Walk in the steps of your ancestors

If you are one of the many millions who have Scottish ancestors then its only natural that you harbour a longing to know more about them, where they came from, what their lives were really like. Your roots have imbued you with a feeling of Scottishness and you now feel you are now looking for a new understanding of this. You want to find out more by actually visiting the places associated with your ancestors, bringing them to life, feeling their joys, touching the soil they toiled, perhaps even visiting their graves, treading in their steps to experience something of what they experienced, and through this better understand yourself as a person.

To someone of Scottish descent, roots matter. Your Scottish heritage is about more than wearing the kilt or celebrating St Andrew’s Day. It's about understanding your ancestors and experiencing something of their lives.

To find out if you belong to one of the main clans of Cowal, there are many websites you can consult. A selection are listed on this website. Outwith these main clans there are many other families associated with the area. And while many left Cowal for overseas, others travelled a shorter distance, with some either joining the navy, or relocating to towns across the firth where work could be found in the growing cotton and linen industries. By the end of the 18^th century, it is estimated that at least 37% of those born in Argyll had moved to areas such as Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire.

Because of new agricultural practices, clearances, or the challenge to start a new life in countries that offered tempting opportunities, many Scots left their native shores, some sailing from Greenock just across the River Clyde from Dunoon in Cowal. In 1879 the famous Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson sailed from Greenock in the emigrant ship Devonia to join his American born love Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, staying in San Francisco, said to have been the city of his soul. Stevenson had visited Dunoon in 1870, his well known engineering family having built Toward Lighthouse and the Gantocks Light off the town’s West Bay.