St. Andrews, Moray, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #142

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

= History =

Lhanbyrd signifies in Gaelic the Church of St. Bridget. It was united to that of St. Andrew in 1782.

This parish had the credit of having preserved two Druidical monuments through all the mutations of nearly 300 years, until lately when, for the sorry purpose of forming material for a road, and uniting a little spot of pasturage to a corn field, one of these objects was annihilated. The other, at the distance scarcely of a mile, is nearly entire.

Where this parish presses so closely on the city of Elgin as to have the gentle Lossie only intervening, there are two manufacturing factories, the very respectable manufactory of wool, begun by Alexander Johnston, Esq. which employs about 50 people in making blankets, flannel of different degrees of fineness, fancy articles, chiefly of wool, which are all disposed of mostly in the county.

In this parish there is one public manufacture of malt. Mr. Brown carries on the business of a distiller at Linkwood, having invested a large capital in the requisite buildings and utensils, all in the most commodious arrangement, and of the most substantial construction, in the malting, grinding, brewing, distilling, and in the store.

The population of this parish in 1801 was 799 inhabitants, in 1821 the population was 934, and by 1891 it increased to 1087.

The kirk is a commodious for the people as in landward parishes kirks generally are. About 400 persons form the ordinary amount of the congregation. All the families in the parish, except three or four Dissenting or Seceding, attend the Established Church.

This account was written April 1835.

Source: The New Statistical Account of Scotland for St. Andrews, FHL book 941 B4sa, 2nd series, vol. 13.

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

= 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, 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/index.php?title=St._Andrews%2C_Moray%2C_Scotland&action=edit church records. ] Here are the pre-1855 records that exist for this parish.

Condition of Original Registers—
Indexed: For an index to these records, see the Scottish Church Records Index available on computer at the Family History Library and family history centers. The records may be indexed in the International Genealogical Index. Births: There are duplicate birth entries for May 1727–November 1729 and two pages of irregular entries for 1741–1792 at the beginning of the record. Birth entries are somewhat irregular after 1813. Marriages: Marriage entries from May 1727–November 1729 are contained on one page. After November 1729 there are only eight entries for 1743–1745, which are interspersed through a duplicate of the register of baptisms for that period. 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 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:

Minutes and Accounts 1701–1920 Note: Available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH2/317.

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.

There are no known nonconformist groups.

= 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 =

St. Andrews was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Moray until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Elgin. 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 http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=localitysearch&columns=*,0,0 catalog for the 'Place' of Moray and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Moray. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Moray. Look in the library http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=localitysearch&columns=*,0,0 catalog for the 'Place' of Moray and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.

Return to Moray parish list.