Fife, Scotland Genealogy

''Scotland  Fife



History
Fife is a maritime county in the east of Scotland, bounded on the north by the river Tay, on the east by the German Ocean, on the south by the Firth of Forth, and on the west by the counties of Perth, Kinross, and Clackmannan. It is about 48 miles in length and 18 in extreme breadth, comprising an area of 504 square miles or 322,560 acres. It was anciently part of the extensive district of Ross, but after the union of the kingdoms of the Scots and the Picts in about the year 971, it was granted by Kenneth II to Macduff for his services in subjugating the Picts, and he was appointed hereditary thane of the lands he had helped conquer [for this reason, the county is still referred to as the Kingdom of Fife].

The county consists of 61 parishes and four civil districts of Cupar, Kirkcaldy, St. Andrew's and Dunfermline. Sheriff's courts are held at Cupar (the county town) for the first three and at Dunfermline for the last. Besides Cupar, the county contains fourteen royal burghs, nine other populous towns, and numerous smaller towns and villages. Many of the towns are seaports. The principal port is Kirkcaldy.

The surface of the county, which is pleasingly diversified with gentle undulations and in some parts with hills of lofty elevation, is separated by ranges of hills into several beautiful and extensive vales. The soil is rich and suitable for growing oats, wheat, barley, turnips and potatoes. Cattle and sheep are raised, as well as horses and pigs. The county abounds in coal and limestone of good quality that is largely wrought. Freestone, whinstone, and ironstone are also wrought. Lead and copper are also found but not wrought to any extent. The principal manufacture is that of linen. Flax spinning is carried on to a great extent. There is also the manufacture of paper, soap, candles, and glue, and there are iron-foundaries, tanneries, potteries, brick and tiles works, numerous bleachfields, a vitriol-work, breweries, distilleries, malting establishments, and various other works. Ship-building is carried on at the several seaport towns on the south. The commerce of the county consists of exporting cattle and sheep, produce, minerals, and various other goods.

The population in 1851 was 140,140.

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

Scotlands People: An Important Online Source
ScotlandsPeople is one of the largest online sources of original genealogical information. If you are researching UK genealogy, your Scottish ancestry or building your Scottish family tree, they have more than 100 million records to look through.

The comprehensive choice of Scottish records includes: For more detail on exact record availability, see Availability. For examples of the records available, see Record Types and Examples. More information on the site, its contents, and instructions for using it can be found in the ScotlandsPeople Wiki article. Indexes may be searched for free, and there is a small pay per view fee to see the actual digitized record.

Parishes
Some of the Fifeshire parish records are indexed in Fife, Scotland, Extracted Parish Records.
 * This database is a collection of historical parish registers from the county of Fife in the country of Scotland. The records in this collection can range in date from the early 1500s to the mid- to late-1800s. The records include baptisms/christenings, burials, marriages, tombstone inscriptions, obituaries, tax lists, wills, and other miscellaneous types of records. Also included are some records from non-conformist churches. You will find interesting phonetic spelling. Some of the records may be in Latin or even a Welsh or Scottish dialect. Due to the nature of the records and because the records were originally compiled by a third party, it is difficult to absolutely verify the completeness and validity of the data.

Here is a list of the historic parishes for the county of Fife. Click on the parish name to see information about records.

Census

 * ScotlandsPeople, index, images, free index, pay per view ($)
 * Scotland Census, 1841, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index, ($). Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1851, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index, ($). Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1861, no images. Also at, index, ($). Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1871, no images. Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1881, no images. Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1891, no images. Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1901, index and images, ($). Also at FindMyPast, index, ($). Also at Ancestry.com, index, ($).
 * Scotland Census, 1911, index and images, ($).

The library also has a collection of census surname indexes for different places within Fifeshire. Click here to see a table listing these other census surname indexes that are available at the library.

Civil Registration Records
Government or civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths (also called statutory records) began on January 1, 1855 in Scotland. Annual indexes are available for the whole country. See the article on Scotland Civil Registration for more information and to access the records.

Court Records
The county of Fife was in the Sheriff's court of Cupar (SC20). The Registers of Deeds for Sheriffs' courts contains much valuable information for family history research such as marriage contracts and deeds of 'disposal and settlement' (or assignment) of property, which both give names and relationships. The Fife Family History Society has created an index to the Fife Sheriff's Court Deeds for 1715-1809 that is searchable on their website at http://www.fifefhs.org/. In the website, click on the link for 'Records &amp; maps.'

Probate Records
Probate records are those which deal with the settlement of the estate of a deceased person. In Scotland, until 1868, a person could only pass movable property such as household furniture, farm equipment, livestock, money and clothes through a document known as a 'testament.' Immovable property such as land was passed to the eldest son or heir through a document known as a 'Service of Heir,' which is not a record of probate. Read more about Scotland Probate Records.

Until 1823, the majority of the parishes of Fife were under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of St. Andrews (CC20). The Commissary Court of Dunkeld (CC7) had jurisdiction over the parishes of Aberdour, Leslie, and Strathmiglo, and the Commissary Court of Stirling (CC21) had jurisdiction over the parishes of Carnock, Saline, and Torryburn. Since 1823, the whole of the county has been under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20).

Probate records for 1513-1901 (including inventories of goods) 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' of Fife and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of St. Andrews.

The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Fife. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place' of Fife and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.'

Maps
Click here to see an outline map of the parishes of Fife.

Poorhouse Records
There are three workhouses:

Dunfermline Combination

Dysart Combination

Kirkcaldy Combination

Websites

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

[Return to county list.]