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Do Do 2 13 – A Cupboard 1 1 – A Press – 7 6 A Clock 5 5 – Two Tables 1 10 – A Craddle – 6 – Fire Irons – A Writing Desk – 15 – A bed and meal chest – 5 – A press two dressers with crockery ware and four chairs 1 4 – one Table and resting chair – 7 6 A Brass Kettle 1 10 – A Copper Do – 2 6 10 – Three spinning wheels – 3 – Twenty one Bowies 1 10 6 Three stools – 7 6 Three Tubs – 5 – Do Do Do at 8/ 1 12 – 11 Ticks 2 7 – 4 Bolsters – 6 6 1 Feather

I’ve various academic history research projects on the go, and one of these, still in the early stages, is to look at 18th century Scottish shop tax records. My taught postgraduate Masters degree at Dundee was in Cultural and Urban Histories 1650-1850, and I also worked as a Research Assistant on a pilot study of small towns in Scotland circa 1750-1820. As a disabled academic, with a severely disabling neurological illness, this access is particularly important, meaning I can work on these records at home. You used to be have to go to Edinburgh to look at these records in manuscript form, which I certainly can’t do any more.

Looking ahead to the New Year I thought I’d jot down things that I’d like to tackle in this area in the next 12 months. It would be good to blog more of them in 2018, writing about interesting families, people, places and events. I’ve also blogged 2018 goals for my Cavers one-name study, my Coldingham one-place study and my Melrose one-place study. And re more general historical research I’ve blogged 2018 goals on my academic history blog.

All these connections through DNA confirm I’ve traced the relevant family lines properly through documentary records, including in tricky cases like my Irish great granny and the Broadhead example where the documentary record wasn’t clear, and so there was doubt. My own Cavers link is quite far up my family tree, via mother’s father’s mother’s father’s mother. So that line can’t be Y-DNA tested, at least in my immediate family, and we haven’t been able so far to add it to the Cavers Y-DNA project I run, allowing its male-line DNA profile to be compared with other Cavers branches. That is potentially very exciting, and I’m considering widening my Cavers DNA project on FamilyTreeDNA to include autosomal DNA as well as the more conventional Y-DNA tests focused on by surname DNA projects which seek to match up paternal/surname lines.