Foulden, Berwickshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #741

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

History
FOULDEN, a parish, in the county of Berwick, 5 miles (N. W. by W.) from Berwick. This place the signification and derivation of the name are alike uncertain. The river Whiteadder, which is here of considerable depth, skirts the southern side of the parish for the whole distance, in its progress to the Tweed. The church, situated within the grounds of Foulden House, was erected in 1786, after the ancient church had become ruinous; it is a neat edifice, well adapted for the parish, and the interior is capable of being seated for the accommodation of the whole population.

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

Click to see the FamilySearch Catalog entry for the 1841-1891 census records of Foulden, as well as the catalog entry for the 1841, 1851, and 1861 census for Foulden. Other surname indexes will be found on the Berwickshire county page.

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 Record
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—
Index: 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 Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Some records may also be indexed in other FamilySearch collections for Scotland. Births: Irregular entries are common between 1790 and 1810. Marriages: The first two leaves are in poor condition with the first page almost illegible. From May 1721–April 1754 the record is intermixed with births for the same period. There are no entries 1810–January 1818. There are entries of proclamation money for 1776–1785. Deaths: Only Mortcloth Dues are recorded prior to November 1784. The pages are blank September 1794–February 1812. 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 Kirk session was made up of he 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:

Accounts 1814–1896 Minutes 1821, 1835, 1841, 1848 Note: Available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH2/1138.

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

In 1834 there were 106 Seceders and three Catholics in the parish, but they had no places of worship. They would have attended services in neighboring parishes.

Civil Registration
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
Foulden was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Lauder until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Duns. 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-names' of Foulden and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Lauder. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Berwick. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Berwick and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.'

Read more about Scotland Probate Records.