Scotland Church Records

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Scotland

Church Records

Church records are an excellent source for accurate information on names, dates, and places of birth, marriage, and death. Since civil registration in Scotland began in 1855, church records are a major source for genealogical research in Scotland before 1855.

Online Records

Old Parochial Records

• All Church of Scotland OPRs (Old Parish Records) can be accessed on the ScotlandsPeople's website. There is no fee to search for names, but there is a fee of about $2 (US) per original image.
• The original images can also be browsed for free at FamilySearch Centers and Affiliate Libraries through the FamilySearch Catalog. Microfilm and microfiche indexes are also available. See the article Scotland Old Parochial Registers (OPR) to learn more.

• Search: Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 - at FamilySearch, index and images, ($). How to Use This Collection
• Search: Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910 - at FamilySearch, index and images, ($). How to Use This Collection
• Scotland Presbyterian & Protestant Church Records, 1736-1990 - at FamilySearch, index and images, ($). How to Use This Collection
• Blotter Registers
• Neglected Entries Register

• FindMyPast has indexed and digitized the records.

• Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929, index and images, ($).
• Scotland, Parish Marriages & Banns 1561-1893, index and images, ($).
• Scotland, Parish Deaths & Burials 1564-2017, index and images, ($).

• MyHeritage has also index and digitized the records.

• Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950, index and images, ($).
• Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910, index and images, ($).

• FreeReg.org is a site that transcribes records from across the UK. A few Scotland Church Records are included. No images are available.

Kirk Sessions

• Scotland's People Kirk Sessions
• Scotland Church Records and Kirk Session Records, 1658-1919
• Old Scottish Genealogy and Family History Scroll down to "RECORDS BY COUNTY".
• ScottishIndexes has some court and church register transcriptions for non-OPR (Old Parochial Registers)

Non-Conformists

ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk In 1855, the government officially called for all non-parochial (non-conformist) church registers (of all religions outside of the Church of Scotland) to be turned in to the official government archive, now managed by ScotlandsPeople.

• Catholic Records: Catholic Parish Registers Guide.
• Other Non-Conformist Records: A list of what is available is for other non-conformist churches is available here: Church Records Guide.

The main NRS collections are as follows:

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) (NRS reference CH10), 1569-1983

Methodist Church (NRS reference, CH11), 1661-2002

Episcopal Church (NRS reference CH12), 1549-2003

United Free Church (NRS reference CH13), 1901-1986, including some records of predecessor churches back to 1792

United Reformed Church (NRS reference CH14), 1726-1993

Unitarian Church (NRS reference CH15), 1792-1975

Free Church (NRS reference CH16), 1843-1977, including some records of predecessor churches back to 1823

Contents of the Records

Births/Baptisms

Children were usually baptized within a few days or weeks of birth. Births/baptisms may include:

• Name and surname of the child
• Birth and/or baptism date and place
• Parents’ names, including the maiden name of the mother

Births/baptisms may include:

• Child’s placement within the family and indication of legitimacy
• Father’s occupation and residence
• Names of witnesses

Marriages/Proclamations

Marriages usually took place in the parish where the bride resided. Marriage records usually give:

• Names of the bride and groom
• Date and place of marriage/proclamation
  

Marriages may include:

• Proclamation of intent to marry
• Residences and groom’s occupation
• Marital status
• Names of fathers
• Names of witnesses

Some records show a couple’s “intent to marry,” also called the proclamation of banns. Usually the intent to marry was proclaimed in the parishes of both the bride and groom. The marriage was usually recorded only in the parish in which the marriage actually took place.

Deaths/Burials

Few burial records were kept before 1855. It is important to know that many women, when their husbands died, reverted to their maiden names and were buried under that name.
Deaths/burials generally include:

• Name
• Date and place of death or burial
  

Deaths/burials may include:

• Occupation
• Age at death
• Names of relatives
• Residence
• Mortcloth dues (fee paid for the use of the funeral cloth or pall draped over the casket or body during the funeral ceremony)

United Presbyterian Church at Stonehouse, Scotland.jpg

Historical Background

The Church of Scotland (a Presbyterian church) has been the recognized national church of Scotland since 1690. It is not a state or "established" church (although that latter description has found its way into various official documentation such as marriage registers); that independence from the state was eventually acknowledged in the Church of Scotland Act 1921.

The two main types of records are Old Parochial Registers (OPR) and Kirk Session Records. OPR's list baptisms, marriages and burials. Kirk Session records are the records of the Church Courts. They often list information relevant to genealogy. Additional records to utilize can include Blotter Registers and Neglected Entries Register (considered to pertain to civil registration, but many entries start well before C.R. even began--1809-1860).

Churches which are not part of the Church of Scotland are often referred to as nonconformist. By the 19th century a majority of the population was non-Conformist. There were two categories of so-called nonconformist churches in Scotland:

• Dissenters or sometimes called seceders or seccesionist -- Those who seceded from the main church but were still Presbyterian in form. Such dissenting churches included Associate, Covenanters, Burghers, Anti-burgher, Free church, Reformed Presbyterian, and later in the 1800's the United Presbyterian and others.
• Nonconformists -- Those who were not Presbyterian in form, such as Episcopal, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), or Catholic.

Nonconformists had their own congregations, with different boundaries to the Church of Scotland and kept their own records. However, before 1834, nonconformist ministers were not authorized to perform marriages as clergyman; after 1834 they could perform marriages if the banns had first been read in the parish church. Total authority was granted in 1855. In the context of Scots Law as it applied until 1939, this affected, only in practice, the mode of marriage because until then any declaration of marriage in front of witnesses was valid although many might have failed to be recorded.

For more background information on churches in Scotland, including a historical timeline, read the article Scotland Church History.

Research Guidance

FamilySearch Wiki Help for Non-Church of Scotland Church Records Research

• Steps For Tracing Scottish Ancestry Outside of The Church of Scotland
• Scotland's Lost Other Half: Tracing Difficult Ancestral Lines in Scotland's Non-Parochial Register

Online Tutorials on FamilySearch:

• Scotland's Old Parish Registers: How to Access, Use, and Interpret - Parts 1 and 2
• Using Church of Scotland Parochial Registers to trace Scots Ancestry

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