Historically, illegitimacy – being born outwith marriage – often carried a great social stigma. It was considered something to be ashamed of – as if somehow the child was responsible for the actions of his or her parents. In my own family, my paternal grandmother was born before her parents were married, a fact that she kept hidden from my dad. She’d even gone to the length of consistently lying about her age to cover her tracks. It wasn't until about ten years after she died that I discovered the truth – much to the amusement of my dad, who had endured years of his mum putting his dad down because his father was illegitimate! This social stigma was incorporated in law: the Registration (Scotland) Act 1854 [Link] required that all illegitimate births be marked as such in the original register (a requirement which wasn’t removed until 1919). Section 35 of the Registration (Scotland) Act stated: In the Case of an illegitimate Child it shall not be lawful for the Registrar to enter the Name of any Person as the Father of such Child, unless at the joint Request of the Mother and of the Person acknowledging himself to be the Father of such Child, and who shall in such Case sign the Register as Informant along with the Mother Consequently, unless the father acknowledged paternity and agreed in person to be registered as the father, it was illegal to record his name in the birth register, with one proviso: Provided always, that when the Paternity of any illegitimate Child has been found by Decree of any competent Court, the Clerk of Court shall, within Ten Days after the Date of such Decree, send by Post to the Registrar of the Parish in which the Father is or was last domiciled, or in which the Birth shall have been registered, Notice of the Import of such Decree in the Form of the Schedule (F.) to this Act annexed, or to the like Effect, under a Penalty not exceeding Forty Shillings in case of Failure; and on Receipt of such Notice the Registrar shall add to the Entry of the Birth of such Child in the Register the Name of the Father and the Word "Illegitimate," and shall make upon the Margin of the Register opposite to such Entry a Note of such Decree and of the Import thereof In other words, the father’s name could be added to a birth record after initial registration if paternity was proven subject to a court order, although the stigma of the word illegitimate would remain. Section 36 of the Registration (Scotland) Act also illustrates an unusual feature of Scots law which distinguishes it from English law: In the event of any Child, registered as illegitimate, being legitimated per subsequens matrimonium, the Registrar of the Parish in which the Birth of such illegitimate Child was registered shall, upon Production of an Extract of the Entry of such Marriage in the Register of Marriages, note on the Margin of the Register opposite to the Entry of the Birth the Legitimation of such Child per subsequens matrimonium, and the Date of the Registration of such Marriage Under Scots law, a child born outwith marriage could be legitimated after birth per subsequens matrimonium – literally “by subsequent marriage” – if the parents later married, provided that they were free to marry at the time of the child’s birth. From a genealogy perspective, the main import of illegitimacy is that it can prove a significant obstacle to tracing the child’s paternal ancestry. However, it need not always prove to be a brick wall. Take the case of George Kerr Waterston, an illegitimate child born on October 9 1863 in Dunnichen, Angus. His statutory birth record does not name his father, instead just giving his mother’s name as Elspeth Waterston. As mentioned earlier, the law stated that in cases of illegitimate children, the father’s name could only be included if the father signed the register in person. The following entries from the records of Dunnichen parish demonstrate that the strict rules in force for civil registration did not apply to the Church, and thus how Kirk Session records can often be used to identify fathers of illegitimate children. At Dunnichen the 18th day of October 1863 years A couple of weeks later, in the Baptismal Register for Dunnichen, we find the following entry: Kerr, George Kerr Waterston (illegitimate), S[on]. [Father] John Kerr Junior, Greenhillock Tulloes; [Mother] Elspeth Waterston, Letham. Birth 9th October 1863, Baptism 9th December 1863 This entry provides another useful lesson - it's always worth checking baptismal registers, even after the introduction of civil registration.
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On 31 May 1834, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, meeting in Edinburgh, enacted the Overtures and Interim Acts on the Calling of Ministers. This was the latest instalment in a long-running dispute within the Church about who should appoint the minister when a parish fell vacant. The right of patronage – the right of patrons, usually nobles or major landowners, to appoint ministers – had been controversial since the Reformation. An Act of the Scottish Parliament in 1690 vested patronage in the heritors and elders of each parish. They were given the right to propose a candidate, with the whole congregation then given the right to accept or reject the proposal.
In 1711, the British Parliament passed the Church Patronage (Scotland) Act, which restored the rights of the original patrons. The Church was strongly opposed to this, and made an annual protest to Parliament every year until 1784. Two factions emerged, the Moderates, who reluctantly accepted the Patronage Act, and the Evangelicals, who opposed it in principle. In 1730, the General Assembly passed an Act removing the right of objectors to have their objections officially recorded. The Evangelicals viewed this as an attempt to silence them. Two years later, the General Assembly granted the right of patronage to heritors and elders where a patron failed to nominate a candidate within six months. Some in the Church – notably Ebenezer Erskine – wanted this right to be transferred to the Heads of Families within a congregation. But the fact that objections could no longer even be recorded led to a schism in the Church, known as the Original Secession. A hundred years later, in 1834, the General Assembly passed the Overtures and Interim Acts on the Calling of Ministers, more commonly known as the Veto Act. The Veto Act was a victory for the Evangelical party, preventing a patron from presenting a minister if a majority of the heads of households objected to the candidate. This led to a series of court actions by patrons, and eventually led to the Veto Act being declared ultra vires in the House of Lords. For many this was the final straw, and the main consequence of the annulment of the Veto Act was the Great Disruption of 1843, with about 40% of ministers walking out of the Church of Scotland, founding the Free Church of Scotland and leaving the Church of Scotland as a minority church. Aside from the consequences for genealogy research of the Disruption itself – less than half of Scots were now members of the Church of Scotland, so researchers often have to look elsewhere than the Old Parish Registers to find their ancestors – the Veto Act is also relevant for family historians. The Act required all parishes to draw up rolls of "male heads of families, being members of the congregation, and in full communion with the Church" within two months, and to insert these rolls into the Kirk Session records. While not all of these rolls of heads of families survive, hundreds of them do, and they provide a very useful record of inhabitants all over Scotland in the years before the first nominal census of 1841. We have transcribed them (more than 150,000 names), and made them available on our website free of charge. The table below gives a complete list of them, with links to the individual parishes.
It might seem slightly incongruous to be writing about geography in a family history blog, but it's definitely not. Family history - as opposed to genealogy in the narrow sense - is really about people and place. To understand how your family lived, you have to understand the places they knew. Equally, even simply to research your genealogy, you have to have some understanding of geography, if only because most historical records were and are organised on a geographic basis.
Historically, Scotland - like England - was divided into counties. These counties were established in medieval times, and remained the main subdivision of government in Scotland until the reorganisation of local government in 1975. Churches were also organised geographically - in the case of the Church of Scotland, the basic unit was the parish. Parishes were grouped into Presbyteries, which in turn were grouped into Synods. The significance of this is that most historical records of interest to genealogists and family historians were organised territorially. So in order to find and trace your ancestors, you need to understand geography. For family history research, it's usually best to think in terms of the pre-1975 counties, of which there were 32:
Below county level, things get a little more complicated. Most genealogists tend to think in terms of parishes, and indeed that's how we've structured our website. After 1855 - when statutory registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced in Scotland - many records are organised by registration district. These registration districts often initially coincided with pre-1855 parishes, but over the years, the differences increased, with the result that modern registration districts often bear little similarity to the original parishes. Nevertheless, parishes remain a very useful way of thinking about places.
The table below lists the Church of Scotland parishes in existence in 1854, the county in which they were located, and the year of the earliest entry in the Old Parish Registers.
One of the most common themes you'll find in Kirk Session records is fornication: sex outside marriage. The records are full of women (and usually, but not always, men) being summoned to explain their actions. While the Session's disapproval of such behaviour is clear - sometimes abundantly so - what is often overlooked in the context of stern rebukes, admonitions and public reproach, is that, as well as their role in policing sexual mores in the context of an often stern, austere religious outlook, the Kirk Sessions had another responsibility, which weighed heavily on their minds in such cases: they wanted to make sure where possible that children born to unmarried mothers would not become a burden on the parish. It's worth bearing that in mind if you come across an ancestor dragged before the Session for a case of fornication. Many fornication cases were dealt with in an almost offhand way: the parties would be summoned, would confess their guilt, and would be rebuked, sometimes before the whole Congregation, but often in a less publicly conspicuous manner, before the Session itself. Other cases, however, were not so straightforward. For one thing, cases of adultery were treated much more seriously, and would frequently be referred to the Presbytery for their advice (which as often as not, amounted to telling the Kirk Session "You deal with it"!). From a researcher's point of view, though, it's much more interesting when the accused man denies paternity. When this happened, the mother and alleged father could call witnesses to provide evidence in support of their claims, and these can be truly fascinating, with cases sometimes dragging on for months. The following case from Fossoway gives a good illustration of the process: CH2/163/4 p. 14-15 So the putative father, John Young, basically tells Margaret Wright "If you tell anyone I'm the father, I'll run away." Not a good look. Two weeks later, though, John does appear, and denies everything: CH2/163/4 p. 15-16 A week later, Margaret confronts John in front of the Session, but John continues to deny everything. Margaret is given the opportunity to call witnesses, who are then summoned to appear in two weeks time: CH2/163/4 p. 16-17 Two weeks later, Margaret gives her version of events: CH2/163/4 p. 18-22 This contains fascinating detail about her walk home, a distance of around 10 miles. (You can see the route on a modern map here - opens in a new window.) John Young being then called, compeared, and continued to deny all guilt with Marg[are]t Wright. He was then heard in explanation of his conduct regarding Marg[are]t Wright at and after leaving Alloa Fair, and the statement made by him exactly corresponded with that made by Marg[are]t Wright, with the exception that instead of meeting with her on the day in question in a public house, he met her in the first instance on the street and afterwards in a public house. Denies that he joined her at her own house, or that he saw her again that evening at all, but declares that Rob[er]t Ramsay joined him a little west of Blairngone, with whom he came all the way till the separation of the roads, which is at Powmill Smithy, and considerably east of Marg[are]t Wright’s father’s house. Denies that he has ever been in her father’s house before or since the day in question, but admits that in passing he has frequently stopped and chatted with her at the door. Margaret then calls her first witness, Robert Ramsay, from Craiglawhill: Robert Ramsay, a witness cited for Marg[are]t Wright, unmarried, and aged [space left blank] years, who being solemnly sworn, purged of malice, and partial counsel and interrogated depones, that on the day in question he met with John Young in Alloa first on the street. That on leaving Alloa and going so far as Forest Mill the deponent went into a public house. Depones that he was there in company with John Young and Marg[are]t Wright and others. That after leaving the public house he did not see John Young again till he was considerably west of Blairngone. Depones that John Young and the Dep[onen]t went on together by themselves to the west side of the Devonshaw quarry when they came up with David and Robert Morison, who came along with them till they arrived at the houses at Crossgates, when John Young fell behind, and the Dep[onen]t saw no more of him that night. Depones that he was joined about the Devonshaw and Gartwhynean march by Peter Cree, who together with the Morisons and the Dep[onen]t came within a little distance of the Powmill Smithy, when Peter Cree and the Dep[onen]t sat down for ten minutes, but that John Young did not again come up with them. And that all this truth as the Dep[onen]t shall answer to God. Robert can't prove that Margaret is telling the truth. Margaret's second witness is more forthcoming, providing hearsay evidence that John admitted having been with Margaret, but claiming he wasn't the only one: Comp[eare]d Catharine Blackwood, a witness in this case cited for Marg[are]t Wright, married and aged 23 years, who being solemnly sworn &c and interrogated Depones that since it was reported that Marg[are]t Wright was with child, John Young called on the Dep[onen]t and said that farmers and farmers’ sons had been with Marg[are]t Wright as well as he, and this is truth as the Dep[onen]t shall answer to God, and declares that she cannot write. Over the course of the next week, rumour evidently reaches members of the Kirk Session that Catharine knows more than she told them, because we read: CH2/163/4 p. 23 Sure enough, a few weeks later, Catharine changes her evidence: CH2/163/4 p. 24-26 If there was any doubt as to what John meant when he claimed that "farmers and farmers' sons had been with Margaret", that doubt has been removed. John has reverted to name calling, although by so doing, he allegedly admits to having been with Margaret himself. Still, though, he persists in denying everything to the Session: John Young states that about the end of Harvest he came west in James Taylor’s cart as far as the road which leads off to the Cocklaws. That this might be nearly ten o’clock at night. That he saw Marg[are]t Wright’s door open. That he tapped on the window, but that Marg[are]t Wright did not make her appearance. From the circumstance he is of opinion that she was engaged with some other person. That he then returned home without making any enquiry whether Marg[are]t Wright was any wise engaged with any other person or not. A month later, though, John appears before the Session once again, and has evidently had a change of heart. Whether he's had pangs of conscience, or has been persuaded to admit his actions by some unknown person, John recants his earlier evidence unequivocally: CH2/163/4 p. 28 There's no record of the Session meeting two weeks later, but instead six weeks later John appears before the Session to be rebuked pro primo (literally: for the first time): CH2/163/4 p. 28 Two weeks later, John appears pro secundo ('for the second time'), is once again rebuked, and is ordered to produce a certificate of good behaviour from the parish of Kinross, where he now lives: CH2/163/4 p. 29 Another two weeks later, John returns with a note from one of the Kinross elders, and is ordered to appear for public rebuke before the full congregation: CH2/163/4 p. 29 Finally, six months after the case began, John is made to appear as a penitent before the congregation, is admonished by the Moderator (in this case, the Parish Minister), and is restored to full membership of the Church: CH2/163/4 p. 30 There is one further postscript, in the Cash book for Fossoway parish: CH2/163/6 p. 94 This illustrates another purpose of disciplinary proceedings - to raise money, which in most cases went towards the Poor Funds maintained by each parish.
We are gradually rolling out a lookup service for Kirk Session records across Scotland. If your ancestors were from Fossoway, you can see the records we can check for you here. For other parts of Scotland, start here.
The Reformation in Scotland placed great emphasis on education. In 1560, the First Book of Discipline established the ideal of universal education, of a school in every parish. Although the ideal was never actually realised in practice, it remained a worthy objective.
As a consequence, many wealthy individuals left legacies for educational purposes. Some, such as George Heriot in Edinburgh, left money to establish educational institutions for poor children, often referred to slightly confusingly as Hospitals. Others endowed funds to pay school fees for children in a district. One such fund was the Milne Bequest in the parish of Ellon, Aberdeenshire. The Parliamentary Educational Endowments (Scotland) Commission described it thus: The Milne Bequest, which is said to be dated in 1797, but did not come into operation till 1808, its precise date not being ascertainable, but a record of it appearing in the kirk session minutes under date July 21, 1808, was left by the Rev James Milne, minister of Ellon, ‘for the purpose of educating poor children’. Its amount is nearly £20 of capital, and it is paid to the School Board for the education of poor children.
The benefactor being a minister, it is perhaps not surprising that operation of the Milne Bequest was placed in the hands of the Kirk Session of Ellon. Fortunately, the elders kept excellent records of payments made under the bequest. The entries for 1862/63 are as follows:
The Kirk Session records of Ellon parish include payments made from the Milne Bequest from 1852 to 1880. Apart from the details of ill health as shown above, and the details of guardians of children - presumably orphans - some of the earlier records also include comments on the individual pupils ("giddy, thoughtless", "less fair from want of parental oversight") that offer a unique insight into their characters. You can request a lookup in these and other Ellon parish records here.
Monday 1st January 1855 is a key date in Scottish genealogy research. That was when the system of statutory registration was introduced, covering - in theory at least - every birth, marriage and death in Scotland. However, if you want to research back before 1855, things get a little trickier. The most commonly used records for tracing Scottish ancestry before statutory registration, are the so called OPRs, or Old Parish Registers. These have been indexed, and are available - for a fee - on the Scotland's People website. However, they only cover the established Church of Scotland. You may have a marriage record (often inaccurately referred to as a certificate) for your ancestors, showing that they were members of a dissenting church.
Scotland's fractious religious history means that historically, many Scots did not belong to the Church of Scotland. There have been numerous schisms over the centuries since the Reformation, as a result of dissent over Church doctrine and practice. In 1733, Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff and James Fisher led what became known as the First Secession, forming the Associate Presbytery. A Second Secession led by Thomas Gillespie followed in 1761. In 1820, several of the dissenting groups combined to form the United Secession Church, initially with 261,000 followers in 361 congregations. By 1830, around one in three Scots were members. But the largest secession from the Church of Scotland came with the Disruption of 1843, when a long-running dispute over patronage (triggered by the 1834 Veto Act of the General Assembly: see our parish records pages for 150,000 free records of heads of families created as a result of this Act) within the Church of Scotland led to the formation of the Free Church of Scotland. Over a third of serving ministers in the established church joined the Free Church, leaving the Church of Scotland as a minority church for the first time. Most of these various denominations kept registers of the baptisms of the children of members. Many of these registers survive today in Scottish archives. Unfortunately, for the most part they have not been indexed at all, and the registers are not available online, so finding your ancestors can be challenging. Over the last few months, we have been extracting the pre-1855 entries from many of these registers, and making them available online. These extractions are not just indexes, but full extracts of all the information contained in the registers - not just names and dates, but often home addresses, father's occupations, and in a number of instances additional notes added by the church officers. Many of these registers continue past 1855, but as there are statutory registers from that time on, we have not extracted them. So far, we've extracted the registers listed below. Click on a link to see what names these registers contain - perhaps your ancestors were dissenters?
Aberdeen St Paul Street United Presbyterian, Aberdeenshire
Aberdeen Bon Accord Free Church, Aberdeenshire Newhills Free Church, Aberdeenshire Arbroath Erskine United Presbyterian Church, Angus St George's Free Church Montrose, Angus Ardrossan St John's Free Church, Ayrshire Coldingham United Presbyterian Church, Berwickshire Langton Free Church, Berwickshire Canisbay Free Church, Caithness Lybster Free Church, Caithness Pulteneytown Free Church, Caithness Johnstone and Wamphray Free Church, Dumfriesshire Innerwick Free Church, East Lothian Edinburgh St Luke's Free Church, Edinburgh Portobello United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh St Georges Free Church, Edinburgh Gorbals United Presbyterian Church, Glasgow Shamrock Street United Presbyterian Church Glasgow, Glasgow Strachan Free Church, Kincardineshire Milnathort United Presbyterian, Kinross-shire Auchencairn Free Church, Kirkcudbrightshire Dalbeattie Free Church, Kirkcudbrightshire Tongland and Twynholm Free Church, Kirkcudbrightshire Blantyre United Presbyterian Church, Lanarkshire Cambusnethan Associate Church, Lanarkshire Hamilton St. John's Free Church, Lanarkshire Roberton United Presbyterian Church, Lanarkshire Wellwynd United Associate Congregation Airdrie, Lanarkshire Musselburgh United Presbyterian, Midlothian Sandwick United Presbyterian Church, Orkney Stromness United Presbyterian, Orkney Aberfeldy Free Church, Perthshire Alyth Associate Congregation, Perthshire Blackford Free Church, Perthshire St Leonards Free Church Perth, Perthshire Alexandria United Secession Church, Renfrewshire Erskine Free Church, Renfrewshire Paisley, Reformed Presbyterian, Renfrewshire Bowden Free Church, Roxburghshire Kelso United Presbyterian, Roxburghshire Denny Free Church, Stirlingshire
Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 11 - 17 April 2016
Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list. Monday, April 11 2016, 6.00 pm - 7.00 pm Celts: art and identity Dr Fraser Hunter, National Museums Scotland Venue: Auditorium, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The idea of Celts is a potent, popular and enormously varied one, applied to many different types of evidence in different contexts. Coinciding with a major exhibition on Celts at the National Museum of Scotland, this talk will consider the many different things which get called Celtic art. It will consider what these different “Celtic arts” say about connections and differences across Europe, and consider the role of decoration in making powerful objects and creating powerful ideas. Monday, April 11 2016, 7 pm for 7.30 pm The National Library of Scotland: a Treasure Trove Veronica Denholm and Jennifer Giles Venue: Royal British Legion Social Club, 33 Rodney Street, Edinburgh Monday, April 11 2016, 7.30 pm The Land Girls Ruth Boreham Venue: Dalkeith Baptist Church, North Wynd, Dalkeith Monday, April 11 2016, 7.30 pm AGM and Members' Night
Venue: St Andrews Church, Park Road, Milngavie Milngavie and Bearsden Historical Society Monday, April 11 2016, 7.30 pm Open Evening
Venue: Luncarty Church Centre West Stormont Historical Society Non-members: adults £3, concessions £2. (Open discussion meetings at Luncarty are free) Tuesday, April 12 2016, 7.30 pm Medieval Pestilence, Plague and Climate Change Prof Richard Oram, Stirling University Venue: Dining Hall, Dollar Academy Tuesday, April 12 2016, 7.30 pm His Own Family Tree Iain Abernethy Venue: Public Library, Airds Crossing, Fort William Lochaber and North Argyll Family History Group Tuesday, April 12 2016, 7.30 pm Wemyss School of Needlework Fiona Wemyss Venue: Volunteer House (Vonef Centre) in 69 Crossgate Cupar KY15 5AS Tuesday, April 12 2016, 7.30 pm Edith Cavell Barbara Graham Venue: Largs Library Community Room Largs and North Ayrshire Family History Society Tuesday, April 12 2016, 7.30 pm - 8.30 pm Celts: art and identity Dr Fraser Hunter, National Museums Scotland Venue: Regent Building Lecture Theatre, Regent Walk, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The idea of Celts is a potent, popular and enormously varied one, applied to many different types of evidence in different contexts. Coinciding with a major exhibition on Celts at the National Museum of Scotland, this talk will consider the many different things which get called Celtic art. It will consider what these different “Celtic arts” say about connections and differences across Europe, and consider the role of decoration in making powerful objects and creating powerful ideas. Tuesday, April 12 2016, 7.30 pm - 9.30 pm Birdie Bowers Drew McKenzie Venue: Masonic Halls, Collier Street, Johnstone Wednesday, April 13 2016, 6.30 pm The Mason's Mark Project
Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee Wednesday, April 13 2016, 7.30 pm The Skylark IX Recovery Trust Anne Dyer Venue: Concord Community Centre (next to the Denny Theatre), Dumbarton, G82 1LJ Preceded by AGM. The Trust was formed in 2013 and is named for the historic little ship Skylark IX which rescued over 600 men from the beaches of Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo in WWII. Wednesday, April 13 2016, 7.30 pm GRO and minor records Ian Ferguson Venue: Smith Museum and Art Gallery, Dumbarton Road, Stirling Central Scotland Family History Society Thursday, April 14 2016 Early days of Discovery of Tourism in Scotland Alastair Durie Elie & Earlsferry History Society Alastair Durie talks on the start of the Discovery of Scotland as a tourist destination Thursday, April 14 2016, 7.30 pm Renfrewshire Surveyors and Estate Plans in the 18th Century John Moore Venue: The Shawl Gallery, Paisley Museum, High Street, Paisley Renfrewshire Local History Forum Speaker is subject librarian at the University of Glasgow Thursday, April 14 2016, 7.30 pm Social Evening
Venue: Loudoun Hall, Ayr Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society With four short talks by members of the AANHS Thursday, April 14 2016, 7.30 pm The Churches of Musselburgh Alison Butler Venue: St Peter's Church Hall, High Street, Musselburgh Musselburgh Conservation Society Thursday, April 14 2016, 7.30 pm Field Marshal Haig, a Personal View Hon Philip Astor Venue: MacRobert Hall, The Square, Tarland Field Marshall Douglas Haig, Ist. Earl Haig, has become one of the most controversial figures of the First World War, his leadership both heavily criticised but also defended by historians. The Honourable Philip Astor will present a personal perspective of his grandfather and his role in the First World War. Thursday, April 14 2016, 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm Flora Macdonald Barbara Graham Venue: Johnnie Walker Bond, Strand Street Kilmarnock East Ayrshire Family History Society Friday, April 15 2016, 7.30 pm Branch Lines of Strathearn - Tourists, Tatties, and Trains John Young, Railway Historian and Author Venue: Aytoun Hall, High Street, Auchterarder Auchterarder and District Local History Association Saturday, April 16 2016, 1.45 pm Researching Your Military Relatives covering the 18th Century to WW2 Ken Nisbet Venue: St Ninian's Church Hall, Castle Douglas Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society Coffee and tea will be served at 1.45 p.m. meetings start 2.15 p.m Saturday, April 16 2016, 10 am - 12 pm Inheritance Bruce Bishop Venue: Scottish Genealogy Society Library, 15 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL Your family didn’t have to be extremely wealthy for someone to leave an inheritance. Bruce Bishop will give a talk on the subject to include estates, land & sasine records, wills, commissary courts, etc and show how this kind of information can help with your family history research. Saturday, April 16 2016, 2.00 pm Annual Meeting and Members Heirlooms
Venue: Manchester Central Library Anglo-Scottish Family History Society Saturday, April 16 2016, 2.30pm-4.30pm Fintry – A Rural North East School Janet Byth Venue: Unitarian Church Centre Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society Scotland's People website run by the National Records of Scotland is giving away 20 free credits (normal price: £7 for 30 credits). Simply login (you'll have to register first if you haven't already done so), click on Buy more credits at the top right of the screen: Then use "Scotland" as the Voucher Code. Searches cost 1 credit for up to 25 results, while viewing images of historical records costs 5 credits (10 credits for wills and testaments).
If there are too many matches for you to buy online (with a surname like Smith, I know how that feels!), or if the record you're interested in is not available on the website, why not ask us about our affordable lookup service? One of the slightly unusual features of the Scottish system of statutory registration is the Register of Corrected Entries (now known as the Register of Corrections, Etc, or RCE). This allows for errors in original records to be corrected. In modern times, the RCE is a separate volume - the original register is not actually changed; instead a note is added in the margin, with a reference to the RCE. While the RCE system only applies to statutory registration of births, marriages and deaths, as introduced in Scotland in 1855, it was clearly not without precedent, as the following entry from the Kirk Session of Barony, in Glasgow, shows: 31 October 1832 Several things stand out from this entry. Firstly, it shows that even contemporary, primary sources can be incorrect: although in this case, it seems that the clerk did change the original register, and a modern researcher would find the correct date (assuming the father was telling the truth). Secondly, you have to wonder how and why the father noticed the error, almost exactly 21 years after the event. Perhaps the children were involved in some legal matter that required them to be 21 years of age, possibly an inheritance. And thirdly, it also inadvertently offers a glimpse into family history as opposed to genealogy: Mary Ann and John were twins, but they were born 2 days apart, suggesting that their mother (unnamed in this entry, but she was Agnes Robertson) must have experienced a lengthy labour of at least 24 hours, more than 35 years before James Young Simpson pioneered the use of anaesthesia in childbirth.
The following entries are from Athelstaneford Kirk Session minutes, and the minutes of the Presbytery of Haddington. Athelstaneford Kirk Session minutes CH2/18/1 p. 180 Thomas Darling is not mentioned again in the Kirk Session minutes for Athelstaneford. He does appear at West Fortune in the 1841 census, a farmer aged 42. Janet Brook is also found living in Athelstaneford village in 1841, with her 7 year old son, David Darling. Although the child is not named in the Athelstaneford Kirk Session or Presbytery of Haddington records, it seems almost certain that David Darling is in fact Thomas Darling's son.
Without the Kirk Session records, it might not otherwise have been possible to identify David's father. These entries also illustrate how individual Kirk Sessions could refer cases to their Presbytery for a ruling. As well as revealing the likely father of David Darling, the entries also reveal something of the character of Thomas Darling. You can see what other records are available for Athelstaneford here. |
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