Newsgroups: ncf.sigs.genealogy From: af625@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Roxe Murray) Subject: Info on Scottish Records - VERY Long Message (17K) Reply-To: af625@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Roxe Murray) Date: Sun Jan 30 01:19:32 1994 *** VERY Long Message Warning *** This is a transcript of a pamphlet I received from The Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scotland. Tracing Your Ancestors Mitchell Library & Archives Sources Glasgow Collection, History & Topography & Strathclyde Regional Archives TRACING YOUR ANCESTORS IN SCOTLAND Certificates of Birth, Marriage and Death ----------------------------------------------- The first rule for any genealogical search is to start with yourself and work backwards in time. Your own birth certificate gives your parents' names and the date of their marriage. The marriage certificate gives stated ages which should lead to birth certificates and so on, back to the beginning of compulsory registration in 1855. These certificates are available in statutory registers for the whole of Scotland in New Register House, Edinburgh, and for local areas in local registry offices. Census Returns ------------------ 1841-1891. They are arranged by addresses within Civil Parishes. Each entry gives the name, relationship to head of household, age, marital status, occupation and parish of birth. (The 1841 census is not as full as the others.) This enables an approach to be made to the parish registers. Parish Registers ------------------- For members of the Church of Scotland, church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials survive, often from the 17th or 18th centuries. Adherents of the various Scottish secession churches are seldom included in these registers. See _A Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland_ (1872), FH 941 LIS, History and Topography Department (HT). MITCHELL LIBRARY (ML) Since its opening in 1877, the Mitchell Library has made a point of collecting local material - books, illustrations, maps, photographs, and newspapers relating to Glasgow. It has also specialised in Scottish topography and history, particularly clan and family history. In a library the size of the Mitchell, there are obviously many books in peripheral areas of study which will be useful to individual searchers. These, along with the sources described in detail, are available to all visitors without formality in the Glasgow Collection (GC), on level 3; and in the History and Topography Department (HT) on level 5, during the library's opening hours, which are: Monday to Friday 9.30 am till 9.00 pm Saturday 9.30 am till 5.00 pm STRATHCLYDE REGIONAL ARCHIVES (SRA) the Regional Archives are housed in the Mitchell Library with a public search room in the Jeffrey Room (North Street entrance). In addition to the records of the former Glasgow Corporation, the Archives contain those of the former county councils and parish authorities within Strathclyde except for Argyll, whose records are in Lochgilphead. Burgh records are normally in local libraries. The records of various families and estates in the Glasgow area and a large number of businesses, including firms of solicitors, are also held and are available to researchers. Records of particular interest to genealogists include: the records of the Glasgow incorporations of trades, including membership lists; poor law records, including details of applications for poor relief for the parishes of Glasgow (from 1851), Barony (from 1861) and Govan (from 1876), and scores of other parishes from various dates until 1948; the burgess rolls for Glasgow (printed to 1846, but continuing in manuscript thereafter, with indexes); records of hundreds of schools, often including admission registers, in a few cases dating from the 1860s; estate records with information about tenants; registers of some local government employees, notably the police; business records, in some cases including information about employees; and kirk session records for churches in the presbyteries of Glasgow and Ayr. There is a general card index of persons, places, and subjects, but it is in progress and many collections are not yet included. Applications to Glasgow Parochial Board for poor relief have been indexed to 1900 and other similar indexes are in progress. Opening hours are: - Monday to Thursday 9.30 am till 4.45 pm Friday 9.30 am till 4.00 pm and at other times by prior arrangement. SOURCES Early Parish Registers ------------------------- Microfilm copies of the registers for Barony, City, Gorbals and Govan and parts of those for Abbey, Cathcart, Eastwood and others. Some transcripts and indexes (GC and SRA). A full list is available on application to GC. HT is in the course of purchasing microfilm for parishes in Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire. Microfiilm for Argyll and Bute in is SRA. Parish Registers after 1855 -------------------------------- The kirk session records of the Church of Scotland for the presbyteries of Glasgow and Ayr are in SRA. Many include registers of baptisms, marriages and burials which supplement the civil registers. A list is available. International Genealogical Index ------------------------------------- The International Genealogical Index of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) is an alphabetical listing on microfiche, by surnames, of many baptismal and marriage entries from parish and/or civil registers. The following are available: for Scotland (from early parish registers and civil registers form 1955-75) 1981 edition by surname 1984 edition by county and then surname 1988 edition by county and then surname and similar indexes for England, Ireland, Wales and the Channel Islands (1988 edition). These are available in HT, and for Glasgow and the surrounding area (Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire, and Stirlingshire) in GC also. The catalogue of the Mormon Church Genealogical Library is available on microfiche in HT. Contents include the Family Registry Index, a list of surnames with names and addresses of researchers currently interested in them. Index to Old Parish Registers -------------------------------------- The Index to Old Parish Registers (the County Index) is a surnames index to marriages and christenings in the 900 or so parishes within Scotland. Dates range from 1553 to 1854 depending on parish. Indexes to all counties in Scotland are held in HT (on microfiche). Duplicates for Lanarkshire are held in GC. Cemetery Registers -------------------------- GC holds the records of some twenty Glasgow cemeteries covering the period from the 18th century to the 1950s; there are a few also in SRA, as well as lair plans and registers of burials in intra-mural burial grounds, 1870-1950. The arrangement is chronological within each cemetery and there are no indexes. A comprehensive history, including location of registers and monumental inscriptions can be found in: Willing, J and Fairie, J.S., _Burial Grounds in Glasgow: a brief guide for the genealogist_ (Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society, 1986). Additional cemetery registers, along with more recent records, are kept by the Cemeteries and Crematoria Section of Glasgow District Council Parks Department, 2 Port Dundas Place, Glasgow G2 3LB (tel. 041-333 0800). Monumental Inscriptions ---------------------------------- Parish registers of burials are particularly defective in Scotland and gravestones are often the only surviving death record before compulsory registration began in 1855. Little transcription of gravestones has been done in Glasgow. The Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society has published a complete index to St. David's Ramshorn Burying Ground. ML holds lists for many other graveyards in Scotland. A full catalogue is available in HT. Census Returns ---------------------- Microfilm copies of the returns for Glasgow and some surrounding areas for 1841, 1851, 1871, 1881, and 1891 are available in GC. Also available is a list of microfilm holdings of census returns in other public libraries in the west of Scotland. HT is in the course of acquiring microfilm for areas in Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire outwith Glasgow, starting 1891. SRA have the returns for Argyll and Bute, 1841-1891. Directories --------------- Glasgow. The first Glasgow directory was published in 1783 and was followed by others in 1787, 1789, 1790, 1792 and annually from 1792 to 1978. GC holds the complete set except for 1792, 1800 and 1802. A less complete set is available in SRA. The early volumes only have alphabetical lists of residents, but an alphabetical trades section was added in 1833 and an alphabetical streets section in 1845. It is worth noting, however, that in the main directory entries are restricted to merchants, manufacturers, traders and shopkeepers. Directories before 1886 are available in GC and SRA only on microfiche. Scotland. Directories for many other Scottish towns, including an almost complete set for Edinburgh are also held. General directories for Scotland include: - Pigot's/Slater's Directories for 1821-1915 (incomplete) - County Directory of Scotland for 1862-1912 (incomplete) - MacDonald's Scottish Directory for 1884-1973 (incomplete) all in HT. Obituaries and Death Notices --------------------------------------- ML has a large collection of newspapers and periodicals, many of which contain obituaries and death notices, but they are largely unindexed. Noteworthy because of the early period covered is _The Scots Magazine_, 1739-1833(X30, 727). Each individual volume (100 in total) contains an index of births, marriages, and deaths. Registers of deceased seamen, 1886-1952, are held in HT. Voters' Rolls ----------------- ML holds a series of voters' rolls for Glasgow only (in GC). Dates covered are 1832, 1840, 1846 to 1914, 1918 to 1939 and 1945 to date. 'Glasgow' as represented in the early rolls is not the large area it is today. For example Govan was only included in the series after its annexation in 1912. Another important restriction in the early rolls is the limited group which actually possessed the franchise. SRA has a series of rolls for Glasgow similar to that in ML, with an additional four rolls in the period 1832-54, alphabetically arranged, but with a gap from 1880 to 1920, and a large number of rolls for other parts of the region. Unlike valuation rolls (see below), there was no statutory requirement to retain voters' rolls permanently and many only survive in local libraries or not at all. The Glasgow rolls give name, address, and occupation (up to 1914). The 1832 roll is in fact a printed poll book, recording beside the name of each voter the candidates voted for. Most other rolls before 1873 and all of those in the period 1885- 1894 are alphabetical within wards. Later rolls share the disadvantage of the census returns in being arranged by address. Valuation Rolls --------------------- A record of property, its owners, occupiers and rateable value. The earliest 'stent book' for Glasgow dates from 1697 and a large number are available for parts of the city in the early 19th century (in SRA). A valuation roll for expenditure on measures against the 1832 cholera epidemic in Glasgow, with computer index, is in GC. Annual rolls have been compiled for the whole of Scotland since 1855 and there has been a statutory requirement to deposit copies in the Scottish Record Office, which consequently has a complete set for the whole of Scotland from that date. Rolls for Glasgow from 1913 to 1989 are available in GC and SRA, with surname indexes for 1861, 1881, and 1911. Outwith Glasgow, county valuation rolls survive from before 1855, and in some counties from the 17th century. Some idea of their contents can be obtained from: - Timperley, Loretta (ed.), _A Directory of Land Ownership in Scotland c1770_ (Scottish Record Society, NS 5) which prints a roll for each county from around that date (18th century rolls were not compiled annually). Most of these rolls are in the Scottish Record Office but there are some also in SRA. A miscellaneous collection of later county valuation rolls is held in HT. Most fall into the period 1880 to 1950. Lanarkshire and other parts of the west of Scotland are poorly covered, but Argyll is complete from 1886 to 1952, Ayrshire from 1891 to 1941, Dunbartonshire from 1890 to 1951 and Renfrewshire from 1897 to 1953 (full list in HT). Others are in SRA (list available). Biographies, Individual Family Histories, Guides ---------------------------------------------------------------- ML has very many published histories of well-known Scottish families. A complete listing is given in _Scottish Family Histories in the Mitchell Library_ (in HT). The Library holds all the standard biographical works along with sets of Burke and Debrett. Several reference books have been published which assist in tracking down individual pedigrees: STUART, Margaret, _Scottish Family History_ (Oliver&Boyd, 1930) STEEL, Donald J, _Sources for Scottish Genealogy and Family History_ Phillimore, 1970) CORY, Kathleen B., _Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry_ (Polygon, 1990) HAMILTON_EDWARDS, Gerard, _In Search of Scottish Ancestry_ (2nd ed., Phillimore, 1983) FERGUSON, Joan P.S., _Scottish Family Histories held in Scottish Libraries_ (National Library of Scotland, 1986) MILLER, Susan, _Strathclyde Sources_ (Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society, 1988) SINCLAIR, Cecil, _Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestry Research in the Scottish Record Office_ (HMSO, 1990) Land and Property ------------------------- Apart from the sources already mentioned, and titles to land found in collections of family papers and elsewhere, there are four important types of records dealing with land and personal property in Scotland - wills, retours, sasines and registered deeds. These are discussed in detail in Donald J. Steel, _Sources for Scottish Genealogy and Family History_ (1970), 154-65. Wills. Indexes to all surviving registers of wills and testaments before 1801 have been published by the Scottish Record Society. An annual _Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories_ has been prepared by the Commissary Clerk of Edinbugh since 1876. The printed volumes for 1876-1936 and the volumes of indexes before 1801 are available in ML (all in Family History Section, HT). Enquiries about indexes outwith these periods, or about the wills themselves, should be made to the Scottish Records Office. Retours. The record of retours (entries of heirs to land) from 1544 is in the Scottish Record Office. Printed abridgments until 1699 are available (HT and SRA) and there are indexes covering 1700-1969. The indexes are useful in themselves, since they give not only the names of the deceased and their heirs, but also their relationships to one another (Family History Section, HT). Sasines. Since 1617 the registration of sasines (transfers of land rights) has been compulsory outwith royal burghs. The original registers are in the Scottish Register Office, but for the early period there are various indexes of persons and places (some available in the Family History Section, HT). From 1781 there are printed abridgments with indexes of persons and places (available for counties in Strathclyde in SRA). A separate register for the burgh of Glasgow was kept from 1694 to 1927 (SRA). Register of Deeds. Deeds other than titles to land were often registered in courts of law (see Steel, 162-5). These registers date from the 16th century and there are various published indexes (index to the second series available in Family History Section, HT). The register of deeds kept by Glasgow burgh court is in SRA and begins in 1625. Useful Addresses ------------------------ Scottish Records Office, H.M. General Register House, Princess Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YY General Register Office for Scotland, New Register House, Edinburgh Eh1 3YT Scots Ancestry Research Society, 29B Albany Street, Edinburgh EH1 3QN (a non-profit making organisation which traces Scottish ancestry on a professional basis). Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society Secretary: Frank Inglis, 3 Fleming Road, Bishopton, Renfrewshire PA7 5HW Its object is to promote the study of family history in Glasgow and the west of Scotland. It does not undertake research on behalf of members but holds monthly meetings where members can share their interests and exchange information. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Julian Avenue, Glasgow G12 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, 1 Martha Street, Glasgow G1 1JJ The Mitchell Library, Glasgow District Libraries, North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN. Tel. 041-221 7030. Strathclyde Regional Archives, The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN. Tel. 041-227 2405 - 30 -