Aberfoyle, Perthshire, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #325

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

History
ABERFOYLE, a parish, in the county of Perth, 14 miles (W. by S.) from Doune, and 20 (W. by N.) from Stirling. This place derives its name from the situation of the church, near the mouth of a rivulet called, in Gaelic, the Poll or Foile, which forms a confluence with the river Forth, at this place an inconsiderable stream. The church, built in 1774, and thoroughly repaired in 1839, is a plain structure, containing 250 sittings.

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 FS 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 up to 1723 and on alternate pages of the same record for 1737–1741 inclusive. There are no entries for April 1693–May 1698 and 1723–1737. From 1737–1744 there is a separate list of baptisms of children from the parish of Drymen. A page containing irregular entries for 1758–1793 is entered after the record for February 1744. There are no entries, except one for April 1744–November 1749. There is a duplicate of the portion for December 1788–December 1796. There is also a copy from June 1753. Marriages: There are no marriage entries for December 1741–November 1749 and April 1753–June 1754. Deaths: The death records are Mortcloth Dues. 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 1740–1742, 1773–1851, 1853–1924 Register of Discipline 1788–1853 Collections 1844–1920 Cash Book 1844–1927 Note: Available at the Stirling Council Archives, Stirling, Scotland, record CH2/704.

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 Port Of Monteith 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
Aberfoyle 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.