Muiravonside, Stirlingshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #486

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

History
MUIRAVONSIDE, a parish, in the county of Stirling, 3 miles (W.) from Linlithgow containing the villages of Burnbridge, Maddiston, Rumford, and part of Linlithgow-Bridge. The compound term Muir-avon-side is derived from the original moorish appearance of part of the parish, and its situation on the bank of the river Avon, which runs along its boundary on the south-east and north-east for nine miles. The church is a plain structure, built about the year 1812, and accommodates 500 persons. There is a place of worship for the United Secession.

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.

is a list of the FS Library microfilm numbers for the census records of Muiravonside, as well as the library numbers for any 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.

Established Church Old Parochial Registers
Click to go to the FamilySearch Catalog entry for the Established Church records for Muiravonside, covering the years 1689-1854.

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. Some records may also be indexed in other FamilySearch collections for Scotland.

Births: Form of entry is tabulated until 1783; the information for that period being limited to names and dates. The corners of leaves 1756–1761 are frayed. The record, however, appears to have been carefully kept. One page of entries of children of Seceders, dated March 1761–December 1768, after 1819. Marriages: Records were regularly kept, both proclamations and marriages being recorded. Leaves prior to 1761, have suffered from dampness. Deaths: Burials; after October 1794 there is only one entry for 1797, and twelve entries 1850–1851, are recorded. Source: Key to the Parochial Registers of Scotland, by V. Ben Bloxham, pub. 1970. British Book 941 K23b.

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 1667–1814, 1805–1906 Births 1824–1854 - flyleaf Accounts 1740–1805 Marriages 1741–1756, 1760–1790 Mortcloths and Monies 1741–1758, 1762–1790 Note: Available at the Stirling Council Archives, Stirling, Scotland, record CH2/712.

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 List.

Avonbridge Associate Burgher Church, later United Presbyterian
History— The congregation of Avonbridge originated in the unpopular settlement of a minister in the parish about 1803. A portion of the parishioners, reclaiming against the settlement, applied for an obtained a supply of sermons from the Associate Burgher Presbytery of Stirling. Church built in 1804. Source: Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church, by Rev. William MacKelvie, D.D., pub. 1873. Film #477618. More details may be given in the source including a list of ministers.

Records— The extent of records is unknown.

Blackbraes Rumford Branch, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–Day Saints
History— Unavailable.

Records—                                         FS Library Film Number  Record of Members, early to 1868          0104149 item 10

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
Muiravonside was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Ayr until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Stirling. 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 Stirling and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Ayr. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Stirling. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Stirling and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.