Quick Research Links - Scotland

Research Sites
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/images/3/35/Finding_Records_of_Your_Ancestors_Scotland_1855_To_1901.pdf

The above site takes you through the basic research sites for Scotland and seems to be very thorough.

Using the Scottish Church Records CD

 * This CD is an alphabetical index representing the entire Church of Scotland old parish registers (OPR’s) ranging from 1564 to 1864. Note: Civil Registration began in 1855.
 * It is used on the old DOS system in the Family Search Centers. When you insert it into the computer, you will have a choice of 5 programs to use and one of them is the Scottish Church Records.
 * You have a choice of searching for an individual record or a marriage record.
 * When you enter the individual name, the entire list for that name and variations for spelling that name appears and you can arrow or page down until you arrive at the year and father’s name you want.
 * When there, use the enter key and you will see further details such as the mother’s name and place of birth and/or christening and if you arrow down, you will find additional details such as the film number for that record.
 * When you find the correct record with the parents’ names, you can then search for additional children by using the F8 key. Usually, all of the children will be gathered to these parents, but sometimes some children are missing (the indexer missed them or they died and death records are scarce for some areas) and that is when you go back to the film and search for them the old fashioned way.
 * Also, with the names of the parents, you can search for their marriage, based on the birth year of the first child* and using the naming custom (following) you can determine the names of the parents’ parents.


 * First son is named after the father’s father.


 * First daughter is named after the mother’s mother.


 * Second son is named after the mother’s father.


 * Second daughter is named after the father’s mother.


 * The third son and daughter can be named after the father or mother abut it is usually up for grabs.


 * You can filter by going to the F10 tab in the lower right hand corner and enter how you want to filter, by location etc.
 * Explore these buttons – that is the only way you will get to understand it.

More Quick Links

Quick Research Links - England

Quick Research Links - Ireland

Quick Research Links - The Channel Islands

Quick Research Links - Wales

FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
Online collections containing these records are located in FamilySearch.org.

Wiki articles describing these collections are found at:

Great Britian Births and Baptisms (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Great Britian Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)