Each local parish (pairish, parochin) keeps records. Quoad sacra parishes are those set up for ecclesiastical purposes to take care of those people who could not conveniently attend the parish church. To find records of people living in quoad sacra parishes, you must search the surrounding parishes.

The amount of information in registers varies from parish to parish. Later records generally give more complete information than earlier ones. Some early parish registers may be in Latin. Scotland has its own version of English, so you may need to use a dictionary to understand some words (see the “Language and Languages” section of this outline).

Most parish registers begin after 1650. Some kirk session (parish court) records begin earlier than the parish registers. Kirk session records have some christening, marriage, or burial records in them.

The International Genealogical Index and the Scottish Church Records are important sources to use before searching parish registers.

Christenings (Baptisms)

Children were usually christened (baptized) within a few days or weeks of birth. Christening records give at least the infant’s name and the christening date. You may find the father’s name and occupation, the mother’s first name and often her maiden name, the child’s birth date and legitimacy, the family’s place of residence or street address, and the witnesses.

Marriages

Marriages usually took place in the bride’s parish. Often marriage records only give the marriage date and the names of the bride and groom. The records may include the marital status and parish of residence of both parties, groom’s occupation, and bride’s father’s name.

You may find records that show a couple’s “intent to marry,” also called the proclamation of banns. Usually the intent to marry was proclaimed in the parishes of both the bride and groom. The marriage was usually recorded only in the parish in which the marriage actually took place. The proclaiming of banns is not proof that the couple married.

Burials

Burial records usually give the deceased’s name and burial date. Sometimes they give the age, the name of the spouse, or the names of parents. However, few burial records were kept before 1855. It is also important to know that many women when their husbands died reverted to their maiden names and were buried under that name.

Instead of actual burials, the parish registers often list people who paid mortcloth dues. The mortcloth was a cloth used to cover the body during the burial ceremony. However, these lists do not mention everyone who was buried. The rich who donated the cloths to the church and the very poor did not have to pay to use the mortcloth.

If you cannot find burial records, try to find tombstone inscriptions. See the “Cemeteries” section of this outline for more information on tombstone inscriptions.

Finding Parish Registers

The Church of Scotland sent all of its known registers up to the year 1855 to the Registrar General (see the “Archives and Libraries” section of this outline for the address). The registers have also been microfilmed, and you can use the films at the Family History Library and Family History Centers.

To find microfilm numbers for the registers, look in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under SCOTLAND, [COUNTY], [PARISH] - CHURCH RECORDS.

Scottish parish registers were microfilmed twice. In the first filming, some information in the margins of the registers is not readable on the film. The second filming corrected this problem. The later filming also has frame numbers to help you find an entry that was extracted.

Indexes

Before searching the original records, it is good to search an index. The Genealogical Society of Utah has created three important indexes for Scottish church records:

• Index to the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland.
• Scottish Church Records.
• International Genealogical Index.
  

These indexes are described in detail below.

If you do not find the people you are looking for in these indexes, consider the following possibilities:

• Your ancestors were not baptized or were not recorded in the records.
• Your ancestors did not belong to the Church of Scotland.
• The names of your ancestors were misread or misspelled when copied from the film.
• The records for the time period you need are missing.
  

Index to the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland. The term Old Parochial Registers refers to parish registers kept by the Presbyterian Church (Church of Scotland) from the time the church began keeping registers to the year 1855. Most of the known registers of births, christenings, and marriages were given to the Registrar General and were later microfilmed.

The christenings and marriages have been indexed from these microfilmed registers. You can find a microfiche copy of this index at the Family History Library, Family History Centers, and at the Scottish Record Office.

The index has two parts:

• Main index. The main index is organized by county. Within each county are separate indexes for christenings and marriages. The christening and marriage indexes are organized once by surname and once by given name.
  

• Addendum. The addendum contains entries that were missed when the original index was created. It is not organized by county. It has countrywide indexes for christenings and for marriages arranged alphabetically by surname.
  

Each index entry contains the event date and place. It also contains a reference you can use to find a microfilm copy of the original parish record. This reference consists of a batch number and possibly a frame number.

• Batch number. The batch number will help you identify the microfilm that contains the original parish record. Look up the batch number in the Batch Number Index to find the number of the microfilm that contains the parish register you want.
  

You can also look the parish up in the Parish and Vital Record List. For an explanation of this list, see the publication Parish and Vital Records List (33702). You can also look in the Family History Library Catalog under SCOTLAND, [COUNTY], [PARISH] - CHURCH RECORDS.

• Frame number. Some index entries have a frame number listed in the Miscellaneous column. The frame number identifies the exact frame on the microfilm that contains the page of the parish register you want. If the index entry contains a frame number, it means that the record on the microfilm is not in chronological order. Therefore, be sure to note the frame number, or you will have to search the entire microfilm frame by frame to find the page you want.
  

If the entry does not contain a frame number, the record on the microfilm is in chronological order. You can find the page you want by finding the date the event was recorded.

Scottish Church Records. The Scottish Church Records on compact disc is a computer version of the Index to the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland, described previously. It is part of FamilySearch™ and available at the Family History Library and at Family History Centers.

The information on the Scottish Church Records is much the same as the Index to the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland except that it also contains records from a few nonconformist churches.

You can search the Scottish Church Records for an individual’s birth or christening, a couple’s marriage, or all of the people in the file with the same parents.

Once you find the individual or couple you are looking for, you can obtain the frame number and the microfilm number by looking at the full record.

For more information on Scottish Church Records on compact disc, see the guide Scottish Church Records (34951), available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers.

International Genealogical Index. The International Genealogical Index is an alphabetical index to names of deceased people, including many who lived in Scotland. It provides names and vital information—including birth, christening, or marriage dates. The International Genealogical Index also gives the information needed to look up the entry in an original source.

The information in the International Genealogical Index come from three sources:

• Transcriptions of the Old Parochial Registers (parish registers) to 1855 and transcriptions of birth and marriage certificates to 1875.
• Individuals who submitted their ancestors’ names for temple ordinances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Membership records of deceased members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  

Because the International Genealogical Index contains so much information about people from Scotland, it is a good idea to search it before looking in original Scottish records.

The International Genealogical Index is available on microfiche and on computer as part of FamilySearch™.

• On microfiche. The microfiche version of the International Genealogical Index does not contain the film number for the original record or the frame number. Therefore, you must look the batch number up in The Batch Number Index or the Parish and Vital Records List.
  

Once you have found a person, you may want to look the name up in the Scottish Church Records on compact disc or in the Index to the Old Parochial Registers to obtain any relevant frame numbers before looking up the original entry.

• On computer. The computer version has a few advantages over the microfiche version. It has more powerful search capabilities, allowing you to search for individuals, marriages, and the children of a particular couple. It also contains batch and frame numbers like the Index to the Old Parochial Registers and the Scottish Church Records on compact disc, so you can find the original parish register.
  

If you do not find your ancestors in the International Genealogical Index and the dates are before 1855, check the Scottish Church Records on compact disc or the Index to the Old Parochial Registers on microfiche before going to original records.

If you do not find your ancestors in the International Genealogical Index and the dates are after 1854, look at the original records of births and marriages.

For more information about the International Genealogical Index, see the publications International Genealogical Index (on compact disc) (31025) and International Genealogical Index (on microfiche) (31026).

Kirk Session Records

The kirk session was the court of the parish. It handled moral and minor criminal cases and matters of the poor and education. Some records also mention births, marriages, and deaths.

You can find kirk session records at the Scottish Record Office or at a local parish. The records at the Scottish Record Office are listed in class list CH2, which is included in:

Scottish Record Office Finding Aids. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1987-1992. (FHL fiche 6084820.)

The Family History Library has some kirk session records. To find call numbers, look in the Locality Search of the catalog under SCOTLAND, [COUNTY], [PARISH] - CHURCH RECORDS.

Nonconformist Church Records

Before 1690 the state church switched between Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Presbyterian. After 1690, the Presbyterian Church became the state religion. All other churches in Scotland were called nonconformist churches.

If you do not find your ancestors in the Presbyterian records, then it is possible they belonged to another church.

Scotland has two basic types of nonconformist churches: those that seceded (broke away) from the Presbyterian Church and other churches brought in from other parts of Great Britain or Europe.

Churches that Seceded from the Presbyterian Church

In the early 1700s groups began breaking away from the Presbyterian Church. These include the following groups:

• Secession Church (formed in 1733).
• Burghers and Anti-Burgers (formed in 1747 when the Secession Church split).
• Relief Church (formed in 1761).
• Free Church (formed in 1843).
• United Presbyterian Church (formed in 1847 when the Secession Church and Free Church combined).