Holm & Paplay, Orkney, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #19

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

History
HOLM and PAPLAY, a parish, in the county of Orkney, 8 miles (S. E. by E.) from Kirkwall; containing the island of Lambholm and the village of St. Mary. The church, originally dedicated to St. Nicholas, and rebuilt in 1818, is situated at Paplay, in the eastern portion of the parish, and affords sufficient accommodation for the parishioners. There is a place of worship for members of the United Secession.

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 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 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 Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Some records may also be indexed in other FamilySearch collections for Scotland. Births: There are no entries 1692–1696, duplicate records 1697–1760, and very incomplete records 1703–1709. Marriages: There is only one entry December 1674–March 1677 and no entries for 1681–1692. 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: 

Holm, St. Nicholas
Minutes 1673–1764 Note: Available on Film at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH2/1091.

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.

Holm United Presbyterian, later Holm East United Free Church
History— Holm is a parish on the southeast coast of Pomona, or mainland of Orkney. This congregation was formed at first by persons residing in the parish that had occasionally attended public worship in the Secession Church in Kirkwall and acquired a relish for the doctrine they heard preached there. This was an Anti-burgher church and later became United Presbyterian. In November 1865 more than 200 members of this congregation left and joined the Free Church. Source: Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church, by Rev. William MacKelvie, D.D., pub. 1873. Film #477618. More details may be given in the source.

Records— Minutes 1816–1945 Congregational Minutes 1814–1843 Other Post–1855 Records Note: Available on Film at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH3/1097.

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
Holm &amp; Paplay was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Orkney &amp; Shetlanjd until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Kirkwall. 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 Orkney and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Orkney &amp; Shetland. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Orkney. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Orkney and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.