Scotland Church Records

Church records are an excellent source for accurate information on names, dates, and places of birth, marriage, and death. Most people in Scotland before the mid-nineteenth century are listed in church records. Since civil authorities did not begin registering vital statistics until 1855, church records are the best source of family information before that date.

Understanding Church Organization
The Presbyterian Church (Church of Scotland) has been the 'established' or state church of Scotland since 1690. The organization of the Church of Scotland is as follows:


 * The General Assembly is the highest governing body.
 * The Synod governs several presbyteries.
 * The Presbytery governs several parishes.
 * The parish is the lowest governing body.

Each local parish (pairish, parochin) keeps records. The two major record types are parochial or parish registers and kirk session records(see details below under Searching).

It may be necessary to know the parish where your ancestor was born, married, or died so you can search parish registers. If you do not know the parish but know the name of a village or town, you may use a gazetteer to locate the parish. (See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline). The gazetteers provide:


 * Maps show parish boundaries to help determine which parish records to search
 * Identify neighboring parishes

Nonconformists
Any church that is not the established or state church is referred to as nonconformist. There were two categories of nonconformist churches in Scotland:


 * Seceders -- Those who seceded from the established church but were still Presbyterian in form.
 * Dissenters -- Those who were not Presbyterian in form, such as Baptist, Methodist, or Catholic.

Nonconformists had their own congregations and

kept their own records. They could go to church whereever they wished and were not confined to parish boundaries. However, before 1834, nonconformist ministers were not authorized to perform marriages. After 1834 they could perform marriages if the banns had first been read in the parish church. Total authority was granted in 1855.

For more information about churches in Scotland, including a historical time-line

, see the section on Church History.

1851 Census of Places of Worship
Popularly called the 1851 Religious Census, this is a resource for identifying what churches existed where in 1851. Read more...

Identifying Churches
The following books contain maps that show parish boundaries:

Civil Parishes and Counties of North East Scotland Showing Overall Dates of Old Parochial Records: Held in Edinburgh and Available Worldwide on Microfilm [Scotland]: Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society [ 198-]. (FHL Map Case 941 E7c)

The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers, 2nd ed, Cichester, England: Phillimore &amp; Co. Ltd, 1995. (FHL Book 941 E7pa)

Parish Maps of Scotland,Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991. (FHL Book 941 E7ch; Fiche 6036350)

Phillips’ Handy Atlas of the Counties of Scotland 1881,London, England: G. Phillip, 1881. (FHL Book 941 E7p; Film 423175)