Before the 2024 Clan Forbes Society Tour this past August, Clan Forbes Society President Bart Forbes and member Antonio Uribe Jr. visited the Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society Resource Centre at 158-164 King Street in the center of Aberdeen. The Centre assists and promotes the study of genealogy and family history based on the North-East corner of Scotland. The Centre also hold records for the whole of Scotland and a considerable amount of data on the rest of the U.K. as well as many places around the world where Scots can be found.
The ground floor includes the check-in desk where visitors can become members and request assistance, carrells for researching the documents, and displays of the Society’s publications. The Society publishes a quarterly Journal, with more than 140 issues to date. The Journal includes many research articles, reports of meetings and lectures, and information and enquiries from members. The Journal is available to all full members. The Journals are issued in February, May, August and November each year and the mailing lists are prepared on the last day of the preceding month. E-members do not receive a printed journal, but can read it online at our website or download a PDF copy.
As a member of the Family History Society, Mr. Forbes was able to purchase several publications to add to the archives of the Clan Forbes Society. These included listings of the memorials in the kirkyards of New Pitsligo; Fordyce; Alford; Fyvie; and Forbes, Kearns, & Tullynessle.
Membership of the Society is by annual subscription, either a Standard Membership with printed copies of the Journal via regular mail or e-Membership for which members can download PDF copies of the Journal from the website. In both cases, you can select either Individual or Family membership (two persons at the same address). Ordinary membership (one person) is £25 and Family membership (two persons) is £30. Ordinary e-membership (one person, electronic Journal delivery) is £18 and Family e-membership (two persons, electronic Journal delivery) is £24.
The Family History Society also hosts meetings throughout the year by various geographic groups and in various locations. For example, February 2025 events include London Group Meeting’s “A Snapshot of Davidsons from Aberdeen & North-East Scotland” in London, Southern Ontario Group’s “Slavery & Its Impact on Family History” online, Glasgow Group Meeting’s "Conserving your textiles for posterity" in Glasgow, Moray / Banff Group’s "Finding Out More: Part 1 - Newspapers" online, and Australia and New Zealand Group’s “My Favourite Scottish Research Resource” online.
Mr. Forbes and Mr. Uribe were assisted in their search for House of Forbes resources by volunteer Fi (Fiona.) She allowed them to tour the basement archives with a huge selection of microfilm, microfiche and CD resources. The library has over 5,500 books on its shelves, plus journals from other societies worldwide, magazines, ancestor charts and maps. The Centre also holds documents regarding “One-Name Studies” from various clan and family societies, such as the Clan Campbell Society (of Australia), Clan Hay Society, Clan Lindsay Society, and Clan MacLachlan Society.
Unfortunately, the Centre has very little genealogical information on Clan Forbes and no publications from the Clan Forbes Society. The Society has launched a project to remedy that situation. The President is collecting important genealogical publications such as the House of Forbes and Descendants of James Forbes of Hartford Connecticut and Society publications such as Castles & Mansion House of the House of Forbes and Clan Forbes: History and Heritage. The Society will be shipping these to the Aberdeen and other Family History Centres later this year.
If you would like to help, please send your books, suggestions for resources, or your donation to hep cover acquisition and shipping costs. For more information, contact Bart Forbes at president@clan-forbes.org. You can donate here: https://www.clan-forbes.org/donate.
See a video tour of the Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society Resource Centre here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JJjrZF2t5Y4
Learn more about the Centre and how you can join here: https://www.anesfhs.org.uk/
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