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Dunsyre parish records

Lookup searches – Access records in Scottish archives for ancestors in this parish (e.g. Kirk Session Records). Available from £1 a name a year.

Poor Law appeals – Indexed Poor Law appeals with the option to order images of records.

Birth records with no father’s name – Hit a brick wall with no father named in a birth record? Help is at hand: see our list for this parish below.

Male Heads of Families – Free transcripts of rolls of male heads of families from the 1830s

Kirk Sessions Index – Free extracts from Kirk Session records

Lookups

​​​​​​​​The records of the Kirk Session contain a variety of documents which detail many aspects of the daily lives of all types of people throughout Scotland from the 16th century onwards. We are pleased to be able to offer a search service in some of the records available for this parish. We will search for a given name in any of the record sets in the table below, and provide you with transcripts of any matching entries for just £1 per name per year.

Lookups available
Reference Title Dates Buy
CH2/115/1Dunsyre Kirk Session - Minutes
(And few later entries) Includes Dunsyre stipend 1887-1929		1760-1836Request lookup
CH2/115/2Dunsyre Kirk Session - Minutes1871-1930Request lookup
CH2/115/5Dunsyre Kirk Session - Baptismal register and marriages.
Baptismal register 1877-1942
Marriages 1881-1884, 1904, 1938 (few entries )		1881-1942Request lookup
CH2/115/6Dunsyre Kirk Session - Proclamations1879-1929Request lookup
CH2/115/7Dunsyre Kirk Session - Communion roll1871-1889Request lookup
CH2/115/8Dunsyre Kirk Session - Communion roll1889-1921Request lookup

Board of Supervision poor relief appeals

The Board of Supervision was established under the 1845 Poor Law Act. One of its tasks was to hear appeals by paupers against inadequate poor relief granted by Parochial Boards. These appeals were recorded in the Board of Supervision minutes. Cases were often heard over an extended period. The minutes may contain a variety of information, including about other family members, medical conditions and other circumstances. For more information about these records, see here.

We are pleased to be able to offer to obtain images of the minutes for each appeal, at the following rates:
  • £3 for a single minute
  • £6 for up to 3 minutes for a single case
  • £10 for any single case with more than 3 minutes (some cases have as many as 8 minutes)
We have indexed these records, and list the cases for this parish below. Just click on the Order images link to order images of the relevant minutes. Please note that as these minutes may need to be filmed specially, it may take up to a week before we can supply them.

Poor law appeals
NameAddressYear(s)/
minutes		Order imagesDeliverance
David GARDNER 1870 (1)Order imagesRefused
John GIRDWOOD 1851 (1)Order imagesRefused
Widow Jean GORDON 1864 (1)Order imagesRefused
Alexander KAY 1853 (1)Order imagesRefused
Alexander KAY 1857 (1)Order imagesRefused
Widow RODGER West Linton1845-1846 (2)Order imagesRefused

List of Births with no Father's name 1855-1874

Your research hit a brick wall when you discovered a birth record missing this vital name? Choose Find the Father by any birth below to start breaking down that barrier today with our FREE search service. For births outwith this period, click here.

Find the father
Child nameDate of birthMother nameOrder
Robert AITKEN17 December 1866Helen AITKENFind the father
Elisabeth CUNNINGHAM21 January 1855Jean CUNNINGHAMFind the father
William CUNNINGHAM26 November 1856Jean CUNNINGHAMFind the father
Mary GIBSON2 October 1855Allison GIBSONFind the father
Janet GILBERT30 November 1869Jane GILBERTFind the father
Ann LAUDER23 December 1865Ann LAUDERFind the father
Elisabeth MARTIN16 July 1855Agnes MARTINFind the father
Joseph MAVELIN19 March 1858Janet MAVELINFind the father
Allister MCDONALD2 March 1862Ann MCDONALDFind the father
Agnes MOFFAT12 October 1857Jane MOFFATFind the father
John MOFFAT23 August 1874Helen MOFFATFind the father
Thomas MOFFAT3 November 1869Helen MOFFATFind the father
James MUIR5 June 1863Margaret MUIRFind the father
Adam ORR31 August 1866Janet ORRFind the father
Margaret VALLANCE10 January 1866Agnes VALLANCEFind the father
James WALKER27 February 1865Janet WALKERFind the father

Rolls of Male Heads of Families
​In 1834, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passed the Veto Act, removing the absolute right of landowners to appoint ministers to their parish. The Act gave male heads of families who were communicants with the parish the right to veto the appointment of a new minister if a majority of them objected. To this end, the Assembly instructed kirk sessions to draw up rolls of the male heads of families in each parish. We have transcribed the surviving rolls, and are publishing them here. They are significant as they pre-date the earliest nominal census, which took place in 1841.

Male Heads of families 1835 (NRS Reference: CH2/115/1 pp. 147-151)
Forename Surname Occupation Address Notes
AdamSandersonfarmerTarbrax South
AlexanderNelsonlabourerTarbrax South
DavidSandersonfarmerDykefoot
JohnRogerherdBlackhill
DavidBrownfarmerEastown
WilliamMeekherdEastown
HenryDicksonfarmerMedwinbank
GeorgeDicksoncarderMedwinbank
AdamDicksonwrightMedwinbank
JamesBrownfarmerDunsyre Mains
JohnDymockfarmerIsland
JamesHogglabourerVillage
GeorgeFrazerlabourerVillage
JohnSmithmasonVillage
DavidFraserlabourerVillage
ThomasCrawfordlabourerVillage
WilliamRamsayshoemakerVillage
JohnMurraytailorVillage
JohnSandersonlabourerVillage
AlexanderWeirsmithVillage
GeorgeRentonMinisterManse
ThomasOgilviefarmerKirkland
WalterKaywrightKirkland
JohnKayfarmerAnston
JohnWeirservantAnston
JosephLaurieschoolmasterAnston
CharlesPenmanlabourerAnston
PeterKayAnston Park
JohnWeirservantAnston Park
AlexanderThomsonfarmerStonypath
WilliamNoblefarmerEast Hills
JamesWeirlabourerEast Hills
JamesTodEast Hills
JamesTodlabourerEast Hills
WilliamReid$servantLoanend
JohnAllanfarmerWest Hills
DanielBrownWhins
JamesBrownfarmerWesthall
JamesRusselfarmerDeanhead
JohnGordonweaverDeanhead
WilliamMuirfarmerDeanhead
JohnGirdwoodweaverDeanhead
AlexanderHunterweaverDeanhead
JamesHutchinservantWeston
AlexanderLord$servantWeston
WilliamInglisweaverWeston
WilliamCrawfordcooperWeston
WilliamLawsonlabourerWeston
WilliamWhytefarmerWeston
ThomasMarshallservantTodhill
DavidHaddowservantWeston

Kirk Session Records Index

We have not yet indexed any Kirk Session records for this parish