My name is Nick Brand.  I was born 50 years ago in a small town in Fife, Scotland, called Burntisland.  Some ten years or so ago I decided to start investigating my family tree, and some of the results of this research are on these pages.  For those who think they may be related somewhere along the line, you may link to one of my other sites for a self-extracting GEDCOM file which you can study (abbreviated from my full files - only birth date information is provided on persons still known to be alive), or yet another site where a visible family tree is on view.  I do this research mainly in the winter, when I have a bit more time, but some of my other hobbies (such as computing or stone circles) can sometimes be combined with the research where they overlap.  For a very brief outline of the history of some of the Brands in Fife, see the Brand History page.  For a very brief outline of the history of some of the Barclays in Fife, (my paternal grandmother's line) see the Barclay History page. 

The name Brand is a fairly ancient one in Scotland and elsewhere. It derives from Old Scandinavian for 'fire' or 'torch' and was spread by Viking invasions in many countries (an entirely appropriate label when you think of their preferred methods!). I have found the name in Scotland, England, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and even as far away as Namibia and Chile - though I have no idea how it spread as far as the last country!. In Scotland, the Norse invaders settled around Kincardineshire, and the name slowly spread out from there.

Other surnames which have some relevance to the family are Adamson, Andrews, Buchanan,  Culross, Douglas, Duff, Ford, Gordon, Kerr, Lawson, McKenzie, Pembroke, Reid, Stark, Storrer, Swan, Turner, and Turpie.  If you are interested in genealogy, I hope that some of my research will be of interest to you.  If you are just beginning, stick in - you never know what you'll turn up!  I have already had contact with and replies from distant cousins in Australia, Canada and the States as a result of visits to this site, and also from distant relations now resident south of the border, who found me through the Forth Bridge Connections piece.   Since I started the site, I have received several e-mails from people who have links with Burntisland but now live abroad (again, principally Australia and Canada), and as a result of these I have updated the site to now include some of the history of this little Fife town, and one or two pieces of up to date information about it.  I have also included some photographs which may be of interest - if I have infringed copyright on any of the older photographs, please let me know.  These pages are completely written in HTML by myself without the aid of a compiler, so all mistakes therein are entirely mine!  Please feel free to point any out and I'll try to correct them.  We visited the Canadian branch of the Brand family in 2001 to see my fourth cousin Kate, and you can visit her husband Cec Harrison's Harrison Home Page, where he gives his side of the family history. My good-brother Joe Lally also has a webpage Joe Lally's Home Page which has some Lally family photographs on display.

Disclaimer: The information stated here is believed to be true, based on research compiled by myself and various other contributors. The contributors and I cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracy contained in this website. The information provided is as accurate as we can ascertain, according to the sources available and researched. It is ultimately up to the particular researcher to verify the information for themselves by individual research. If you conclude that any family information given here is in error, please feel free to e-mail me with the details.

The last updates included the commencement of a records section here which currently consists of the Brand Ellis Island Records, the Barclay records from Ellis Island, and Barclay burials at Markinch. The very latest is a list of the victims of the Tay Bridge Disaster in 1879.

Due to lack of time and other interests taking up what spare time I have, there will be few updates to this particular web site from now on, unless I run into a particularly interesting line of research. Please contact me at the e-mail address at the foot of the page if you have any queries.

Slainte!