Surname Websites - East Lothian

From Musselburgh to Gifford, from the shaded glens of the Lammermuirs to the fishing villages on the North Sea, to the fields near West Saltoun or the coal mines by Tranent, our ancestors came.  Here they were born, were schooled and churched, laboured, courted, and were married. Whether they were named ARMSTRONG,  FLETCHER, HEPBURN, STENHOUSE, LAING, LUMSDEN, GRAHAM, or BELL, they left some kind of record.  They could be mentioned in the OPR, in civil registrations, in medical, legal, or military records. Perhaps there was an obituary or other write-up in the Edinburgh, Haddington, or North Berwick newspaper concerning your ancestor. Or maybe he or she is mentioned in a published local history.  This site could hold a link to a missing piece of your family history, or perhaps you have a clue to another family's past!

Our Lothian families were most likely descendants of Normans, Flemish, Saxon, or Norse progenitors. Some of the early people were Pictish Celts, found in Roman times.  Others came up from the south thus having more in common with the English stock than the Gaelic-speaking Scotti of the Highlands. With the capital city a relatively short distance away, life for many was not as difficult as it was for the Highland folk.  Villages, weather, arable land, and milder climate all attributed to this.  Not that life was easy for our ancestors.  Even the wealthy did not have the modern conveniences that we take for granted today.  Civil war, disease, and religious persecution plagued the Scottish lowlanders of the Middle Ages. The hardy survived and were stronger for it.  Many of them brought that strength, resourcefulness, and faith to North America, Australia and New Zealand when they emigrated.  We, the immigrants' sons and daughters (or grandchildren), who carry the family name, are a living testimony to their hardy steadfastness.

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