Aberdalgie, Perthshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #323

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

History
ABERDALGIE and DUPPLIN, a parish, in the county of Perth, 3 miles (S. W.) from Perth. These two ancient parishes were united in the year 1618, and are beautifully situated on an eminence forming the northern boundary of the vale of Strathearn. The present church of Aberdalgie was built in 1773, and under it a vault was constructed for the Hay-Drummond family, though their ancient burial place is at the church of Kinnoull.

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.

The original census records of Scotland, and digitial images of the same, are available at the National Archives in Edinburgh.

They are also available on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. Click on a link below to see a list of microfilm numbers for the census as well as surname indexes available:


 * surname indexes for Aberdalgie
 * surname indexes for Aberdalgie

The 1841-1901 censuses of Scotland are indexed, and images of the originals can be viewed, on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. To use it, you must register and pay a small access fee.

Indexes without images for all census years are also available online at www.ancestry.com.

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 FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. Some records may also be indexed in other FamilySearch collections for Scotland. Births: Births are intermixed with marriages and other matters up to 1655. There are no entries for August 1655–1691 or March 1717–June 1719. Mothers' names are not recorded until June 1719. Marriages: Marriages are intermixed with births and other matters up to 1655. There are no entries for July 1716–October 1736, from which date until 1780 the marriages for each year follow the births for the same year. Deaths: Mortcloth Dues - there are no entries for January 1727–July 1803. 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:

There are no known records.

Roll of Male Heads of Families
An 1834 list of male heads of families in this parish can be found here.

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.

There were no known nonconformist groups in this parish. See Dalreoch parish.

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
Aberdalgie was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Dunkeld until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Dunblane. 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 FamilySearch Library. To find the microfilm numbers, search in the library catalog for the 'Place' of Perthshire and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Dunkeld.

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

Read more about Scotland Probate Records.