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​​Morebattle 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
CH2/603/4Kirk Session minutes
Includes poor payments		1726-1844Request lookup
CH2/603/5Kirk Session minutes1844-1858Request 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
Catherine ROSS or SCLATER 1863 (2)Order imagesRefused (poorhouse)
Betsy RUTHERFORD 1858 (1)Order imagesRefused (poorhouse)
Betty RUTHERFORD 1850 (1)Order imagesRefused - not in receipt of parochial relief

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
James AMOS30 April 1857Janet AMOSFind the father
Robert ANDERSON7 June 1870Elizabeth ANDERSONFind the father
Alexander BALLANTYNE1 October 1870Catherine BALLANTYNEFind the father
Elizabeth BALLANTYNE21 June 1872Agnes BALLANTYNEFind the father
Elizabeth BALLANTYNE29 July 1874Agnes BALLANTYNEFind the father
Margaret BENNET6 October 1859Janet BENNETFind the father
Elizabeth BROWN19 April 1874Helen BROWNFind the father
Francis CAIRNS19 February 1864Catherine CAIRNSFind the father
Andrew CHISHOLM25 February 1860Mary CHISHOLMFind the father
Jessie CLARK24 December 1865Isabella CLARKFind the father
James COONEY5 February 1873Mary COONEYFind the father
Catharine CORKORAN28 January 1869Jane CORKORANFind the father
Alexander COWAN3 April 1864Janet COWANFind the father
William CUNNINGHAM1 June 1862Janet CUNNINGHAMFind the father
John Lees DUNN2 January 1860Janet DUNNFind the father
Harriet ELLIOT30 April 1860Jessie ELLIOTFind the father
Allan FORD2 February 1872Lucy FORDFind the father
Elizabeth FOX28 August 1871Isabella FOXFind the father
Jane FOX22 July 1858Margaret FOXFind the father
Mary FOX28 September 1856Agnes FOXFind the father
James GRAHAM25 November 1872Sophia GRAHAMFind the father
Charles HALL15 December 1855Alison HALLFind the father
James HALL16 September 1857Alison HALLFind the father
Jessie HALL12 April 1866Elisabeth HALLFind the father
Helen HARDIE3 July 1856Isabella HARDIEFind the father
William HARDIE29 May 1866Agnes HARDIEFind the father
Archibald HAY27 July 1874Mary HAYFind the father
Annie HELM11 January 1870Jane HELMFind the father
Jessie HENDERSON15 June 1869Jessie HENDERSONFind the father
Andrew HOGARTH18 May 1868Elizabeth HOGARTHFind the father
Jane HOGARTH13 June 1857Betsy HOGARTHFind the father
George HOPE19 February 1860Betsy HOPEFind the father
Mary INGLES25 October 1866Janet INGLESFind the father
William JOHNSTON23 July 1869Eliza JOHNSTONFind the father
Margaret KERR28 January 1868Elizabeth Tait KERRFind the father
William LAIDLAW24 August 1862Ann LAIDLAWFind the father
Adam Ainslie LILICO16 October 1863Ann LILICOFind the father
Janet MCDOUGALL1 November 1871Margaret MCDOUGALLFind the father
Adam Bennet MELROSE11 February 1873Margaret MELROSEFind the father
Thomas Bennet MELROSE10 December 1862Margaret MELROSEFind the father
William MELROSE18 May 1866Margaret MELROSEFind the father
John MILLS29 November 1857Mary MILLSFind the father
George MINTO18 September 1862Agnes MINTOFind the father
Henry MURDIE29 May 1871Jane MURDIEFind the father
Janet Telfer MURDIE29 May 1871Jane MURDIEFind the father
Mary MURDIE9 August 1867Janet MURDIEFind the father
Isabella Matilda MURRAY20 September 1860Mary MURRAYFind the father
James Veitch ORMISTON8 November 1858Jessie ORMISTONFind the father
George PAXTON22 October 1859Elisabeth PAXTONFind the father
Thomas PAXTON22 April 1869Euphemia PAXTONFind the father
Andrew QUARRY20 April 1872Elizabeth QUARRYFind the father
Elizabeth Clarke QUARRY8 June 1871Isabella QUARRYFind the father
Helen REDPATH8 February 1867Ann REDPATHFind the father
William Welens REID25 November 1857Janet REIDFind the father
Robert RICHARDSON13 August 1872Isabella RICHARDSONFind the father
Janet ROBSON18 January 1873Janet ROBSONFind the father
Adam SCOTT13 September 1860Betsy SCOTTFind the father
James SCOTT25 May 1870Janet SCOTTFind the father
Alexander Baird SPEIRS5 October 1873Margaret Bell SPEIRSFind the father
Thomas SPEIRS5 August 1868Margaret SPEIRSFind the father
Hugh Cambell STEWART25 April 1872Margaret STEWARTFind the father
James TAIT7 February 1874Mary TAITFind the father
Jemima Lockie THOMSON12 March 1871Mary Lockie THOMSONFind the father
Adam TROTTER18 December 1864Elisabeth TROTTERFind the father
Helen TURNBULL23 December 1867Isabella TURNBULLFind the father
Jane TURNBULL27 August 1861Helen TURNBULLFind the father
John TURNBULL15 January 1869Mary TURNBULLFind the father
James TURNER20 January 1860Agnes TURNERFind the father
Margaret WATSON12 March 1868Helen WATSONFind the father
James WHELENS4 November 1857Margaret WHELENSFind the father
Jessie WHELENS24 October 1862Helen WHELENSFind the father
Margaret WHELENS27 September 1862Agnes WHELENSFind the father
William WHELLANS25 February 1862Margaret WHELLANSFind 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 1834 (NRS Reference: CH2/603/4 pp. 308-310)
Forename Surname Occupation Address Notes
JamesCummins
JohnGourlayPrimside
AdamBlakeMorebattle Tofts
AndrewBlakeMorebattle Tofts
FrancisPatersonMorebattle
ThomasHallSeefew
GeorgeKennedyPrimside
WilliamDickMorebattle
JohnWhelansMorebattle
WilliamNicholsonWhitton
RobertFoxMorebattle
JohnAichieson
RobertRobsonMorebattle Mains
JamesJamiesonPrimside
WilliamBellWhitton
JohnHoodMorebattle
ThomasGibsonMorebattle Tofts
JohnCockburnMorebattle
JohnScottGateshaw
WilliamLindsayPrimside
GeorgeRutherfordHeughhead
JamesKennedyPrimside
JohnGladstonMorebattle
JamesDicksonGrubbit Mill
JamesDicksonCrookedshaws
AndrewWelchMorebattle Mains
ThomasGrayWide Open
CharlesKerGateshaw
JohnRutherfordMorebattle
GeorgeTurnbullMorebattle
JohnCalvertMorebattle
SamuelCalvertMorebattle
WilliamWatsonMorebattle
AndrewElliotMorebattle
JohnBennetMorebattle
WilliamSmithMorebattle
JohnSwanstonMorebattle

Kirk Session Records Index

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