The
following article was written by Clan Sennachie, Grahame Thom,
specifically for the website. He hopes that it will assist
Clansfolk with their research. If you have any comments or
questions please contact the Sennachie.
Scottish Records for Genealogy
Research
*****
The
following is a list of Scottish records that may be useful in
carrying out
ScotlandsPeople
Connecting Generations
genealogical research. It is not necessarily
complete. Each record description also includes mention of a
major internet source for that record. Other organisations may
also hold part or all copies of the records, such as
libraries, archives, historical societies, family history
societies, and other web sites (free or
pay).
*****
Probably the most
important web site for Scottish records is the official
government web site scotlandspeople (link),
so the first six below can be found on this web
site. Although a pay site it is where to obtain copies
of the actual records.
******
Statutory
Registration of births, deaths and
marriages.
***** Statutory
registration (also known as civil registration and vital
statistics) in Scotland commenced on 1st January 1855;
registration was compulsory for all births, deaths and
marriages in Scotland. For the first year, 1855, records were
very detailed, but this proved to be difficult to sustain and
entry requirements were reduced from 1856. The indexes cover
the period 1855 to 2013. Other websites, such as familysearch
may cover some periods but generally do not give all the
information recorded for each
registration.
******
Parish
records of baptisms, burials and
marriages.
***** Prior to
statutory registration if the family so decided, the Church of
Scotland carried out baptisms, marriages and burials. Of
course churches continued to
Family
Search
carry out such ceremonies after 1855 but they are
not included. Also included on scotlandspeople are extant
Catholic Registers. The details recorded can be varied and
contain little information compared to statutory registration
entries. Also some churches for some periods failed to record
these events in their parish registers and some have been
lost. The starting date of registers varies widely from
church to church from the early 1600s to the late 1700s. Other
web sites such as familysearch may cover some parishes for
varying periods. Search the Wiki section on familysearch
for the period covered for individual
parishes.
*****
Census
Returns.
*******
Extract from the 1871 Census records for Dundee featuring a Thoms family
Click to enlarge
The census records
information on the population and in Scotland has been taken
every ten years since 1801, with the exception of 1941. The
returns of most use to genealogists are those from 1841
onwards. Records are only released for research after 100
years, so the census returns presently available for public
research are 1841 to 1911. In addition to scotlandspeople the
census returns for 1841 to 1891 have been indexed on
familysearch - link.
*****
Wills.
***** The wills
& testaments index on scotlandspeople contains over
611,000 index
here. Please appreciate that this listing may
not be comprehensive.
*****
Coats of Arms. *****
The Lord Lyon's Coat of Arms
The Public Register of All Arms and
Bearings in Scotland contains all recordings of Coats of Arms
in Scotland from 1672 to the present day. Coats of Arms cannot
be used legally in Scotland unless they are recorded in that
Register. The Register is maintained by the Court of the Lord
Lyon, the office responsible for heraldic matters in Scotland.
Scotlandspeople provides access to digital images from the
Public Register from 1672 until 1913.
*****
For more
detailed information on heraldry and its use in Scotland and
on recordings post 1913, enquiries should be directed to the
Court of the Lord Lyon - link.
*****
Valuation
Rolls.
***** The Lands
Valuation (Scotland) Act, 1854 established a uniform valuation
of landed property throughout Scotland, establishing an
assessor in each of
here.
*****
Cemeteries.
*****
A Thoms Gravestone
The gravestones in many cemeteries in
Scotland have been transcribed and published in book form over
the past 40 years or so. To find or see such publications
start by checking the extensive collection held by the
National Library of Scotland - click here. If
a publication of interest is found then check the online
catalogue of a major library or family history society near
you. Also death/burial information from cemeteries is becoming
available online, for example look at deceasedonline.
*****
Church
records other than parish registers.
***** Church
records could include Session minutes, Deacons’ court minutes,
Synod minutes , Presbytery minutes, Managers’ minutes. Look at
the Wiki page of familysearch and search for the county,
parish or town - please click here.
*****
Courts.
***** Court
records are a very useful but a complex source of information.
There are many different courts and courts within courts. For
general information about Court records click here.
*****
Deeds.
***** A deed is a
legal agreement, obligation or other document registered with
a court. This is sometimes done for safekeeping but is more
usually done to establish the basis of a legal right before
proceeding to a related legal action. In registering the
A Deed
deed, the person presenting it paid a fee to a
court clerk who copied the document into the register and then
kept the original document.
*****
The formal title
for the Register of Deeds is the Books of Council and Session.
The series commenced in 1554 and was based at Edinburgh. There
are indexes for the Register of Deeds of the Court of Session
for the years 1554-1595, 1661- 1702, 1705-7, 1714-15, 1750-2,
1765, and from 1770 to the present. Also deeds were registered
with Sheriff Courts and the periods of coverage varies. There
is very little on the internet relating to these registers
other than on the official web site.
*****
For more detailed
information about deeds please visit to the National Records
of Scotland web site by clicking here.
*****
Directories.
***** Published
directories might help if you want to find out where your
ancestor lived or what kind of job they did. They are usually
alphabetical with lists of names and
Dundee Directory 1887/8
Click to view
addresses for the year published. In Scotland,
directories first appeared in the mid-eighteenth century and
continue to the present day. Directories may cover all of
Scotland, a region of Scotland, or a specific city such as
Aberdeen or Dundee. Types of directories are
:-
*****
• Street and county
directories • Trade and professional
directories • Military
directories • Peerage and landed gentry
lists • Ecclesiastical
directories • University graduates
lists.
*****
More than 700
Scottish Post Office Directories for the period 1774 to 1911
are now available online at the National Library of Scotland
(NLS). As well as an alphabetical list of people, these books
contain street and trades directories, and often include other
listings.
*****
For NLS
information click here and
familysearch here.
*****
Education.
*****
If your ancestor went to one of Scotland’s colleges,
universities, or schools, he or she may be in the
institution’s enrolment records. Some of these records have
been published, notably for the sixteenth to the nineteenth
centuries. These records may contain valuable information
about your ancestor, such as name, birthplace, residence,
father’s name, and other biographical
details.
*****
Two useful
websites are the National Records of Scotland (link)
and familysearch (link).
*****
Electoral
Rolls.
***** Electoral
registers, or voters' rolls, are another useful resource for
confirming
Page from the Perthshire Electoral Role
details about an ancestor if you know where they
lived. Modern electoral registers only record the names of
those entitled to vote at a particular address. Before 1918,
however, they also recorded the person's occupation and
details of their property. Except in rare cases, women don't
feature in voters' rolls before 1918, as only men were
eligible to vote then. ***** The National Library of Scotland (link)
has almost all electoral registers from 1946. However they can
be difficult to search. ***** The National Archives of
Scotland holds some electoral registers, mainly from the 19th
century. Local libraries and archives may also hold copies of
electoral registers for their area. Some lists of voters have
been published.
*****
Emigration and
Immigration.
***** Emigration
and immigration records of people leaving (emigrating) or
coming into (immigrating) Scotland, can include passenger
lists, permissions to emigrate, records of passports issued,
list of transported prisoners, or registers of assistance
Typical Record
(Features some Thoms's)
to emigrate. These records may contain the name,
age, occupation, destination, place of origin or birthplace,
and date and ship of arrival. Names of fellow passengers may
help construct family groups or provide hints on place of
origin or destination.
*****
Usually, it is
easier to find information about your immigrant ancestor in
the country he or she immigrated to. You may find the
emigrant’s name, place of origin, occupation, and age. Knowing
an approximate date and port of arrival or ship name will
probably help you search immigration records. Naturalisation
records in the destination country may be an excellent source
for determining your ancestor’s arrival details and place of
origin. For general information click here.
***** Letters of
horning are documents issued by civil authorities that
publicly denounce a person as a rebel. Usually the document
was issued against persons who had not paid their debts.
Historically, the documents would be announced by three blasts
of a horn, and the documents themselves came to be known as
"letters of horning". A person who was denounced in these
documents was described as having been "put to the horn". A
Register of Hornings is held by the Registers of Scotland up
to 1987 when the Act was repealed - link.
*****
Kirk
Sessions.
***** Kirk
Sessions are the lowest local court of the church. After the
reformation of
1560 the Presbyterian Church of Scotland formed congregations
with each having a Kirk Session. The minute books record many
areas of everyday life including church non-attendance, sexual
matters, bastardy and illegitimacy, the local school, hospital
and alms houses, illegitimate births and payments to the
poor.
*****
The
National Records of Scotland has, under the auspices of The
National Archives of Scotland, commissioned FamilySearch
International to digitise all of Scotland's Kirk Session
registers (church court records). These records can only be
viewed by visiting either the National Archives of Scotland in
Edinburgh, or one of a small number of it's satellite regional
archives; click here for more
information.
*****
Maps.
*****
An excellent collection of maps is held by the
National Library of Scotland. Many maps in this collection
have been digitised; click here
for details.
Military.
***** Military records can be
split into two periods, before and after 1707 when Scottish
soldiers started to serve in the British
army.
*****
To
1707:
There are no surviving lists of
the ordinary Scottish soldiers who fought in the wars of
independence 1296 -1329 or in the subsequent Anglo-Scottish
conflicts between the 1340s and 1603. The main record of
individuals in the Scottish army before 1707 are muster rolls
by Regiments. Without knowing which regiment your ancestor
served in, any search through the muster rolls will be
time-consuming.
*****
After
1707:
From 1707 most army records are
held at The National Archives in London. There is much
information about the British defence forces on their web site
- link. It
can also be useful to contact the relevant Regimental
museum.
*****
Click
here to
view the military research guide published online by the
National Records of Scotland.
*****
Newspapers.
There
are a number of web sites that have some old Scottish
newspapers online. For general information published by the
National Library of Scotland on this topic please click
here.
*****
Personal
Names.
***** Given names
and surnames of Scotland is a much talked about topic and
there are many web sites. Two useful web sites are Wikipedia
pages, click here for
surnames and here for
general background.
*****
Sasines.
***** An
instrument of sasine is a legal document that records the
transfer of ownership
A Sasine
(usually a sale or an inheritance) of a piece of land or of a
building. It will normally detail the names of the new and
previous owners and will give a basic description of the
property transferred. There will usually be an indication of
the price paid for the property. Sasines can also give you
information about family history, particularly where an
individual is passing land to another family member, or where
the family designation is revealed.
*****
There
were several attempts to start a national register of sasines
in Scotland. One early attempt, The Secretary's Register,
started in 1599 and ended in 1609. It is very incomplete. The
full register begins from 1617 and it runs until the present
day. There is very little on the internet relating to these
registers other than on the official web site - link.
*****
Scottish
Registers.
***** Registers of
Scotland is the non-ministerial government department
responsible for compiling and maintaining 17 public registers.
These relate to land, property, and other legal documents, see
also Deeds and Sasines. There is very little on the
internet relating to these registers other than on the
official web site - link.
*****
State
papers.
***** Very little
survives of Scotland’s State Papers up to the 18th
century. It was the task of the royal secretary and his
officers to draft treaties, credentials for envoys, the king's
letters to foreign potentates and other diplomatic
documents. Some records are held by the National Records
of Scotland (NRS), the National Library of Scotland and
elsewhere. Many that remain have been published. For NRS
information click here.
*****
Taxation.
**** The National
Records of Scotland holds several series of records relating
to
National Records
of Scotland
Taxation
taxation. Until the 17th century taxation was
regarded as an extraordinary source of revenue levied for
specific purposes such as the defence of the realm, the king's
marriage or the knighting of his eldest son. Originally
taxation fell on land and property with the barons, the burghs
and the church sharing the burden. Details of late medieval
taxation can be found in exchequer records but there are no
actual accounts until James VI's reign. In the 17th century
the government sought to broaden the tax base. For information
on various forms of taxation click here.
Webmaster Note:
Readers of the
above excellent and comprehensive article, who decide to delve
into old Scottish records, may have trouble deciphering the
handwriting! There is a website to assist with this: www.scottishhandwriting.com.
The
following article was written by Clan Sennachie, Grahame Thom,
specifically for the website. He hopes that it will assist
Clansfolk with their research. If you have any comments or
questions please 
