Caithness, Scotland Genealogy

Caithness-shire is the furthest north county of mainland Scotland.  It is bounded on the north by the Pentland Firth, on the east and south-east by the North Sea, and on the west and south-west by the county of Sutherland.  It is about forty-three miles in length and thirty miles in breadth and comprises an area of 618 square miles or 395,520 acres. 

On account of its remote situation, Caithness is connected with few historical events of importance except occasional hostilities with the Danes and Norwegians.  Many of the men of Caithness attended James IV at the battle of Flodden Field [September 9, 1513], under the leadership of the Earl of Caithness, and scarcely an individual survived that fatal conflict.  

Caithness includes ten parishes and the two civil districts of Wick and Thurso.  It contains the royal burgh of Wick, which is the county town and the seat of the sheriff court, and the town of Thurso, with a few villages.

The surface of the county is generally level with the exception of some mountainous tracts on the borders of Sutherland, and a few eminences in other parts.  The plain of Caithness, extending to the Pentland Firth, comprises about four-fifths of the land.  The coast is bold, rocky, and precipitous, indented with numerous bays and marked by lofty promontories.  Along the shores of the Pentland Firth and the North Sea are caverns in the rocks.  The island of Stroma, in the Firth, forms part of the county. 

A little more than a fifth of the land is in cultivation and the remainder is mostly moor.  The herring-fishery off the east coast was once extensive and lucrative, indeed the most important in Britain in the 19th century.  There is a spacious harbour at Wick, besides several other small harbours for the vessels engaged in the fisheries.  Wick harbour now (2012) has a marina for yachts and other small boats. Few fishing vessels now use the harbour, though occasional cargo ships deliver fertiliser, timber, or parts for wind turbines or undersea pipelines.

The population in 1851 was 36,343.

(Source:  Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, 2nd ed., 1851.  FHL book 941 E5L.)

Parishes

Here is a list of the historic parishes for the county of Caithness.  Click on the parish name to see information about records.

Watten 42

Parish	No.
Bower	34
Canisbay	35
Dunnet	36
Halkirk	37
Latheron	38
Olrig	39
Reay	40
Thurso	41
Wick	43

Cemeteries

A list of cemeteries in Caithness is available from Caithness.org. Some with monumental inscriptions and photographs.

Published cemetery resources Caithness monumental inscriptions (pre-1855) / edited by A.S. Cowper & I. Ross. [Edinburgh] : Scottish Genealogy Society, 1992. Multiple volumes.

Census

Indexes of the Scotland census 1841-1911 is available on Ancestry.com [1] Images of the Scotland census are available as a pay per view from the website Scotlandspeople [2]

The Family History Library has county-wide census indexes for Caithness-shire for 1881.  

The library also has a collection of census surname indexes for different places within Caithness-shire. Click here to see a table listing these other census surname indexes that are available at the library.

Helpful Websites

• Caithness Family History Society www.caithnessfhs.org.uk/
• Caithness Archive Center www.highlandarchives.org.uk/caithness.asp
• Caithness.org. A community website that offers This website links to the history of Caithness, cemeteries and other information on the county.www.caithness.org/history/familyhistory/
• Highland Family History Society www.highlandfamilyhistorysociety.org/
• Caithness Resources and help pages on RootsChat Caithness Resources and help pages. (Free).

• Looking 4 Kin Genealogy & Family History Network - Caithness

Maps and Gazetteers

Click on the map at the right to see a larger version, and click again on the larger map. Next, click on the ‘Expand’ button when it appears in the lower right-hand corner of the map.

Click here to see an outline map of the parishes of Caithness.

The National Library of Scotland has an extensive collection of maps of Caithness. These maps are high resolution and may be zoomed to a particular town or village. A complete list of maps may be found on the National Library of Scotland website. [link title[3]

Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885. http://www.scottish-places.info/counties/countyhistory7.html#

Poorhouse Records

• There are two poorhouses:
• Latheron Combination
• Thurso Combination

Helpful Websites ◾Caithness Family History Society www.caithnessfhs.org.uk/ ◾Caithness Archive Center www.highlandarchives.org.uk/caithness.asp ◾Caithness.org. A community website that offers This website links to the history of Caithness, cemeteries and other information on the county.www.caithness.org/history/familyhistory/ ◾Highland Family History Society www.highlandfamilyhistorysociety.org/ ◾Caithness Resources and help pages on RootsChat Caithness Resources and help pages. (Free). ◾Looking 4 Kin Genealogy & Family History Network - Caithness

Publications

• Journal of the Highland Family History Society- The website of the society has an index to articles with information on obtaining copies.www.highlandfamilyhistorysociety.org/HFHSArticleTopicIndex1.htm
  
• The Scottish Genealogist- publication of the Scottish Genealogical Society. The website offers a downloaded index to articles with information on how to obtain copies.  www.scotsgenealogy.com/Downloads.aspx

Caithness

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)