Project is mentioned only in the overall context of the Genealogy Initiative. A separate DNA report is filed on DNA progress by Robert Chisholm, DNA Coordinator.
Last year I went to considerable lengths to address a couple of issues: namely, the lack of ongoing participation by new members to the Forum and, the lack of new family trees being posted to the Genealogy Database. These issues remain a concern, however, I do not intend to revisit them here as they are thoroughly documented in last year’s report.
“The Forum was saddened by news from Canada on the passing of Duncan J. Chisholm Province of Quebec. He made a huge contribution to Chisholm Genealogy and Chisholm History, in particular that of Nova Scotia.That is the place where you can find more Chisholms per square metre than anywhere else on the planet.”The foregoing was included in Alastair’s NZ newsletter submission earlier this year. However, I wanted to bring it forward for more visibility and to add my own comments. I never met Duncan fact to face but I have had numerous occasions to communicate with him by either telephone or e-mail. He was a storehouse of information on the Chisholms of Nova Scotia and he always gave freely of his time and expertise. He will be missed.
My summary on the capabilities of The Forum and the Genealogy Database:
- The Forum provides a terrific capability for the general public, as well as CCS members, to discuss, research and formulate opinions on “things Chisholm”. It is already a goldmine of information if one learns to navigate it properly. Easily accessible instructions for performing searches are provided on the Forum.
- Likewise, the Genealogy Database is a priceless asset to CCS members. Its value can only increase over time as additional members submit their family trees. I personally am one of the guilty ones who have not yet submitted a tree for review. I can only say it is a long, slow process which I hope to complete in the near future.
Agenda Item 5) Projects update and Discussions
a)Report on Chisholm GenealogiesWebsite
Background
The purpose of Chisholm Genealogies initiative is to preserve the heritage of our Scottish clan through the creation and implementation of a worldwide database of Clan Chisholm genealogy records. As part of an ongoing process, the Branch Genealogists are collecting family tree data that can be merged into an international database in an effort to facilitate genealogical research by making these records accessible to our members. The website, known as “The Chisholm Genealogies”, has been available to our general membership since February/March 2009.
The web site is devoted to uncovering the past and forging yet undiscovered links to Chisholm family history. It is a repository and navigational aid to a database of integrated genealogical information organized around family trees. Members with authorized access are able to search the database for links to their family tree. In addition, they can add to the database with new information on their family trees that has been verified by the genealogical experts who are responsible for the administration and maintenance of the database.Additional functionality includes the ability to post and subsequently access a variety of media types including: photos, documents, headstones (includes photos and ancillary information), histories, recordings, videos and albums. All of these media types can be directly linked to individual family members and provide a richness to family history not otherwise available using only the printed word.
Activities/accomplishments for 2013
Family Tree (FT) activity
Family tree data and other documentation, e.g., photos, can be transferred onto the database subject to verification. Submitted data needs to be accompanied by documentation- (birth/death/marriage certificates, census data or other reliable sources) before it will be included on the main database. There is a small sub-group of members (the Certification Group) dedicated to verifying FT’s submitted for inclusion in the database.
No family trees were submitted for inclusion into the database by the Certification Group in 2013. As Bob Chisholm points out “People do not seem to be aware that the objective of the database is to build a factual picture of Chisholm families and to achieve that means supplying source information along with their application. A list of names and dates will not do nor will a family tree constructed from the internet.” From Bob’s comment, it appears that some sort of education is required before contributors forward their family tree information. To this end, in 2011, the USA Branch published a very useful primer or “how to” article in their Newsletter, The Clanship.
The article stated that “Family tree data and other documentation, e.g., photos, can be transferred onto the database subject to verification.Submitted data needs to be accompanied by documentation- (birth/death/marriage certificates, census data or other reliable sources) before it will be included on the main database.” However, it must be pointed out that it is not a requirement to submit actual documents with your family tree. All that is required is a reference to the documentation that you have taken your information from and where that documentation can be found.
Here are some statistics with previous year’s numbers in brackets. There are currently 16,650(16,135) individuals listed on the database, grouped within 5,413(5,237) families and 75 (72) family trees. Most of these family trees were previously researched by Bob Chisholm and others. The slight increase in numbers compared to the previous year is due to informal but rigorous work by Bob and some core group members. The largest family tree on the database is NZ – Culduthel with 2,280 individuals and 729 families recorded. The next largest is Knockfin with 1,147 individuals and 403 families. At the other end of the scale is a family tree with 9 individuals and 3 families.
b) Chisholm Genealogies International (The ‘Forum’)
This bulletin board style web site continues to be a popular and very useful vehicle for the exchange of information on ’things Chisholm’. New members are warmly welcomed and, best of all, it’s free. They are encouraged to post a note to let other members know a little about themselves and their interests - and gain access to the wider Forum.
To date, there have been 5,985 (4,997) unique postings on 616 (557) topics. Bracketed numbers indicate activity from one year ago. There are currently 198 registered members, up from 177 at this time last year.
On the Chisholm Forum:
Thisheading is becoming a regular feature of the Clan Chisholm Society NZ Newsletter. The author is our Forum Administrator, Alastair Chisholm, Hampshire UK. Slightly edited excerpts from the last two newsletters are reproduced below.
April 2013
The Tylden Chisholms have re-surfaced as a topic; this is a family that came from humble beginnings in rural Scotland to be part of London High Society. It was said that one of the descendants, who went to Vic AUS, was the rightful chief, after the death, without issue, of the XXXVIIIth chief in 1887. Descendants still reside in Victoria and NSW. There is another branch of the family in Wisconsin, which has generated the current forum activity. The Forum has been actively engaged in trying to work out just why this family would have been offered the Chiefship, allegedly by Chief Duncan MacDonnell Chisholm who died in 1858, with-out heir.
The Heir to Knockfin is a topic which just refuses to go away, and the Forum has been discussing research work by the (sadly) late Andrew Way, who believes he had found the heir. (Just a saying, to describe the feudal “heir male” of a family, there is absolutely nothing to inherit).
On the “Borders” thread, there is comment on references to the first recorded use of the Chisholm name (de Chese-holm) somewhere in Lincolnshire, in a Papal Bull by Innocent II dated 1137. This is at odds with our current historical knowledge of the name first entering the historical record in a Bull of 1254, and in Roxburghshire in Scotland, not Lincoln-shire in England. I can’t see too many Chisholms from down under being enamoured with the idea of substituting England for Scotland as an ancestral beginning point. Luckily therefore, in spite of searching, no evidence of this Lincolnshire person has yet emerged, and so it remains hearsay, though some might rather call it heresy.
October 2013
The forum is made up of a number of “boards.” Within these boards, there are “threads”, whichare the individual topics which are being discussed , or where a member or visitor has asked a specificquestion. In this issue of the newsletter we take a small peek at a recent thread on the“Armorial Bearings” Board. [Note: The description of this topic is “Discussions regarding the implications of a Coat of Arms in genealogy” and the Moderator is Bob Chisholm, UK Branch Genealogist and Master Database Administrator]
Some of the recent discussion concerned the earliest known surviving exemplars of Chisholm arms. In the days of the knights of olde, symbols on shield were used as identification, and from what the record tells us, a boars head was used by the early Chisholm knights. One of the first evidential indicators of this is in 1296; Sir Ricardi de Cheiselm of Roxburgh paid homage to King Edward I of England by placing his seal into melted green wax on the ragman’s roll. Obviously colours cannot be discerned, but a clear description is given: A heater shield, A boar’s head couped, contourné, dropping blood. Couped means the head is cut clean and straight, and contourné means the head is, unusually, facing to the right. While there is a dearth of documents to connect the family of Sir Ricardi de Cheiselm in Roxburgh, to the Highland family of Chesholm near Inverness some 100 years later, this heraldic device does serve as a very good clue for ancestral descent.
Two early examples of the boars head can be found in the North. Neither are devices used by a Chisholm chief, but they are heraldic symbols which have been incorporated into other family arms, as a result of marriage with a daughter to the Chisholm chief. Quite logically some sort of quid pro quo, for with the daughters came a nice selection of real estate as dowry.
In 1364, the daughter Sir Robert de Chesholm, Constable of Urquhart Castle, was married to Hugh Rose, the 4th Laird of Kilravock. Son of this marriage, the 5th Laird, and descendants since that time, have had the Boars Head of Janet Chisholm impaled on their arms. The Fresco of the Chisholm boars head is from Kilravock Castle, which was constructed some 100 years after the marriage.
Sir Robert’s oldest son John inherited the Chiefship and the properties, but he died leaving an only daughter, Morella. She married Alexander Sutherland of Duffus around 1420, taking with her into the marriage a nice portion of the Chisholm lands, notably Quarellwood. As a consequence, the Sutherland branch a Duffus family, who already had the Cheyne family arms impaled on their own, added the Chisholm’s boar head. Thisis shown etched into stone in a Duffus churchyard, and also in the modern rendition devised for the tourist trade.
A 16th century example can be shown woven onto a book cover by William Chisholm, Bishop of Dunblane. In this example, ca. 1560, the boar’s head takes on an odd appearance, not aided by the addition of a neck. The bishop’s mitre was evident at the top. The registered version shows a book at the base of the shield. It is not established at the moment whether the registered version belongs to the older William Chisholm Bishop of Dunblane, or his nephew of the same name who was also Bishop of Dunblane, and later Bishop in the south of France. It is the nephew to whom the book cover can be attributed.
Official registered versions of Chisholm Arms do not start appearing until the 17th and 18th centuries. These will keep for another newsletter. [Note: six colorful examples were provided in the newsletter, however, they have not been reproduced here.]
Planned Activities
The following ongoing activities hopefully will make the Forum site more accessible and user friendly to the general membership.
Family Tree (FT) additions to the database
Respond to requests from individual members, as required.
Research activities
Continue with research activities, subject to identification of worthwhile topics for further exploration.
Administration
Forum
Alastair Chisholm, Hampshire, UK continues his administrative responsibility for the site.
Genealogy Database
Bob Chisholm (UK), continues as Master Database Administrator. Our Forum Administrator, Alastair Chisholm, continues to act as a backup Master Database Administrator. A huge Thank Youto both of these gentlemen for their efforts in the past year.
Research activities and funding
Our Treasurer,Susan Chisholm,reports the following expenditures for the year:
- £208.02 was paid to Margaret Collin for the following activities: £155.02 for the Jamiacan research; and, £28.00 for 4 sessions on ScotlandsPeople re Borders research; also, £25.00 for Hawick Museum for a disc of Stirches pictures.
- Bob’s subscription to ‘Find My Past’ - £98.48
Both items were included in the 2013 budget projection.
Core Group
- Bob Chisholm, UK Branch Genealogist and Master Database Administrator
Audrey Barney, NZ Branch Genealogist (retired)
- Bill Pickering, Canada Branch Genealogist
- Alastair Chisholm, Hampshire, UK, CGIForum Administrator and
Backup Master Database Administrator - Anna Chisholm-Dickinson, Spokane, Washington State, USA
- Robert Chisholm, NZ (also DNA Project Coordinator)
- Elizabeth Chisholm, Lincolnshire, UK
Ian Chisholm
Project Liaison,
Genealogy Initiative