Dron, Perthshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #345 This is a guide to the history and major genealogical records of Scotland as they pertain to the parish of Dron. To learn more about how to use these records to search for your ancestors, go to the Scotland: Research Strategies.

History
DRON, a parish, in the county of Perth, 1½ mile (S.S.E.) from Bridge of Earn. The name in the Gaelic tongue signifies a projection, a term descriptive of the locality in which the church and manse are placed. The parish lies a mile south of the river Earn. The church was built about the year 1816, and is a plain neat edifice, beautifully situated on an eminence at the base of the Ochils.

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: Births are intermixed with marriages to December 1724 and recorded on alternate pages of the same volume for January 1725–December 1748. The two are in separate registers from 1749 onwards. Mothers' names are not recorded in the entries. Marriages: There is only one marriage entry November 1766–April 1769 and no entries December 1779–June 1783 and March 1786–November 1787. Deaths: The few deaths are burials. 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:

Minutes 1632–1750, 1758–1808, 1837–1932 Baptismal Register 1855–1959 Note: Available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH2/9.

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.

Greenend Relief Church, extinct
History— Greenend is a hamlet in the parish of Dron. In Aprilil 1835 the parishioners expected to be allowed the choice of a new minister but did not obtain it. On this account several of them withdrew from the Established Church and applied to the Relief Presbytery of Perth for supply of sermon, which was granted in August 1835. They proceeded to erect a place of worship with difficulty. After the resignation of the minister in 1843, the congregation became extinct. Source: Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church, by Rev. William MacKelvie, D.D. pub. 1873. Film #477618. More details are given in the source.

Records— Extent of pre-1855 records is unknown. No records deposited at the National Archives of Scotland.

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
Dron was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Dunblane 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 Family History Library. To find the microfilm numbers, search in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Perthshire and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Dunblane. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Perthshire. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Perthshire and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.