SCOTTISH CLUES
Every family historian with Scottish roots will be familiar with Scotlands People. But it’s surprising how much valuable material is easily available elsewhere, says Janet M Bishop
ScotlandsPeople is the default first port of call for anyone researching the history of their Scottish family, and with good reason. Whether you visit the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh, or head to the website at scotlandspeople.gov.uk, this government resource makes it relatively straightforward to compile an outline of a family tree from the present day back to 1 January 1855, the date that statutory registration was introduced in Scotland.
In fact, it could be argued that it is possible to reach as far as 1553, because the ScotlandsPeople website states that baptism, marriage and burial registers are viewable back to that date. This is true in theory, but in practice it isn’t as simple as that, for a variety of reasons. We can be almost sure that, since it was illegal not to, all of the births, marriages and deaths occurring in Scotland have been registered from 1855 to the present day. However, before that date it was not mandatory to register life events at all. It was the responsibility of the Church to record these events, but they could only do that if they knew about them, and the diligence of the incumbent minister, his session clerk and the treasurer (or ‘boxmaster’) had a lot to do with the completeness of the registers of a parish.
A matter of money
The recording of baptisms, marriages and burials probably had more to do with the gathering-in of money from the parties involved, rather than the family details or circumstances of the subject; and, as a result, often as few details as possible were entered in the register, frequently to the extent that some generational connections are difficult to make. So, from 1854 backwards, supplementary source material is often needed to make, or verify, earlier links. Not only that, but in order to make a readable family history, most researchers would wish to access as much additional information as possible. However, in Scotland most supplementary material is not online, and is unlikely ever to be online. Nevertheless there are still websites
that can give you a lead on what is available, and provide ideas on how you can build on your research.
So, where do you go after ScotlandsPeople? This really depends on the additional information that you want to access. It may be that your research from 1854 backwards has gaps, because of the non-appearance of baptisms and marriages in the registers accessible through ScotlandsPeople.
A question of faith
Apart from the fact that it was not mandatory to register births, marriages and deaths until 1855, the first consideration should be whether the family in question were Protestant, and if so whether they attended the Established Church of Scotland. The records accessible on ScotlandsPeople under ‘Church Registers’ at bit.ly/sp
church-registers are predominantly those of the Established Church, although some non-Established churches had an arrangement whereby their baptism and marriage records were included in the register of the parish – even then, such inclusions tend to be sporadic and incomplete.
It is therefore advisable to look for records of other churches. These are very gradually being added to ScotlandsPeople, but it is much better to access the full range of registers of these other churches by visiting the National Records of Scotland (NRS) on Princes Street in Edinburgh.
Here you can access records from a range of churches, including Quaker (reference CH10) and Methodist (reference CH11), which may mention your ancestors. Many of these records are available to view via ‘Virtual Volumes’ in the Historical Search Room, while the rest can be ordered for viewing. Check the catalogue at catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/ nrs online catalogue before visiting, because many of the records in the collection are held off-site in and around the city, and must be ordered 24 hours in advance of your visit. A reader’s ticket is required for the Historical Search Room, but can be issued on the day, provided you supply photographic ID and proof of address.
Via the catalogue you can search all of the holdings of the NRS, and find out how to access them. The NRS is the repository for countless invaluable sources, such as minutes
of kirk sessions, which often reveal positions held by ancestors, as well as chastisements (usually for fornication), communion rolls, visitations lists, appointments of parish schoolmasters, cash books, etc; confirmations and testaments (wills); estate papers; exchequer records (taxation); valuation rolls (all years, not just the selection that appear on ScotlandsPeople); and sasine registers (land transfers) and Registers of Deeds – these are legal agreements registered with a court such as the Court of Session, sheriff court, royal burgh, commissary courts and local courts. Within these registers you can discover marriage contracts, legitimisations, bonds, contracts, tacks (tenancies), factories (powers of attorney) and other legal documents.
Read all about it
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) on George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, has a collection of every daily and weekly newspaper published in Scotland. However, it’s often easier to source news items, announcements and so on at the Local Studies Department for the area you are interested in, because it may well have newspapers on microfilm to view for free – contact the library headquarters for the particular county or region ( scottishlibraries.org/find-a-library). If you’re researching remotely, you can find some Scottish newspapers on the British Newspaper Archive ( britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). Other family history resources at the NLS are electoral rolls (from 1946), street directories, Scottish Post Office Directories, and some estate and family papers within its manuscripts. Find out more about what’s available at nls.uk.
In addition, family history societies are full of amateur and professional researchers with a wealth of local knowledge, and joining one will give you access to its resources although most supply a copy of their publications to the library of the ScotlandsPeople Centre. Membership is not to be sneezed at: larger societies may have premises or a society library, often with publications that are no longer found elsewhere. Larger societies are members of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies, and links to their websites can be found at safhs.org.uk. The association holds an annual conference each April
with speakers and a family history fair, featuring societies and traders who can help your research.
Family history societies have, over the years, transcribed and photographed headstones in most of Scotland’s burial places. The results can often be purchased via their websites. The association’s executive maintains the SAFHS Graveyard Inventory identifying burial places around the country – many of which are private or no longer maintained, and therefore not widely known – along with any information published about them, and details of their locations. The inventory is available on the SAFHS’s website, as are the Pre-1841 Population Lists compiled by Bruce B Bishop. This is an inventory of sources, by county, of pre-1841 censuses; poll tax and hearth tax records; lists of heads of families; examination and visitation lists; and other lists of inhabitants of certain parishes, with an indication of where you can access the featured documents.
For researching the west of Scotland, visit the Mitchell Library in Glasgow ( glasgowlife.org.uk/ libraries/venues/the-mitchell
library). The library houses the city archives, with all of the major resources for Glasgow and Strathclyde. A range of family history guides and details of what is held at the library can be found at bit.ly/glasgow-family-history. The Mitchell also has a website of historical images of Glasgow searchable by area, street and subject: mitchelllibrary.org.
So even if the enormous collection of records at ScotlandsPeople don’t help you to break down your brick wall, there are other options you can try when researching your Scottish forebears – many of which are within reach of anyone with internet access. Janet M Bishop is a genealogist and probate researcher: www.genealogy uk.net. Find out more about searching for your ancestors in Scottish criminal records on page 55
For researching the west of Scotland, visit the Mitchell Library in Glasgow