Hutton, Berwickshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #745

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

History
Hutton, a parish, in the county of Berwick, 6 miles (W. by N.) from Berwick-upon-Tweed; containing the village of Paxton. The parish of Hutton was enlarged in the year 1614, by the annexation of the neighbouring parish of Fishwick; and these two districts form the parish as it at present exists. Hutton, which lies near the Whiteadder river, is supposed to have derived its name from the situation of its village in a hollow, whence the term How-town, corrupted into Hutton. The present church, erected in 1834, is remarkably neat in its external appearance, and accommodates, in a plain manner, but commodiously, above 600 persons.

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 Family History Library.

Census Records
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 Hutton, as well as the catalog entry for the 1841and 1851 census  for Hutton. 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 Records
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: Births, marriages, and deaths, Mortcloth Dues, are intermixed until 1730. There is a duplicate of the 1730–1732 record. Entries out of chronological order occur frequently after 1798. Mothers’ names are rarely recorded until 1792. Marriages: The record consists chiefly of proclamations, intermixed with births, etc., until 1730. A separate record of marriages begins December 1730 but entries of proclamations are also continued. One page of marriages for 1764–1767 is damaged and difficult to read. From April 1767 until December 1775 there is only a record of proclamation fees intermixed with other matters. Beginning January 1776 both marriages and proclamations are again recorded. Deaths: Mortcloth Dues; have only a few entries recorded March 1783–1798. Mortcloth records for 1798 through 1820 (FHL book 941.455/H1 K2h) have been published by www.sgtranscriptions.co.uk. 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 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:

Minutes 1649–1777, 1730–1783, 1786, 1789–1792 Testimonials 1746–1769 Accounts 1744–1772, 1799–1813, 1844–1873 Proclamations 1854–1857 Note: Available at National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH2/466 and 901.

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 no dissenting or seceding chapels within the parish. The number of dissenters did not exceed 100. There were also three Episcopalian families and one Roman Catholic. They all would have attended services in neighboring parishes.

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
Hutton 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 Berwick 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.