Forge Ahead Spring 2008 Page 7 good

After leaving Portree we headed to Loch Ness. A 2-hour drive and we arrived at Urquhart castle. It is in
ruins on the loch but much is still standing. After some sight-seeing and souvenirs we headed up to
Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. Culloden battlefield is also here but on drove by. I have not done much research on the Jacobite rebellion and getting late I wanted to get back to Perth before dark. We
arrived in Perth and headed over to Scone Palace. This is the site where all the kings of Scotland back to
Robert the Bruce were crowned as King. It was awesome to be where so much history took place! You
will also see some photos of some Highland Coos (Cows) that were at the royal palace. A late night drive
back to Edinburgh and a flight home the next morning.

We managed to pack a lot into a short trip and was able to see most everything we set out to. Although
tours are great to get you to the major attractions, I would definitely rent a car to see the off the beaten
path stuff. The cost of the car rental came out to the same as the 3 tours we would have purchased. Driving on the other side of the road was not too bad. Takes about 14 minutes to adjust but it was worth it!

After arriving back I got a response from the Heritage Society in Poprtree. They looked up the name of my great great grandfather, Charles Smith. They did find him but he was not a resident of the area. He worked out of Portree for 2 years on a MacDonald's boat before moving on. He listed his home as Aberdeen. With some research into the Ancestry.uk archives I found the link back 3 more generations to 1799 to a William Smith, unbelievable the start of my family tree shares the same name! He originated from Nigg, Kincardineshire which is to the Southeast of Aberdeen. I imagine they moved to Aberdeen being a bigger city to find work in the Fishing Industry. So far from 1st generation ---Alan Smith, my father (Lobsterman), 2nd Generation ---Alfred Smith (Lobersterman), 3d Generation --- Frank Smith (Dock Worker/Fisherman), 4th Generation --- Charles Smith (Mariner/Fisherman), 5th Generation --- John Smith (Fisherman) to 6th generation --- William Smith (Mariner) have all been mariners/fishermen. My next visit to Scotland will be to explore Nigg's local cemeteries to find Smiths and see if further links can be found... Unfortunately I will be the one to breat the chain as I am not a fisherman.

Bill and Jennifer Smith