Scotland Church Records

'''Church records are an excellent source for accurate information on names, dates, and places of birth, marriage, and death. Since civil registration in Scotland began in 1855, church records are a major source for genealogical research in Scotland before 1855.'''

Old Parochial Records

 * All Church of Scotland OPRs (Old Parish Records) can be accessed on the ScotlandsPeople's website. There is no fee to search for names, but there is a fee of about $2 (US) per original image.
 * The original images can also be browsed for free at FamilySearch Centers and Affiliate Libraries through the FamilySearch Catalog. Microfilm and microfiche indexes are also available. See the article Scotland Old Parochial Registers (OPR) to learn more.
 * Search: Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 - at FamilySearch, index and images, ($). How to Use This Collection
 * Search: Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910 - at FamilySearch, index and images, ($). How to Use This Collection


 * FindMyPast has indexed and digitized the records.
 * Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929, index and images, ($).
 * Scotland, Parish Marriages & Banns 1561-1893, index and images, ($).
 * Scotland, Parish Deaths & Burials 1564-2017, index and images, ($).


 * MyHeritage has also index and digitized the records.
 * Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950, index and images, ($).
 * Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910, index and images, ($).


 * FreeReg.org is a site that transcribes records from across the UK. A few Scotland Church Records are included. No images are available.

Kirk Sessions

 * Scotland's People Kirk Sessions
 * Scotland Church Records and Kirk Session Records, 1658-1919
 * Oldscottish.com has some non-parochial (Seceder church) register transcriptions, kirk sessions, and more ($). Scroll down to "Records By County".
 * ScottishIndexes has some court and church register transcriptions for non-OPR (Old Parochial Registers)

Non-Conformists
 ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk In 1855, the government officially called for all non-parochial (non-conformist) church registers (of all religions outside of the Church of Scotland) to be turned in to the official government archive, now managed by ScotlandsPeople.
 * Catholic Records: Catholic Parish Registers Guide.
 * Other Non-Conformist Records: A list of what is available is for other non-conformist churches is available here: Church Records Guide.
 * The main NRS collections are as follows:
 * Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) (NRS reference CH10), 1569-1983
 * Methodist Church (NRS reference, CH11), 1661-2002
 * Episcopal Church (NRS reference CH12), 1549-2003
 * United Free Church (NRS reference CH13), 1901-1986, including some records of predecessor churches back to 1792
 * United Reformed Church (NRS reference CH14), 1726-1993
 * Unitarian Church (NRS reference CH15), 1792-1975
 * Free Church (NRS reference CH16), 1843-1977, including some records of predecessor churches back to 1823

Births/Baptisms
Children were usually baptized within a few days or weeks of birth. Births/baptisms may include: Births/baptisms may include:
 * Name and surname of the child
 * Birth and/or baptism date and place
 * Parents’ names, including the maiden name of the mother
 * Child’s placement within the family and indication of legitimacy
 * Father’s occupation and residence
 * Names of witnesses

Marriages/Proclamations
Marriages usually took place in the parish where the bride resided. Marriage records usually give: Marriages may include: Some records show a couple’s “intent to marry,” also called the proclamation of banns. Usually the intent to marry was proclaimed in the parishes of both the bride and groom. The marriage was usually recorded only in the parish in which the marriage actually took place.
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage/proclamation
 * Proclamation of intent to marry
 * Residences and groom’s occupation
 * Marital status
 * Names of fathers
 * Names of witnesses

Deaths/Burials
Few burial records were kept before 1855. It is important to know that many women, when their husbands died, reverted to their maiden names and were buried under that name. Deaths/burials generally include: Deaths/burials may include:
 * Name
 * Date and place of death or burial
 * Occupation
 * Age at death
 * Names of relatives
 * Residence
 * Mortcloth dues (fee paid for the use of the funeral cloth or pall draped over the casket or body during the funeral ceremony)



Church of Scotland
See also: Scotland Established (Presbyterian) Church Records

The Church of Scotland (a Presbyterian church) has been the recognised national church of Scotland since 1690. It is not a state or "established" church (although that latter description has found its way into various official documentation such as marriage registers); that independence from the state was eventually acknowledged in the Church of Scotland Act 1921. The organization of the Church of Scotland is as follows:


 * The General Assembly is the highest organizational body and serves as the final ecclesiastical court of appeals.
 * A Synod is made up of several presbyteries and serves as the court of appeals for those presbyteries.
 * A Presbytery is made up of several parishes and serves as the court of appeals for those parishes.
 * A parish is the lowest governing body.
 * A chapelry or chapel of ease is a small church which serves a distant part of a parish.

The two main types of records are Old Parochial Registers (OPR) and Kirk Session Records. OPR's list baptisms, marriages and burials. Kirk Session records are the records of the Church Courts. They often list information relevant to genealogy. Additional records to utilize can include Blotter Registers and Neglected Entries Register (considered to pertain to civil registration, but many entries start well before C.R. even began--1809-1860).


 * Descriptions of parishes can be found at:
 * Genuki.org.uk
 * VisionofBritain.org.uk
 * Scotland Ordnance Gazetteer
 * Lists of neighboring parishes can be found at:
 * Genuki.org.uk
 * Parish outline maps are also available online at:
 * Scotlandsfamily.com
 * Atlas and index to parish registers can be found at:
 * Great Britain, Atlas and Index of Parish Registers ($)


 * Printed Resources:
 * Books detailing the overall dates of old parochial records in civil parishes or counties in northeast Scotland (by the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society)
 * Parish Maps of Scotland. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991.
 * Phillips’ Handy Atlas of the Counties of Scotland 1881. London, England: G. Phillip, 1881.



Other Religions
Churches which are not part of the Church of Scotland are often referred to as nonconformist. By the 19th century a majority of the population was non-Conformist. There were two categories of so-called nonconformist churches in Scotland:


 * Dissenters or sometimes called seceders or seccesionist -- Those who seceded from the main church but were still Presbyterian in form. Such dissenting churches included Associate, Covenanters, Burghers, Anti-burgher, Free church, Reformed Presbyterian, and later in the 1800's the United Presbyterian and others.
 * Nonconformists -- Those who were not Presbyterian in form, such as Episcopal, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), or Catholic.

Nonconformists had their own congregations, with different boundaries to the Church of Scotland and kept their own records. However, before 1834, nonconformist ministers were not authorized to perform marriages as clergyman; after 1834 they could perform marriages if the banns had first been read in the parish church. Total authority was granted in 1855. In the context of Scots Law as it applied until 1939, this affected, only in practice, the mode of marriage because until then any declaration of marriage in front of witnesses was valid although many might have failed to be recorded.

For more background information on churches in Scotland, including a historical timeline, read the article Scotland Church History.

Research Guidance
FamilySearch Wiki Help for Non-Church of Scotland Church Records Research


 * Steps For Tracing Scottish Ancestry Outside of The Church of Scotland

Online Tutorials on FamilySearch:


 * Scotland's Old Parish Registers: How to Access, Use, and Interpret - Parts 1 and 2
 * Using Church of Scotland Parochial Registers to trace Scots Ancestry
 * www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
 * British Resources on FamilySearch.org - Parts 1 and 2
 * Scotland's Lost Other Half: Tracing Difficult Ancestral Lines in Scotland's Non-Parochial Register