Aberdeenshire, Scotland Genealogy

Aberdeen is a maritime county in the north-east part of Scotland. It is one of the most extensive counties in the kingdom and is bounded on the north by the Moray Firth, on the east by the German Ocean, on the south by the counties of Perth, Angus, and Kincardine, and on the west by the counties of Banff and Inverness. It is eighty-six miles in extreme length and fourty-two miles in extreme breadth, comprising an area of 1985 square miles or 1,276,400 acres. The county contains eighty-five parishes and eight civil districts. It includes the three royal burghs of Aberdeen, Kintore, and Inverury, the market-towns of Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Turriff and Meldrum, and numerous large fishing villages on the coast. In 1851 the population was 192,387.

The surface of the county, towards the sea, is tolerably level, but the greater portion forms part of the central highlands and consists of high mountains interspersed with a few valleys. About one-third of the land is under cultivation. There are quarries for granite, freestone, and limestone. The coast is bold and rocky with some level beach, and there are several bays.

(Source: Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, 2nd ed. 1851; Family History Library book .)

Archives and Libraries
The Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Archives has recently put the catalogue to their collection on the Internet at Their collection of genealogical value includes:


 * Records of the poor relating to Aberdeenshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Kincardineshire
 * School records for Aberdeenshire, Morayshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and Aberdeen City
 * Burial records for some City cemeteries, as well as some in Aberdeenshire
 * Records for several burghs in Aberdeen and Moray shires.
 * Congregational, Episcopal and Methodist Church Records for a number of congregations in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
 * Tax lists from as early as the 15th century
 * Valuation Rolls and Registers of Electors

Some burial records in their collection have been digitized and are searchable online at http://www.deceasedonline.com/.

The Aberdeen City Library has a local studies collection that includes published:


 * Parish and local histories
 * Biographies and family history
 * Education, literature and architecture sources
 * Local authority minutes and development plans
 * Electoral and valuation rolls
 * Newspapers and Periodicals
 * Directories
 * Maps
 * Photographs

Census
The Scottish government began taking censuses of its population in 1841, and every ten years there after. The records must be 100 years old before they are released to the public, so the most recent record available is for the 1911 census. Read more about Census Records.

Many census records have been indexed by surname. Some indexes cover one parish (and will be listed in the Wiki on the parish page) and some indexes are for the county as a whole. The Family History Library has county-wide census placename indexes for Aberdeenshire for. Click here for other census indexes available at the library.

Maps
Click on the map at the right to see a larger version, and click again on the larger map. Next, click on the ‘Expand’ button when it appears in the lower right-hand corner of the map.



Parishes
Here is a list of the historic parishes in the county of Aberdeen. Click on the parish name to see information about records. See below for a map of the Aberdeenshire parishes.

Poorhouse Records
There are three poorhouses:

Aberdeen www.workhouses.org.uk/Aberdeen/

Buchan Combination (Maud) www.workhouses.org.uk/Buchan/

Old Machar (Aberdeen) www.workhouses.org.uk/Aberdeen/

[Return to the Scotland counties list.]

Societies
The Aberdeen &amp; North-East Scotland Family History Society exists to assist and promote the study of genealogy and family history based on the North-East corner of Scotland. This area covers the old counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and Morayshire.

Helpful Websites

 * Aberdeenshire Resources and help pages on RootsChat Aberdeenshire Resources and help pages. (Free).