Port of Monteith, Perthshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #388

This is a guide to the history and major genealogical records of Scotland as they pertain to the parish of Port of Monteith. To learn more about how to use these records to search for your ancestors, go to the Scotland: Research Strategies.

History
PORT OF MONTEITH, a parish, in the county of Perth, 9½ miles (W.) from Doune; containing the villages of Gartmore, Ruskie, and Tomachar. This place, which is of considerable antiquity, appears to have derived its appellation of Port from its position near a point on the east side of the lake of Inchmahome, which point is thought to have been the chief landing place of the earls of Monteith. The parish church is a neat plain structure, containing 380 sittings; and a church was built in 1790, at Gartmore, to which a quoad sacra parish was annexed.

The New Statistical Account of Scotland (pub. 1834-45) offers uniquely rich and detailed parish reports for the whole of Scotland, covering a vast range of topics including history, agriculture, education, trades, religion and social customs. The reports, written by the parish ministers, are available online at http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/. Click on ‘Browse scanned pages’ then search the parish reports for your parish of interest. Also available at the

Census Records
A census is a count and description of the population, taken by the government, arranged by locality and by household. Read more about census records.

Here is a list of the FS Library microfilm numbers for the, as well as the library numbers for any surname indexes available:

The 1901 census of Scotland is indexed on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. To use it, you must register and pay a small access fee. All available censuses, 1841-1901, are indexed on this website. It may be easier for you to pay to use the website rather than access the separate indexes through the library.

Church Records
The Established Church of Scotland was Presbyterian. Read more about church records. Here are the pre-1855 records that exist for this parish.

Condition of Original Registers—
Indexed: For an index to these records, see Scotland’s People website, a pay-for-view website. The Scottish Church Records Index is also still available at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. The records may be indexed in the International Genealogical Index. Births: Births are incomplete 1739–1740. Names of witnesses to the baptisms are not recorded after November 1756. After record for December 1818 are two inserted pages of irregular entries 1799–1813. Marriages: The outer margin of the pages of the marriage record, 1757–1820, has been too closely cut at some previous rebinding of the volume and many dates are partially cut off. Source: Key to the Parochial Registers of Scotland, by V. Ben Bloxham, pub. 1970. British Book.

Established Church—Kirk Session Records
The Kirk session was the court of the parish. The session was made up of the minister and the land owners and business men of the parish, chosen to serve on the session. The Kirk session dealt with moral issues, minor criminal cases, matters of the poor and education, matters of discipline, and the general concerns of the parish. Kirk session records may also mention births, marriages, and deaths.

Here is a list of the surviving Kirk session records for this parish: 

Minutes of Discipline 1697–1723, 1726–1789 Accounts 1697–1723, 1726–1855 Other post-1855 records Note: Available at the Stirling Council Archives, Stirling, Scotland, record CH2/1300.

Nonconformist Church Records
A nonconformist church is any church that is not the Established church. Read more about nonconformity in Scotland in the article on the Scotland Church Records Union Lists.

Gartmore Free Church
History— The minister of the quad sacra parish here, and the great majority of the congregation, "came out" in 1843. A year later they were deprived of their church. They worshiped in the Free Church school, which had then been built, or in the open air at Gartmore Lodge, until their church was opened in 1848. The minister was allowed to occupy the manse until 1848. The new manse was erected in 1859. The church was renovated in 1892 and a hall built in 1893. For a time, after the Disruption, a Gaelic catechist was maintained at Aberfoyle. Membership: 1848, 122; 1900, 88. Source: Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843–1900, ed. Rev. William Ewing, D.D., 2 vols, pub. 1914. Film # More details are given in the source.

Records— Baptisms 1845–51 Minutes 1848–1936 Communion Roll 1848–52 Note: Available at the Stirling Council Archives, Stirling, Scotland, record CH3/1244.

Civil Registration Records
Government or civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths (also called statutory records) began on January 1, 1855 in Scotland. Each parish has a registrar's office and large cities have several. The records are created by the registrars and copies are sent to the General Register Office in Edinburgh. Annual indexes are then created for the records for the whole country. See the article on Scotland Civil Registration for more information and to access the records.

Probate Records
Port of Monteith was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Dunblane until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Dunblane. Probate records for 1513- 1901 are indexed online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. You must register on the website but use of the index to probate records, called 'Wills &amp; Testaments,' is free. You may then purchase a copy of the document or, if the document is before 1823, it will be on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library. To find the microfilm numbers, search in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Perthshire and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Dunblane. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Perthshire. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Perthshire and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.