Scottish Church Records Index

The Scottish Church Records Index (SCRI) is an index of extracted data from microfilmed copies of the Church of Scotland Old Parochial Records (OPRs) held by the Family History Library as well as limited entries from the library’s microfilmed non-conformist registers. The record data includes birth, christening and marriage content from the registers, and cover the time period from about 1578 to 1854.

Issues

The SCRI is accessed by a disk operating system (DOS) platform. Because current technology no longer supports the DOS platform there is a very limited accessibility to the ten million, searchable names available to look up in the database. Furthermore, patrons who are able to access the index at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, are generally unaware that it exists.

FamilySearch has two online databases, Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 (SB&B) and Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910 (SM), which are generally used to find the same information. However, these indexes have known data issues and have not been regarded as reliable substitutes. Therefore, a study was conducted to determine how true SCRI is to the original parish registers by comparing the index to the digital images of the OPRs. A secondary objective was to learn how SCRI compared to the other major indexes, whether the data it contains is more complete than FamilySearch’s SB&B and SM, as well as the searchable index at ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk (SP).

Test Sample

Before the study began, a test sample of records were extracted from the register of baptisms from Lasswade Parish. A five-year period from 1750-1754 was selected from which all entries were extracted. This resulted in 371 records that were searched for in the three indexes: SCRI, SB&B, and SP. SCRI was missing two entries - a 99% accuracy. The SB&B fell short at 68%, only including 253 of the 371 entries. The SP index was 99.7% accurate, only missing one entry.

Data Extracted for Study

The preliminary study provided enough evidence of data incoherency that it was decided a full analysis should be done. First, because the data from the test sample suggested the number of missing records in the SB&B index would be significant, creating a need for the SCRI. Second, because the study also suggested data trends which could potentially define the parameters surrounding which entries are missing in the SB&B. Therefore, to determine if the data trends continued in all of Scotland’s parish registers, the study proceeded according to the following procedures:

1. Each parish in Scotland was assigned a random number using the random number generator in Microsoft Excel.
2. The random numbers with their associated parishes were arranged in chronological order to create a list of parishes.
3. Record extraction began from the parishes at the top of the list and continued until at least two parishes from each of Scotland’s thirty-four historical counties were included in the study. This resulted in 105 participating parishes. The randomization process naturally selected more parishes from counties with higher populations.
4. A random decade ranging between 1700 and 1850 was assigned to each of the selected parishes, specifying the time period from which the data would be extracted. Where possible, the extraction of both baptism and marriage data began in the same year. From the start date, fifty records were extracted from the baptism registers while 25 marriages were extracted from the corresponding register. A total of 5203 baptismal records and 2584 marriage records were extracted from the registers.   
5. The data was extracted from the original parish registers in the exact format that it appeared and was entered into a spreadsheet.
6. The entries on the spreadsheet were used to search the appropriate indexes. SCRI, SB&B and SP were searched for baptismal entries. The SM database replaced SB&B for the marriage entry searches.
7. All baptism and marriage entries were searched for in the Family Tree on FamilySearch. If the individual was located in the tree, surname and ordinance data was collected for the analysis concerning data loss in SB&B and SM.

Results

How accurate is the Scottish Church Record Index?

Which index conforms most accurately to the original parish registers?

The analysis of the Scottish Church Records Index shows it to be highly accurate and more complete than the online indexes at FamilySearch. Although a margin of error was not calculated into the analysis of this study, the data conclusions for SCRI and the index at Scotlandspeople essentially show them to be equally accurate.  The index of baptismal records found at SP proved to be the most accurate at 99.2%. The SCRI was also highly accurate at 98.9%. The FamilySearch SB&B index was 85.6% accurate. Similarly, the data analysis of the extracted marriage records proved the SCRI had the highest level of accuracy at 98.9%. SP was 97.1%, while the SM was 83%.

Discoveries

From the information analyzed in the test sample, it was found that in every instance that an individual was found in the FamilySearch family tree without a surname, that record was omitted from the SB&B database. Fifty-three of the 118 records missed in the SB&B index fell into this category. Somehow entries were made in the tree where the surname of an individual could only be identified because they were attached to their parents. This data was evident in the test sample only, and not confirmed in the overall study.

Another common marker noted from information collected from both the test sample and the study showed that 54% of the missing entries in the SB&B were individuals that had ordinance work done in the 1970s.

Conclusion

Although the data shows interesting trends, the bottom line is that the study verified the SCRI to be more accurate than the other FamilySearch indexes. However, because the SCRI is not readily accessible, the recommended solution is to search the SB&B or SM indexes first. If the search produces negative results, the SCRI or SP indexes should be consulted.

Accessibility Solutions

1. The SCRI is downloaded on the computers at the Family History Library. Patrons visiting the library can access it under the start menu of each computer.
2. The SCRI is also available at Family History Centers as a downloadable add-on option. If your local Family History Center does not have the index available on their computers, staff members should be able to download it.  
3. For those who cannot use the SCRI at the Family History Library or Centers, it can be requested as a resource in the library’s lookup service.