Terregles, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland Genealogy

Terregles (#880)

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

History
TERREGLES, a parish, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 2 miles (W.) from Dumfries containing the village of Newbridge. This place derives its name, which is a corruption of French words signifying "the lands of the church," from its having anciently belonged to the abbey of Lincluden, founded about the year 1150, by Uthred, father of Roland, Lord of Galloway, and who endowed it for nuns of the Benedictine order. The parish is bounded on the north by the river Cairn, and on the east by the Nith. The church, situated nearly in the centre of the parish, was built in 1806: the churchyard, which contains numerous handsome monuments, is enclosed by a stone wall.

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 edina.($) Click on ‘Browse scanned pages’ then search the parish reports for your parish of interest. 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 Scotland Census Records.

for a list of the FS Library microfilm numbers for the census records of Terregles as well as the library numbers for any surname indexes available:

The 1901 census of Scotland is indexed on scotlandspeople.($) 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 indexes through the library.

Church Records
The Established Church of Scotland was Presbyterian. Read more about Scotland 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 Scotland’s People website, a pay-for-view website. The Scottish Church Records Index is also still available at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. Some records may also be indexed in other FamilySearch collections for Scotland..

Births: There are only six entries dated previous to 1730. There are no entries August 1747–January 1782 except seventeen entries dated 1774–1781. Mothers' names are rarely recorded until June 1794. Marriages: There are no entries October 1798–June 1800; one entry November 1812–September 1814; There are no entries December 1814–December 1837 or for 1845. Deaths: There are no entries April 1802–January 1804, April 1805–January 1808, and February 1815–January 1848. Record ends August 1851. Source: Key to the Parochial Registers of Scotland, by V. Ben Bloxham, pub. 1970. FS Library book.

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: 

There are none.

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 Lists.

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
Terregles was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Dunfries until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Kirkcudbright. Probate records for 1513- 1901 are indexed online at scotlandspeople.($) 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 FamilySearch Library. To find the microfilm numbers, search in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Kirkcudbright and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Dunfries. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Kirkcudbright. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Kirkcudbright and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.