Carrington, Midlothian, Scotland Genealogy

Parish #675

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

History
CARRINGTON, or Primrose, a parish, in the county of Edinburgh; containing the villages of Thornton and Whitefaugh, 6 miles (S. by W.) from Dalkeith. This place, at an early period, was the property of William, Lord Ramsay, who was created Earl of Dalhousie and Lord Carrington in 1633. The church, a neat structure, was erected in 1711.

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.

is a list of the FS Library microfilm numbers for the census records of Carrington, as well as the library numbers for any 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
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 also be indexed in other FamilySearch collections for Scotland. Births: There are no entries for November 1671–May 1676. After 1730 is a fragment of a page containing only one entry. Two pages after September 1801 contain a supplement to the years 1801–1808. Marriages: There are no entries for August 1671–April 1676, June 1687–June 1690, August 1730–June 1732, except one, January 1782–October 1790, October 1798–July 1804, 1813 or 1818. The record is mainly proclamations after 1747. Deaths: The record is deaths and burials. There are no entries for June 1731–February 1744, September 1783–November 1791. The record ends February 1799 except one entry for 1815. 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 1653–1683, 1691–1757, 1763–1788, 1807–1808, 1818, 1827–1927 Cash and Account Books 1698–1780, 1837–1928 Poor Accounts 1807–1841 Churchyard Society 1822–1842 Communion Roll 1830 Note: Available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH2/62.

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.

See Temple 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
Carrington was under the probate jurisdiction of the Commissary Court of Edinburgh until 1823, and since then has been under the Sheriff's Court of Edinburgh. 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 Midlothian and the subject of 'Probate records.' Then click on the link to the records of the Commissariat of Edinburgh. The library also has some post-1823 probate records for Midlothian. Look in the library catalog for the 'Place-names' of Midlothian and the subjects of 'Probate Records' and 'Probate Records - Indexes.' Read more about Scotland Probate Records.