Scotland is a land of rugged beauty and proud heritage. Many groups have peopled this small country north of England over the centuries, including the Irish, Picts, Gaels, Vikings, Romans, and English. If you have Scottish ancestry, you can discover their stories by exploring records they may have left behind.
Trace Scottish Emigrants Back into Scotland
Beginning in the 1600s and 1700s, many Scots emigrated, or left their homeland, in search of better opportunities. Many initially went to the neighboring countries of Ireland, England, and Wales. One cluster of Scots emigrants, who came to be known as Ulster Scots or Scots-Irish, was forcibly resettled during the 1600s from Scottish borderlands to northern Ireland. A large number of these went to British colonial North America in the 1700s. Many other Scots went to Australia and New Zealand.
Scottish emigration peaked during the 1800s. As many as 2.3 million Scots left Britain between the 1820s and the 1930s, driven by famine, the eviction of Highlanders from their lands, and a changing Lowland economy. About 750,000 went to the United States. Emigration aid organizations supported many Scots who went to Australia and Canada.
If your Scottish ancestors left their country, learn about them first in records created in their new homelands. Trace them gradually back in time until their arrival. Watch for records that mention their specific place of origin in Scotland. If passenger lists exist for that time period and migration, search for your ancestors’ names in them.
To learn more about tracing your Scottish ancestors, check out the video from the RootsTech conference below.
Tracing Ancestors in Scotland
You can search for Scottish ancestors living in Scotland in a variety of historical records. Start with FamilySearch’s free online Scottish collections. Many of the record images you may want to see are at Scotland’s People, a Scottish government website that requires a modest fee.
Censuses
National census that were taken every 10 years can help you learn more about your Scottish relatives. For each household, censuses generally included the following:
- The address and each person’s name
- Relationship to the head of household
- Marital status
- Age
- Occupation
- Birthplace
- Disabilities
The 1841 census lacks some of this detail; later censuses include a few additional facts. Indexes of censuses taken between 1841 and 1911are online at FamilySearch.org and other genealogy websites; record images are at the Scotland’s People website.
Civil Registration
The Scottish government began keeping statutory registers of births, marriages and deaths on 1 January 1855.
Birth records generally contain the following information:
- The child’s full name
- Birth date
- Time and place of birth
- Sex
- Full names of both parents and their marriage date and place (except between 1856 and 1860)
- Father’s occupation or rank
- Informant identity
- Legitimacy status (until 1918)
- When and where the birth was registered
Marriage records typically give this information:
- The full names of the bride and groom
- Professions
- Prior marital status
- Age and residence
- Parents’ names and father’s profession for both parties
- Particulars of the marriage (location, date, and so on)
Death records generally provide these details:
- The deceased’s full name
- Profession
- Marital status
- Sex
- Age
- Parents’ names
- Father’s occupation
- Death date and place
- Cause of death
- Burial place
Online indexes may provide some of this information, but the full details may appear only in the record images provided at the Scotland’s People website. Access to some records may be restricted by privacy laws.
To learn more about using vital records to find your Scottish ancestors, check out the video from the RootsTech conference below.
Church Records
Before civil registration, parishes in the government-sanctioned Church of Scotland recorded births and baptisms, marriages and marriage banns, and death and burials. Some of these records date back to the mid-1500s; most surviving, legible records are much more recent. Many people did not have their life events recorded in Church of Scotland registers. Some appear in registers of other churches, most notably Catholic and non-Church of Scotland Presbyterian.
Again, you may find some of the information contained in these records on genealogy websites such as FamilySearch.org, but you’ll have the most complete discovery experience at Scotland’s People.
Now It's Your Turn
As you learn more about your Scottish ancestry, you may also discover your ancestor's place in this country’s colorful history, including their affiliations with Scottish clans (historically-prominent families).
Discover More about Your Scottish Heritage
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