Barra, Inverness-shire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish # 108

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

= History =

The name Barray, or Barra, was originally derived from its particular situation or bearing, namely from Ay or I, an island, and Bar, a point or top; Barray forming the point or top island of the Hebrides. The parish is formed of that cluster of islands lying at the south-west end of Lewis Islands, or the Western Hebrides. The principal headland is Berneray or Barry-head, from whence many ships steer their course for America. The names of the larger islands of which the parish of Barray is formed, and which are mostly inhabited, are as follows: Watersay, Sanderay, Pabbay, Mingalay, and Berneray to the south; Floday, Hellisay, Gighay, Uidhay, and several others of a smaller description not inhabited, to the east and north-east.

The family of the Macneils held possession of Barray for time immemorial [but had to sell it for payment of debts, about 1840, to Colonel Gordon of Cluny]. The Macneils of old were a great terror to their neighbors as, being expert seamen, they carried their depredations to every creek in the Western Islands.

Gaelic is the language universally spoken, and it is very pure and still unmixed with many English words. The English language has made little or no progress, because schools have been wanting. Dancing with music of the bagpipes is a favorite pastime. They are extremely addicted to the use of both spirits and tobacco-smoking. There are more spirits consumed in Barray than in any other place of its extent in the Western Islands.

The parish is better adapted for grazing than agriculture. By simplifying their agriculture, the people are now enabled to raise a sufficiency of corn and potatoes for their own consumption. They have crops of potatoes, barley and oats. Their ordinary food consists of barley-meal, potatoes, and milk, and at times fish. At present (1840), there are 278 families who possess lands, and 93 families who hold no lands whatever.

This account was written January 1840.

Source: T'he New Statistical Account of Scotland for Barra, FHL book 941 B4sa, series 2, vol. 14.

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 you are interested in. Also available at the Family History Library.

= 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 Family History Library microfilm numbers for the census records of Barra, 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 [https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Scotland_Church_Records church records. ] Here are the pre-1855 records that exist for this parish.

Condition of Original Registers
Index: For an index to these records, see the Scottish Church Records Index available on computers at the Family History Library and family history centers. The records may be indexed in the International Genealogical Index.

Note: There are no records prior to 1836. The New Statistical Account of Scotland for Barra for 1840 states: “There is no parochial register kept in this parish, nor can we learn that any was ever kept”. This may be accounted for by the parishioners having been, until of late, almost all Roman Catholics, over whom the minister could exercise no control.

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:

None

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.

Barra Catholic Church
History—

A Catholic church has existed at Barra since long before the Reformation. There was a Catholic school here as early as 1675. The population of the island was nearly all Catholic at the time of the Bishop's visitation of 1700. The people were then generally poor and uneducated, as were those in most of rural Scotland of the time and many of them professed to have second sight. The Old Statistical Account pub. 1790's, (FHL British Book 941 B4sa vol. 20), states that the number of Protestants has always been so small that it was thought unnecessary to put the heritor to the expense of building a church. That work also gives the population of Barra then as 1604, of which only 80 were Protestants. It also states that upward of 200, being all Roman Catholics left this country within the last 2 years; some immigrated to the island of St. Johns, Nova Scotia, in North America. In 1987 the Catholic population of Barra numbered about 1000.

Sources: Developments in the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, 1789–1829, by Christine Johnson, FHL British Book 941 K2jc.

Records—


 * Baptisms 1805–1919
 * Marriages 1812–1944
 * Deaths 1812–1826

Note: Available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record RH21/50.

= 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 =

Barra was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of The Isles until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Inverness. 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 Family History Library. To find the microfilm numbers, search in the library catalog for the 'Place' of Inverness-shire and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of The Isles. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Inverness-shire. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place' of Inverness-shire and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.

Return to Inverness-shire parish list.