AboutKaye McAlpine Expertise Lifecycle (birth, marriage, death) customs in Scotland, Early Modern Scottish social
customs, modern Scottish social customs, Border March laws and procedures, criminal
processes and judicial execution practices, social history in Early Modern Scotland,
ephemera printing in Scotland. While I have knowledge of the clan system and function of
the clan society (Highland and Lowland), I am not a an expert in clan genealogy.
Experience Freelance tutor in outreach courses from Edinburgh University on Scottish Culture and Tradition, including lifecycle customs, broadsheet ballads in Scotland, the traditional ballad and history. Freelance writer, guest presenter on Ch4 History Hunters programme, contributor to BBC Radio Scotland's 'Songlines' series on 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow'. Currently co-director of amedia production company
Publications Books: Forthcoming - Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, chapter on The Traditional and the Border Ballad; The Harris Repertoire (2000, Scottish Text Society, co-editor), The Ballad in History (chapter on Border ballads). Journals include Folklore, The Review of Scottish Culture,Sottish Studies, and The Scottish Literary Journal
Question according to my passed grandmother Sophie Quinz born in former Austroungarian monarchy our earliest ancestors come in 13 nth century from Scotland to Normandy in France, and later on to northern Italy and nowadays Croatia.In Scottish national archive in Edinburgh i find a original document where the name Quincy was mentioned.I would appreciate very much for a suggestion how proceed in finding of my ancestors
Answer Dear Darko
This is more about genealogy than culture, but I'll do my best.
If you are looking for ancestors from the 1400s, then there's nothing online that can really help - these are for 1800+. I would doubt that the Parish registers - which are what we can use before 1800 are going to be any use either. So I think the National Archives are your best bet. However, given that it is so far back, you would probably need some sort of professional genealogical help, as the writing on land or family documents is extremely difficult to read - it will probably be in Latin, perhaps French, or even Scots and the style of writing is almost impossible to decypher
The name Quincy is not common in any way in Scotland as a name. This could be a good thing - although it may suggest a Norman French origin - many Normans settled in Scotland in the 11th and 12th centuries, and it may be after the Wars of Independence, they chose to return to their French domains.There is a great deal of movement between Scotland and England regarding the nobility at this time.
For example - about Saer de Quincy from Wikipedia (this is not help with your family directly)
'The family of de Quincy had arrived in England after the Norman Conquest, and took their name from Cuinchy in the Arrondissement of Béthune; the personal name "Saer" was used by them over several generations. Both names are variously spelled in primary sources and older modern works, the first name being sometimes rendered Saher or Seer, and the surname as Quency or Quenci.
The first recorded Saer de Quincy (known to historians as "Saer I") was lord of the manor of Long Buckby in Northamptonshire in the earlier twelfth century, and second husband of Matilda of St Liz, stepdaughter of King David I of Scotland. This marriage produced two sons, Saer II and Robert de Quincy. It was Robert, the younger son, who was the father of the Saer de Quincy who eventually became Earl of Winchester. By her first husband Robert Fitz Richard, Matilda was also the paternal grandmother of Earl Saer's close ally, Robert Fitzwalter.
Robert de Quincy seems to have inherited no English lands from his father, and pursued a knightly career in Scotland, where he is recorded from around 1160 as a close companion of his cousin, King William the Lion. By 1170 he had married Orabilis, heiress of the Scottish lordship of Leuchars and, through her, he became lord of an extensive complex of estates north of the border which included lands in Fife, Strathearn and Lothian.'
The best idea would actually be to start with the most recent documentation you have and work backwards. it will take a long time, as you will obviously be working with different countries' records. It is easier to do this than work forward in the hope that you have the right person and waste time tracing the wrong people, however interesting this may be.
Always trace back through the male line
try to find out about spelling variants of family names and given names
Talk to as many of your family as you can - uncles and aunts can have all sorts of information that you may not have
I hope this may be of help: I've only gone back as far as the 1740s with my family, and that took a deal of digging about.
