Breaking Down those Brickwalls: Scottish Death Certificates

New Register House, Edinburgh

As is the case with birth and marriage certificates, 1855 is a great year from a genealogist's point of view.

In this first year of registration Scottish death certificates included the following information:

Date, time and place of death, usual residence, deceased's name, sex, marital status, age and occupation, the deceased's place of birth, spouse's name, both parents' names (including the mother’s maiden surname) and whether deceased, occupations and whether they were deceased, the names and ages of children (or age and year of death if the child pre-deceased the parent), cause of death, duration of last illness, doctor's name, when the doctor last saw the deceased alive, place of burial, the name of the undertaker and details of the informant.

Much of the bounty of information recorded in 1855 was sadly not continued after that year. From 1856-1860 you can expect to find the name, marital status, occupation, date, time and place of death and usual residence, full names of both parents and whether deceased, cause of death, duration of disease and doctor's name, place of burial and undertaker's name, and details of the informant.

Did you know?

By looking at your ancestor's death certificate between 1855 and 1860, or even that of a close relative such as a sibling, you may get a clue as to where the rest of the family were buried. If it was a family plot you may then be able to trace your ancestors using transcriptions of the gravestone, if it has survived. It’s not unusual to find three generations recorded on one gravestone!


Find out more about Scottish civil registration on our website: http://www.scottishindexes.com/learningcivil.aspx

For the Love of Genealogy - One Client’s Story

A client came to us recently with a birth certificate form 1855. On the document there is a correction to say that the Sheriff Court had reached a decree and named the father. Our client would like to find more information on this case: who wouldn't?

The problem is that the case was heard in Aberdeen. Unfortunately, the volumes of extracted decrees for Aberdeen Sheriff Court are largely missing (we have indexed the few remaining volumes which are held by the National Records of Scotland). The processes, a type of court document, do survive and they can contain very interesting information, we have even found love letters. The problem is that it can take hours of work to find the entry you need.

The NRS catalogue states about the Aberdeen Processes, “Some processes have been filed under dates other than year of Interlocutor (sometimes through misreading of the figures), but most will be found in the two years before or after that date.”

Our client decided she wanted to search for the 1857 processes. We began our search some months ago. As you can imagine, even in the 1850s, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was busy so there are a lot of boxes (you can see a photo of a box of processes on our website).

There are 10 boxes for 1857, to search 2 years either side (as is suggested in the NRS catalogue) would mean searching 55 boxes!

We have now searched 15 boxes, all the 1857 boxes and some either side. We have found 167 cases… but none of them are the case we are looking for.

The good news is that by making this search we have noted all these other cases so that you can now search these entries on www.scottishindexes.com. We want to say a huge thank you to the client who has helped us add these cases, and let you know that if you had an illegitimate ancestor in Aberdeen it may be worth searching our website to see what you can find. If you do find a case which helps with your research, take a moment to think about our lovely client who can’t find her case.

Finding Birth, Marriage and Death Records Before 1855

From 1855 onwards, finding records of births, marriages and deaths could not be much easier than it is in Scotland. All historical records are available to view on the Scotland’s People website (at a fee).

For the period prior to 1855, the Scotland’s People website also has the Church of Scotland Old Parochial Registers (OPRs) that have survived. The question is this: if you can’t find a birth, marriage or death in the OPRs, does that mean that no record exists?

The answer is a resounding NO! There are many registers lying unindexed which could hold the key to progressing your family tree.

Our new Learning Zone section ‘Finding Birth, Marriage and Death Records Before 1855’ has been designed to explain the situation and help you find the records you need.

Please let me know if you have a question which is not covered in the Learning Zone.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live (this weekend!)

We’re looking forward to Who Do You Think You Are? Live in Glasgow this weekend, where we’ll be enjoying the displays, the talks and the hubbub of excitement when a group of genealogists get together. (How’s the research going? – It’s all relative).

For those not familiar with the television show, Who Do You Think You Are? researches the lineage of celebrities and documents their journey as they uncover secrets and truths about their ancestors. WDYTYA is enormously popular around the world, and the spectacle and scale of the live event is breath-taking. Hundreds of genealogy experts and thousands of enthusiasts gather together to learn from one another, discover some more about the past and to take in the buzz. We’ll be joining them, wearing our Scottish Genealogy Network badges with pride (stop us if you see us, we’d love to answer your questions).

Badges © Scottish Genealogy Network 

On Saturday morning, Graham will be giving a (free!) talk about tracing illegitimate ancestors. While such individuals can provide fascinating and sometimes touching stories, they are also notorious roadblocks in progressing your family tree. In the 1850s, around 9% of births in Scotland were illegitimate, so a number of genealogists will probably have discovered illegitimacy in their family line. Fortunately for posterity, mothers often took the fathers of illegitimate children to court to prove their identities and seek financial support. We still have records of these cases, providing details and facts which are absent from other records. Graham’s talk will explain how both amateur and professional genealogists can use these records to discover paternal lines and progress family trees.

We’re gearing up for the weekend – hopefully see you there! 

In search of the Old Age Pension records - Part Two

Following on from my post “In search of the Old Age Pension records - Part One” I am going to write today about some of the surviving Old Age Pension (OAP) records I have found.

In various local Scottish Archives, such as the Dumfries and Galloway Archives at the Ewart Library in Dumfries, there are Old Age Pension Committee Registers. The example (which I have viewed) held in Dumfries is that of Moffat Town Council (reference CB842/1/2/9). It is entitled “Town Council Old Age Pension Committee : Register” and runs from 1908-1948. 

The headings in this register are as follows:

Consecutive number 
Full Name of Claimant, or of Pensioner in regard to whom a question is raised 
Address of Claimant, or Pensioner 
Date on which claim received when made direct to Committee 
Date on which claim referred to Pension Officer 
Date on which claim or question and report received from Pension Officer 
District and Station of Pension Officer 
Number in Pension Officer’s Register 
Date or dates on which claim or question considered by Committee 
Date (of any) on which Claimant or Pensioner (or person appearing on his behalf) heard by Committee 
Decision of Committee and Date (If claim disallowed, give reason) 
Date of notification of decision to (a) Claimant or Pensioner 
Date of notification of decision to (b) Pension Officer 
Date of receipt of notification of appeal 
Name and Address of Appellant (If the Claimant, pr Pension, or the Pension Officer s the Appellant, insert “Claimant,” “Pensioner,” or “Pension Officer,” without address 
Date on which documents relating to claim or question sent to Local Government Board [in correspondence this is often referred to as the LGB] 
Date of notification to Claimant or Pensioner of appeal having been made 
Decision of Local Government Board and date of receipt 
Date of notification of decision of Local Government Board to (a) Claimant, or Pension or other Appellant 
Date of notification of decision of Local Government Board to (b) Pension Officer 
Amount of Pension and date on which Pension becomes payable 
Date on which documents relating to claim or question sent to Pension Officer 
Remarks, e.g. : Note of disqualification or death of Pensioner, or reference to any later entry relating to the same person. 

There are two things I would like to note here. Firstly, relatively few of these registers survive: the only examples held in Dumfries and Galloway Archives seems to those for Moffat and Langholm. Up and down Scotland and in even at The National Archives in Kew there appear to be a few similar examples, but covering only a small fraction of Scotland.

The second thing is that they do not tell us a lot from a genealogical standpoint. There are no dates of birth, for example. They do give addresses, which could occasionally be useful, but it is likely that this information could more readily be gleaned from other sources, such as valuation rolls.

In summary, if you are reading this blog whilst studying the history of the welfare state in the UK these volumes might well be of interest to you. If you are researching your family tree, however, you may find their usefulness is minimal.


UPDATE: Read part three

Grand Local & Family History Fair: Celebrating Lanarkshire 2013

We had a stall at the Grand Local & Family History Fair: Celebrating Lanarkshire 2013 yesterday, hosted by the Lanarkshire Family History Society. It was a marvellous event, well organised, well attended and full of interesting stalls.

As usual we were spending the day helping people unlock their family secrets. Graham helped a number of individuals through the free 30-minute genealogy consultations. Using his experience he managed to help a number of people overcome a brick wall so that they could continue their research.

We also encouraged a number of people to enter the world of prison records. Our free online index can unlock a part of your family's history hidden for over a century! The register itself tells you basic details such as name, address, age, place of birth and religion but also tells you details you are unlikely to find on any other record such as height, appearance, hair colour, eye colour, education and of course offence.

Whilst interesting in itself the prison register gives the date of a trial (if there was one) which means you can then go to the relevant court papers and find out more details about the offence and the people involved. Quite regularly the court documents will name family members or give some other clue to assist your research as well as offering a fascinating glimpse into the life of your ancestor.

With a huge array of stallholders there was definitely something for everybody at this event. I hope this becomes an annual occurrence!

Scottish Monumental Inscriptions

After the fair was over the members of the Scottish Genealogy Network met for our monthly meeting. It was great meeting some for the first time and putting a face to the name. If you are looking for a professional genealogist look out for the Scottish Genealogy Network logo on their website or blog!

Scottish Genealogy Network