Scottish Kirk Sessions

The biggest problem I have in my work is that I am way too easily distracted! Here is an example. I was searching the Tongland Kirk Session Minutes (CH2/1244/2) in the National Records of Scotland the other day and found this very interesting entry from 2 September 1869:

Voluntarily compeared Ann Bird or Morton wife of Joseph Bird, Sailor who confessed that in the month of October last she gave birth to a child in uncleanness, she having been married in the month of July previous: On being admonished to be ingenuous and to speak the truth, she declared that Jonathan Turner was the partner of her guilt and the father of her child. Her husband Joseph Bird is known to bear testimony corroborative of the statement, and although disowning the paternity of the child has adopted it as his own. Having been solemnly admonished by the Moderator she was absolved from scandal.

Tongland Kirk

A search in the birth records found the birth certificate of the unnamed child. James Morton (or Bird) was born on 1 October 1865, and it is column 4 of his birth certificate which is the most interesting. Column 4 on a Scottish birth certificate gives the ‘Name, Surname, & Rank or Profession of Father, Name, and Maiden Surname of Mother And Date and Place of Marriage’. In this column on James’ birth certificate we read: “Ann Morton, married on 22nd July last to Joseph Baird, sailor who she declares is not the father of the child, & further that he was at sea for Months prior to 18 July 1868.”

A search in the census of 1871 shows that James (aged 2) was living with his maternal grandparents. I’ve not traced this family any further as I really should be doing research for clients but if you are related I would love to hear from you.

What do we learn from this? It is important to look at as many records as possible to get a full picture of what’s going on within a family, which can take effort. Historic Scottish birth certificates are available online but Kirk Session records are not (yet). For the time being you can access them in Edinburgh and various satellite locations around Scotland, including archives in Hawick, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Glasgow. There are other archives who also have access to the digital images, it’s worth checking with the National Records of Scotland to see if an archive near you has access.

The fact that the Church of Scotland Kirk Sessions are digitised is a great help but there is as yet no index to most of these minutes. Having said that, I wouldn’t have found this entry if I had used an index, when you browse a volume interesting entries jump out at you. If your family is from a small to medium-sized parish in terms of population, and you have access to the digital images, I would recommend browsing the volumes; who knows what you will discover!

The Kirk Sessions - More than just fornication cases!

Canonbie Kirk as it is today

We often turn to the Kirk Sessions to look for cases of fornication when our ancestors were illegitimate. If it was discovered that a child was born to unmarried parents the couple would be brought before the Kirk Session, this was a group of men who would investigate ‘sins’ and discipline congregation members. The minutes of the Kirk Session are a wonderful resource when you are tracing your Scottish family tree and by far the most frequent cases are those of fornication but they are not the only ones you may come across.

While searching the records for a client today we found an entry in the Canonbie Kirk Session which is really very sad and quite different from the usual type of case. The entry has the National Records of Scotland reference CH2/1582/1/2:

1 August 1736

Canonbie Grave Yard 

“The session being informed that several people make graves in the church yard without acquainting the Beddel [Beadle] and sometimes encroach upon the property of others And John Armstrong having apprehended Gilbert Elliott in Broomiknow makeing a grave for a child of his complained to the Minester who ordered him to be summoned to the session which summons the session sustains and they resolve to rebuke him severely for his disorderly practice for a terror to others and if they do not desist to apply to Mr Lang chamberlane [likely Water Laing, chamberlain to the Duke of Buccleuch] to use his endeavours to prevent it But understanding that the said Gilbert is out of the countrey they order him to be summoned again to the session when he returns.”

Obviously you couldn’t have people going and digging up graveyards but it makes you wonder why the bereaved Gilbert Elliot had done it in the first place. Other than the fact that we learn that a daughter of Gilbert Elliot died (it doesn’t name the daughter) there is not a lot of genealogical information but it is interesting and it could help you understand your ancestors. So perhaps next time you are in the National Records of Scotland it may be worth looking at the Kirk Sessions even if you don’t have illegitimate ancestors!

The National Records of Scotland - How Many Images are in the Virtual Volumes?

When you think of the National Records of Scotland (NRS), you may conjure up an image of ancient and dusty documents tied up with ribbon. Of course, that is not entirely incorrect, as there is indeed plenty of that to be found! Increasingly though, modern technology is coming to the rescue of these precious documents and the landscape now looks quite different!

When you now enter the Historical Search room you will see on your left a bank of computers, ten in total. These are the computers you use to access the NRS’ Virtual Volumes system.

The Historical Search Room
By kind permission of the National Records of Scotland

For a considerable time now, the NRS have been digitally imaging a wide variety of documents from their holdings. This means that rather than producing the original documents, which can be so easily damaged, you can view full-colour images of them on a computer terminal in the search room. I have noticed that on a number of occasions recently almost every computer desk has been occupied. On glancing towards the busy searchers at the computer desks the other day a question popped into my mind: just how many images are now available on the Virtual Volumes system? Being a curious soul (I think it comes with the job description) I had to ask. Thanks to one of the NRS archivists, Dr Stefanie Metze, I can tell you there are currently the staggering total of 59,324,163 images accessible on Virtual Volumes!

What documents and books are included in these 59,324,163 images, and why have the NRS gone to all this bother?

Stairs to the Historical Search Room
By kind permission of the National Records of Scotland

This figure includes some of the images of some of the documents which are available on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, such as the Valuation Rolls, Wills and Testaments. It also includes some of the images available on www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk, including historical tax records such as the Hearth Tax and Farm Horse Tax. It does not, though, include the images of birth, marriages, deaths, OPRs or census records; to view these on site you will need go downstairs to the Scotland’s People Centre and pay an entrance fee to view those images on the Scotland’s People system. The Historical Search room of the NRS is free to use for historical and genealogical searches.

Some of the most popular records which are available on the Virtual Volumes system are the Kirk Session records. The Register of Sasines is also a frequently viewed source (sasines generally record the transfer of heritable property between people) and are therefore a fundamental tool for genealogists. They often name relationships and give other useful information which might be difficult to find anywhere else, especially in early periods where fewer sources may be available. House historians and others with an interest in local history will also utilise these records to find out more about particular pieces of land. Fortunately, there is an index to most sasines which exists from 1780 onwards. Prior to 1780 most of the sasines are available as digital images on the Virtual Volumes system, but the existing indexes are still available in paper form. The archivists will show you where these indexes are and how to use them.

Entrance to the National Records of Scotland
By kind permission of the National Records of Scotland

Other records which have been digitally imaged include some of the Register of Deeds, which is again a fundamental research tool, and also the records of non-Church of Scotland Kirk Sessions, which contain substantial numbers registers of births, marriages and deaths.

By imaging records which are regularly consulted the originals can be better preserved. Another advantage is that you can view documents very quickly, as there is no need to order them and wait for them to be brought to your desk.

It can be useful to know before you go to the Historic Search Room which of the documents you wish to consult are available on Virtual Volumes, and which are not. Check the NRS catalogue: a yellow dot is usually present if the document has been digitally imaged. Click into the item details and look under  ‘Access conditions’, if it has been digitally imaged it will tell you there.

One final thing, once you find what you are looking for, hit the print button and for just 50 pence you will be given an A3 full colour copy of the document!

Births, Marriages and Deaths covered in our new online search

We announced yesterday our new online index. Here is what you can search so far:

Berwickshire

Bunkle and Preston Kirk Session (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Baptisms 1684-1690; Marriages 1684-1690.

Chirnside Kirk Session (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Burials 1817-1854.

Eyemouth United Secession Church: Births 1841-1854, 1856 (one entry), 1861 (one entry); Marriages 1843 (one entry), 1850 (two entries).

Lauder Kirk Session (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Burials 1827-1838, also nine deaths 1785-1825.

Dumfriesshire

Applegarth Kirk Session (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Baptisms 1694-1719, also nine entries from 1765-1766; Marriages 1694-1712, one entry from 1763; Mortcloth payments 1704-1715.

Closeburn (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Baptisms 1726-1754; Marriages 1726-1742, 1748-1753; Burials 1737-1741, 1748-1753.

Dumfries, Buccleuch Street United Presbyterian Church: Births 1846-1856.

Ecclefechan Free Church: Baptisms 1843-1848.

Tinwald (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Banns and Marriages 1832-1854.

Westerkirk (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Irregular Marriages 1768-1824 (35 entries for fines paid); Mortcloth payments 1706-1719, 1768-1805; Burials 1805-1854; Deaths 1842-1854.

Kirkcudbrightshire

Glenkens Free Church: Baptisms 1841-1857

Peeblesshire

West Linton Associate Church: Baptisms 1748-1753, 1815-1832; Marriages 1812-1826; Burials 1812-1817.

Roxburghshire

Castleton (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Baptisms 1707-1710 (and a few births inferred from Kirk Session minutes); Marriages 1707-1710; Proclamation fees 1767-1770, 1834 (13 entries); Mortcloth payments 1767-1770 (25 entries).

Hawick East Bank Associate Church: Births 1805-1806; Marriages 1805-1806; Deaths 1805-1806 (register not yet fully transcribed).

Hawick Free Church: Births 1843-1846 (register not yet fully transcribed).

Jedburgh Associate Church: Baptisms 1737-1750 (register not yet fully transcribed).

Kelso Relief Church: Births and Baptisms 1813-1819.

Yetholm Burgher Church (New Light or New Licht): Births 1824-1855; Banns 1830-1852; Deaths 1819-1844 (4 entries).

Selkirkshire

Galashiels Kirk Session (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Baptisms 1666-1671 (three entries), 1672-1690, 1693-1718, 1729 (one entry); Proclamations and Marriages 1672-1683, 1686-1689, 1719 (one entry), 1845-1854; Mortcloth payments 1673-1683.

Galashiels Relief Church: Births and Baptisms 1838-1859.

Selkirk Kirk Session (Church of Scotland but not in the OPRs): Mortcloth payments 1707-1711 (register not yet fully transcribed).

Selkirk United Presbyterian Church: Marriages 1850 (only four entries).

Wigtownshire

Newton Stewart Relief Church: Births 1791-1844; Marriages 1807 (one entry); Deaths 1812-1816 (three entries).

Search on-line today 

www.maxwellancestry.com

Maxwell Ancestry, a member of the Scottish Genealogy Network

More collections go online - Scottish Marriages and Deaths

We have added two more collections to our online indexes: marriages/banns and deaths/burials.

As with our online birth/baptism search which we announced earlier this week you can now search all the entries in our pre-existing indexes in book form plus some new ones not available before. All of these are indexes of pre-1855 records that for some reason do not appear in the Church of Scotland Old Parish Records, or OPRs. This means when you search scotlandspeople.go.uk these records do not show up.

How does it work?

Deaths/Burials:

You can search by Forename, Surname, Year of Death, County of Death, Parish of Death, or a combination of the above. As with searching the census, less is often more. Perhaps the person didn’t die when you expect or not in the location you expect. Married or widowed females are often recorded only under their maiden surname and first names and surnames appear under an amazing variety of spellings.

Here’s how the search page looks:

Marriages:

When you search for a marriage you can search by either the Groom’s Name, the Bride’s Name or both. The results show:

 “Groom’s Name”, “Bride’s Name”, “Year” and “Register”.

Remember that the register and place of residence are not necessarily the same thing. With this in mind, we have also indexed by parish of marriage (or most likely parish of marriage), which at times may be different from the parish name on the register. If people attended a non-Church of Scotland Church they may have travelled across parish boundaries to be married by the minister of their choice. Also if the couple were from different parishes the banns would have been read out in both. Not all registers specify where the marriage took place, in these cases we have indexed the parish as the parish the register was kept in.

The full entries of the birth, marriage or death costs just £1.50 and you can pay through PayPal.

Remember you can also search our other indexes online, here’s a list of all our indexes:

Parish Register Births

Parish Register Marriages

Parish Register Deaths

Prison Registers

Sheriff Court Paternity cases

1841, 1851 and 1861 Census

Search on-line today 

www.maxwellancestry.com

Maxwell Ancestry, a member of the Scottish Genealogy Network

Annie Lennox's Scottish family tree

Last night's Who do you think you are? was really most enjoyable and a great introduction to Scottish genealogy. Featured in last night's show were the Kirk Session records of Braemar parish. These could have been a new type of record to you and perhaps it made you wonder if they could be of use to you. These records hold vast amounts of interesting information as well as containing useful genealogical data, as was ably demonstrated by the National Records of Scotland's Pete Wadley! (I see a glittering TV career in front of him!)

If your ancestor was illegitimate it is definitely worth looking but also if your ancestor was born shortly after the marriage there may be a case of what was termed as ante-nuptial fornication recorded. If you can't search these records personally we can make the search for you, all our searches in Edinburgh start at twenty-five pounds and many Kirk Sessions can be searched for that fee or perhaps a little more. We offer a free consultation and will give you an exact price for any research we suggest. Just email me info@maxwellancestry.com with the information you have and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

For a full review of last night's programe see Chris Paton's blog.

Tinwald Parish Marriage Register 1832-1854

This book contains a transcription of that are to be found in the Kirk Session records of Tinwald Parish, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. These records are held by the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, and it is believed they have not been transcribed or indexed before.

The entries in the register record both marriages that took place in Tinwald parish, as well as entries recording when banns were proclaimed in Tinwald parish church where one or both of the parties to the proposed marriage was a resident in Tinwald parish. The right hand column details (in pounds, shillings and pence) the fees paid by the parties for their proclamation of banns. Many entries record the actual place the marriage ceremony was conducted, traditionally the bride's home.

Buy Tinwald Marriage Register - £6.99