Re: Information about my family
Jenny
jenny@panix.com
Mon Sep 18 16:05:01 2000
Hi Jessica!*p*I couldn't come up with anything on your family, I'm afraid.*p*The easiest way to see if your family was linked to witchcraft is to check the witchcraft trials.  However the Isle of Man did not have any.  For whatever reasons, heavily Celtic areas tended not to have many (or any) witchcraft trials.  There were virtually no trials in Ireland, Cornwall, Wales, Man, and Brittany.  Scotland was the only Celtic region that actively persecuted witches, and even there, the trials tended to cluster around the Borders.  There were relatively few trials in the Highlands.  *p*So if your family lived on the Isle of Man, the easiest means of research is closed to you.*p*Despite the lack of trials, there were plenty of witches in these areas.  But "white" witchcraft (witchcraft that didn't involve accusations of baneful magick or satanism) hasn't been well-studied.  So finding out if your ancestors practiced witchcraft is much harder.*p*One possibility is reading books on Manx folklore (like John Rhys' _Celtic Folklore:  Welsh and Manx_) and seeing if your ancestors get mentioned.  A British scholar named Stephen Miller is currently researching the history of Manx witchcraft.  As far as I know, he hasn't published his research yet, but you may want to keep an eye out for his books and papers.*p*You can also check out geneological sites, like the one Mique mentioned.  Another that I've found useful is Genuki (UK and Ireland Geneology) at:*p*http://www.genuki.org.uk/*p*They've got a lot of links and fact sheets on how to research your British Isles ancestors from abroad.*p*Good luck with your research!*p*Jenny*br*
Information about my family
Jessica
267
Mon Sep 11 10:52:22 2000