Fogo, Berwickshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #740 

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

History
FOGO, a parish, in the county of Berwick, 4 miles (S. by W.) from Dunse. This place, of which the name is of uncertain derivation, appears, though unconnected with any event of historical importance, to have some claim to antiquity. The church, situated on the banks of the Blackadder, is an ancient structure, repaired in 1755, and reseated in 1817, and is adapted for a congregation of 200 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

Census Record
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 Fogo, as well as the catalog entry for the 1841,1851, and 1861 census  for Fogo. 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 be indexed in the International genealogical Index. Births: The record prior to about 1750 is much damaged from damp. Mothers’ names are not recorded. Marriages: The early part of the record is damaged by dampness. The pages are blank December 1686–June 1694. Only two entries exist August 1695–June 1697. The pages are blank March 1698–June 1700, October 1721–June 1723, June 1727–June 1729, and December 1734–December 1739. There are no entries for 1745 or 1758. The pages are blank December 1795–June 1798 and only three entries exist, 1806–1816, from December 1805 to June 1819. 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:

No records exist.

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

Though nearly a third of the 435 residents of Fogo belonged to Dissenter or Secession churches in 1834, there were no chapels in the parish. The people belonged to either the United Secession Church or the Relief Church and attended services in Dunse or Greenlaw.

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
Fogo 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.