The Howe of Cromar, Roy Military Survey of Scotland, 1747-55, collaged from the digital files at the National Library of Scotland
I’m William Cromar. By day I’m an artist and educator exploring digital media, and in that capacity my nom de guerre is williamCromar. By night, I’m an extremely amateur genealogist living in Philadelphia PA USA.
This blog started in 2021, but the seeds for it were sown when my wife gifted me with a DNA ancestry kit. Years and much trial and error later, I feel confident enough in my research skills to document the journey of my family through time and place in this blog. I was inspired by the family history blogging work of Martin Robb, who may in fact prove to be a distant relative. Martin borrowed a line from E. P. Thompson which I thought so appropriate to describe the endeavor of family history generally that I had to borrow it from him.
My family is no different than others—we do have our share of famous and infamous ancestors, as does everyone—but without the usual blather of living in the reflected glory of the illustrious and nefarious, we can say: every family’s story is worth telling. So, like my perhaps-cousin Martin, I am here not to boast of connections to Robert the Bruce or William Shakespeare, but instead to rescue my humble farmer and stone-mason ancestors from the “enormous condescension of posterity.”
Paying forward
One reason I began to commit this journal to the net is to pay forward all of the help I’ve received from others as I’ve pieced this family history together. I’ve learned so much from the efforts of so many, I hope that I can help others. If we share any family history and you happen upon this blog, please contact me. And even if you don’t, you may find some reasonable hints about genealogy that I sure do wish I knew about when I started!
That’s why I’ve created some resource pages in addition to the blog found at the home page:
- At Research, you’ll find a discussion on various resources for genealogical research, along with lists of links and notes on my personal experience with each, categorized by primary sources, mapping, symbology, “trustworthy” genealogical sites, and crowdsourced (usually paywalled) genealogy sites.
- At Mapping, you’ll find an interactive map with the main players you’ll meet in this blog, with notes on this map’s construction.
- At Etymology, there are notes about the many languages that influence Scottish place and personal names.
- At Symbology, taking advantage of my profession as a digital artist, I discuss the study and development of three sets of icons I created for identifying “tribes” belonging to nations, families, or clans.
To experience this story as a first-timer, visit the first post to start chronologically, or visit the Directory to peruse posts in by topic. You can also work forward from post to post by using the NEXT» link at the bottom of each. You may search for people or topics at Search Cromarbaile, in the footer.
Oh, and my kilt? A Clan Farquharson ancient tartan, thank you for asking!
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