Genealogical Translation

My passion for paleography started very early in life, while still at college in Brazil. It was part of the classes I had to get in order to receive my bachelor's degree. The different hand letterings from different records I had in my hands was, and still is, fascinating to me. Later in life, doing my own genealogy, I discover that the love for paleography was in my own DNA! 

Francisco Ferreira Drummond, my 3rd. great-grandfather, and a historian from Terceira Island, Azores, was also a Paleographer.  Through his history books about the Azores he not only brought to life many historical facts from medieval documents, but he also translated many of those manuscripts from Latin into the Portuguese language.

Last week I received the American Translators Association (ATA https://www.atanet.org/) magazine, July/August 2017, as part of my membership. I was surprised with an article about the translation of old manuscripts and genealogy. Not that the fact of doing genealogical translation is uncommon, but to see an article on a magazine discussing genealogical paleography, explaining to the public how it affects the outcome of a research, and find other languages genealogists working hard on the same as I do, was just great! It was like an endorsement of my passion and work.

I have been doing historical transcripts and translations of Portuguese records into English for about five years - https://myportuguesegen.blogspot.com/p/books-and-documents-are-important.html. Through these years, I build up a customer portfolio of very happy returning clients. I am so proud of the work I do for each of them. I give the best of my knowledge and skill set in paleography, the Portuguese language, its socio-history and the peculiarities of each century. 

If you are a translator of old records like myself, or if you are just reading this blog as someone curious about this unusual vocation, you can learn more about it reading the complete article online.

http://www.atanet.org/chronicle-online/featured/expanding-your-business-genealogical-translation/

If you want to learn paleography, here is a good start for the English language. This book is designed to teach you how to read and understand the handwriting found in documents commonly used in genealogical research.

The Drummond's connection - Scotland, Madeira and Azores

I have been always asked about the relationship between the Drummond’s from the Azores Islands and the ones with the same surname in the Madeira Islands. The questioning regarding the connection between the Drummond families in those islands goes far back into the late 1400’s and also involves the Scotland Drummond family.

It is known in the history of the Drummond family from Scotland that John Drummond, son of Sir John Drummond (1419), travelled abroad in the later 1400’s and was never heard back . At the same time frame, Joam “Escorcio” appears in old records from Funchal – Madeira Island for the year of 1470. He is supposedly the link that connects with the Drummond clan from Scotland. Why I say supposedly? We do not have any concrete evidence that points to this assumption other than the family correspondence dating back to the 1500’s and which tries to establish a link between them.

Rights: National Library of Scotland holds full rights in this digital resource and agrees tolicense the resource under the Creative Commons License: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK: Scotland.

Being genetics helpful in solving brick walls in genealogy, an YDna test on a direct line from a Drummond found in Madeira and another from Azores would shed some light on this matter, bringing confirmation on the genetic link between those families.

If you want to learn a little more about the Drummond in Madeira and Scotland and the letters exchanged between these families, you can found them in two sources at the Internet Archive, as below:

- Malcolm, David. A genealogical memoir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond. Edinburgh, 1808.

https://archive.org/details/genealogicalmemo1808malc

- Drummond, William, 1st Viscount of Strathallan. A genealogical memoir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond. Edinburgh, 1831.

https://archive.org/details/genealogyofmostn00drum

Family Tree Dna has a group on the Drummond's genetic and the external link is:

The Drummond and Drum** DNA Project: Patriarchs for all related spellings
http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/drummond/pats

Researching in Scotland? Take a look on this website about People of Medieval Scotland:
http://www.poms.ac.uk/

The book Antroponímia Primitiva da Madeira by Nunes & Kremer - is a relevant study about the names and surnames found in records from the Madeira island archives (XV and XVI). It is an incredible resource for genealogy, history and culture with several bibliographical references. Google books offer a limited view, but worth viewing.

If you are a Drummond descendant and would like to learn more about the Portuguese descendants, you can leave a message below. I will be glad to answer your email. Thank you.