Steps For Tracing Scottish Ancestry Outside of The Church of Scotland

For many researchers of Scottish ancestry prior to 1855, the Church of Scotland parochial registers do not provide answers for constructing their genealogical lineage. Its parochial registers hardly covered one-half of the Scottish population. Many of our ancestors chose church attendance in churches outside of the Church of Scotland, and so their names will normally not show up in searches in Scotlandspeople.gov.uk website! Scotlandspeople has indexed only Church of Scotland registers at the present time (as well the Roman Catholic parish registers). Some marriages (especially 1754-1837) and/or occasional burial register entries sometimes show up in Church of Scotland churchyards. But by 1851, well over half of all Scotsmen instead chose to affiliate with, marry in, and took their children to be baptised in a non-subscribing church outside of the Church of Scotland! After 1853, many were buried in public town cemeteries or in churchyards (where extant) of the non-subscribing local church.

Listed below are some alternative research steps and record sources used to find non-Church of Scotland ancestors in other church registers and sources. These important steps and records will help counter the problems associated with their names missing in and the problems of under-registration in the parochial registers of the Church of Scotland.

Ideas for Tracing Non-Subscribing Ancestry Through Other Record Sources:
These are some alternative record sources and search strategies to use, when the name[s] of ancestors do not appear in Church of Scotland parish registers:


 * Kirk session records - available only at Scotlandspeople and a few Regional archives (in Scotland only; Familysearch.org recently published 302,000 entries with more coming, from some Scotland Kirk session records) - these often contain marriage banns, a few burials and baptisms, "colourful record[s]" of the kirk (church) discipline" by the minister and kirk elders over errant parishioners for drunkenness, swearing, Sabbath violations, quarrelling and sexual misdemeanours, marrying in and baptising children in churches other than a Church of Scotland parish. Other records include communion rolls, seat rent books and poor relief accounts of nonconformist and non-subscribing individuals. Note that some secessionist churches (not just the Church of Scotland) also have extant kirk session records--which, be certain to search in regional archives as they possess equally important details similar to Church of Scotland kirk sessions records.


 * Blotter registers (approx. 75+ parishes) - Family History Library (FHL) has most of these (see Family Search Catalog) under the parish name


 * “Neglected entries” (approx. 130 parishes) on FHL (Family History Library) film #103538; this microfilm will eventually be available online as scanned images--check the online FS Catalog under "Scotland - Civil Registration"


 * Nonconformist & non-subscribing church registers in the target parish - see the National Records of Scotland (archives) "CH" references to the Repertory of other denominational church registers, includes the CH3 (Free Ch), CH10-16 (dissenter/nonconformist and seceder churches), and RH21 (R. Catholic)


 * Nonconformist & non-subscribing church registers in parishes surrounding target parish


 * Marriage registers of surrounding parishes


 * Marriage registers of the Church of Scotland in a large city


 * Church burial registers (where extant) - see the SCAN page on Burial and death registers of other protestant churches, and deceasedonline.com, and the local Church of Scotland parish churchyard/registers (if extant)


 * Monumental inscriptions (MI’s) where they exist (i.e. the Mitchell Collections)


 * Civil registration records of death and marriage


 * Sasines (a type of land record): sometimes give a Marriage Contract


 * Register of Deeds: sometimes give a Marriage Contract after husband’s decease


 * Marriage registers at Gretna Green, Renfrewshire (clandestine); for further guidance on conducting a thorough search in these, see NRS (National Records of Scotland's website)


 * Follow these steps for known siblings as well

Steps for Tracing Non-Subscribing Ancestry In-Field (in Scotland)
Ever wonder why your Scottish ancestors' names do not appear in the Scotlandspeople.gov.uk "Church Registers" (pre-1855) online database? The 1851 Religious Census for Scotland points out the reason: It records that nearly 60 percent of Scotland's population belonged to other church denominations, and were not members of the Church of Scotland! You may then be asking: How can I trace ancestry in Scotland's other half of its (pre-1855) population?

Here are 7 steps researchers of Scottish ancestry might need to take to trace ancestry when names do not appear (about 50-50 chance) in Scotlandspeople.gov.uk “Church Registers” (Church of Scotland's pre-1855) database:


 * 1) Search Family History Library's (FHL) Scottish Church Records Database (DOS Index) because the index contains some names from non-parochial and secessionist (Presbyterian) church registers that Scotlandspeople does not possess (only about 5-7%)


 * 1) Then check the FHL online Catalog under the parish name to see what nonconformist/non-subscribing Presbyterian church registers we hold; then search these – if scanned and imaged


 * 1) Scotland’s Peoples’ (New Register House) has many (but by no means all) nonconformist and non-subscribing/secessionist Presbyterian church registers—with thus far no online indexes! Be certain to email Scotlandspeople.gov.uk to have a search made ($) in the originals which they hold, or, to obtain from then a list of hire-able record agents/searchers to look for you. A good Scotland parish boundary map helps you determine in which parish each non-subscribing congregation/chapel resides. See Vision of Britain.org.uk - search for place name; then click "Groome" which gives all church names of an ancient (and civil) parish, in the pre-1865 period.


 * 1) Search for Local/Regional archives, such as Dundee City Archives or Strathclyde Regional Archives, etc. Check their online catalog[s] to see what holdings they possess for all nonconformist and non-subscribing Presbyterian church registers in their archives. [Hint: You can Google! to find a list of all Scottish Regional or local archives with links to addresses; or, search their online catalogs and use their email addresses for contacting]


 * 1) Search the Kirk Session (church court) records at Scotlandspeople in Edinburgh, or selected regional archives; they can be a goldmine of information on non-Church of Scotland ancestors. Indexes are only now beginning to appear online.


 * 1) Google! to find online transcriptions of some church registers, i.e. Scottish Episcopal registers or Reformed Presbyterian registers, etc.


 * 1) For Church registers not in above archives: Write to the local congregation (must Google to find the chapel, then look for a "Contact Us" link, or an church email address); willingly make a generous donation when you request a “look-up” in their church records and/or kirk session records (where extant); or, when a local congregation clerk won’t answer your query, then contact the nearest local archive for name[s] of hire-able record agent[s] to perform the search for you at the local church/chapel.