Why did you start tracing your family tree and why would you encourage others to start?

Here are five 5 reasons I think people should ask about their family history this weekend; there are many more I am sure!

Want to make a start? Use our free guide to help you get started: https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningdetective.aspx 

One

It’s a great puzzle! Great fun. As you learn more it’s as if your jigsaw gets bigger and bigger. There are more pieces to find and more puzzles to solve. Some are easy; some are more challenging. If you love puzzles you will love family history! Is there a family mystery you want to uncover?

Two

It helps you understand your relatives. As you talk to your family about their life you learn more about them. More than that, though, you can learn more about the family you never met. Finding out about a great-grandmother could help you understand your parent’s childhood; the life experiences that shaped them. 

Three

It stimulates thinking and long-term memories. Sadly as we age our short term memories can suffer. This can make conversations difficult with older people. Asking them about their childhood can stimulate long-term memories and lead to an enjoyable conversation. Of course, some may not want to talk about it. Always be kind and considerate of other people's feelings. 

Four

It’s a great way to learn about history. We may know the basics of history but discovering your ancestor's place in the past gives you a whole new perspective. Were they some of the weavers who rioted due to low wages in the early 1800s? Did they leave Ireland during the great famine? Were they interviewed as part of a Royal Commission report into housing? Did they witness King George IV visit Edinburgh in 1822? Were they moved from their home as part of the Highland Clearances? Whatever part your ancestors played in the past they are part of history.

Five

Discover more about the place where you live. If you still live in the area your ancestors lived in, you may be surprised by what you discover. Did your children go to the same school as your great-great-grandmother? Is the house they live in still standing? If you are planning a trip to Scotland, knowing where your ancestors lived, even the house they lived in, can make the experience so much more enjoyable. 

Want to make a start? Use our free guide to help you get started: https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningdetective.aspx 

Lost loves and failed relationships: what happened in the past when a relationship went wrong and children were involved?

Whether married or not, if a man left the mother of his child because their relationship broke down this left the mother in a difficult situation. 

In the census we often see grandchildren living with their grandparents while the mother is working away from home, perhaps in domestic service. When you find children living with their grandparents, dig a little deeper to work out who they all are.

In Scotland, at one time most children took the surname of their father whether their parents were married or not. After 1855 however, the child would usually be registered under the mother’s surname. 

Generally speaking, it is easy to identify children on the maternal line as we find them with their mother or her family. What about on the paternal line? And how can we discover the background to this relationship?

Top tip #1

Search the Scottish Paternity Index for your male ancestors only. Leave all information about the mother blank and see if your ancestors fathered children you know nothing about. 

This index is predominantly an index to Sheriff Court records where the mother took the father of her child to court to force him to pay maintenance for the child. This can include unmarried mothers but also married women abandoned by their husbands.

You can search for free here: https://www.scottishindexes.com/paternitysearch.aspx 

Top tip #2

Check the Kirk Session records. Sadly there are very few indexes but the records themselves are free to browse on ScotlandsPeople. Look for the parish where your ancestors lived and read through the minutes. As well as finding cases of fornication you may find other entries relating to your family too. 

There’s no index but they are free to access on https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

Top tip #3

A man who did not support his family could find himself in prison. Search Scotland's Criminal Database to discover who spent some time in prison. Again, these would include fathers of illegitimate children and men who refused to support their families. If you find a man in a civil prison there's a higher chance it’s this type of case.

Search here: https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx 

Top tip #4

Search poor law records. If a mother could not provide for her children she may have asked for assistance from the parish. These records may give a clue as to who the father of the child was. In the case of married women they may also indicate why the relationship broke down. 

Sadly these records are not all in one place. Use our free article her to locate the records for the area your family lived in: https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningpoor.aspx

Top tip #5

Divorce in Scotland was rare historically but it did happen. In fact, abandoned or mistreated women may have been given financial assistance to divorce or separate from their husbands. From 1830 until 1984, all divorce cases were dealt with by the Court of Session and the online catalogue of the National Records of Scotland may reveal if your ancestors were divorced. Find out more here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/court-of-session-records

What if they didn’t pay?

We’re often asked what happened if the father of an illegitimate child did not pay maintenance to the mother. If a woman had taken the father to court and proved her case there would be a decree made. This decree would be legally binding. 

For example Mary Irving who lived at Marjoribanks in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland had a child on the 19th of November 1871. At Dumfries Sheriff Court on 26 April and 7th Mary 1872 Mary pursued her case against William Richardson.

William Richardson is described in the case as the son of and residing with David Richardson, Farmer at Riggside, Lochmaben. David is ordered to pay Mary four pounds yearly as aliment for her child. He was to pay until the child was 10 years old. David was also to pay half-yearly and in advance. 

What did David do? Often the decree is the last mention of the case in the records. Our recent indexing project of prison records has uncovered more. We’ve just added an index to Dumfries (Maxwelltown) Civil Prisoners. In this register, we have found many men sent to the person for not paying aliment of children. One of these men is William Richardson. 

Interestingly he was sent to prison on 6 August 1872 for a debt he failed to settle with William Wright. The debt with William was settled a few days later but not the debt to Mary Irving. He languished in prison until 7 September 1872. 

For now, these entries are in the prison index on our website with a note, ‘Aliment of a child’. In time we will add these to the Scottish Paternity Index too. 

You never know what you will find in historical records. Search over 400,000 Scottish criminal records in Scotland's Criminal Database: https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx

 

"I received your sister’s letter announcing the birth of a thumping laddie" - Betsy's court battle against a lawyer!

Graham and I were back in the National Records of Scotland this week. Being in so rarely these days really makes me appreciate getting my hands on original records. I love working with records of ‘ordinary’ people. Our ancestors, the ones who don’t pop up in the history books but are very important to us.

This week I discovered a hidden gem. On 13 June 1836 Elizabeth Aikman, an unmarried mother, gave birth to a wee boy. The father of this baby was Mitchell Patison, a lawyer in Edinburgh. We already knew from the decree that Elizabeth had won the case and that Mitchell was to pay £8 per year to Elizabeth. The court processes however add more detail, giving us the background of the case (NRS reference SC39/17/846).

You can search our index here: Scottish Paternity Index

What did the court process tell us in this case? We learn that to begin with, Mitchell paid for the child’s care, in fact, there were some very sweet letters. 

On 21 June 1836, Mitchell wrote,

“Dear Betsy, 

I received your sister’s letter announcing the birth of a thumping laddie - I am proud of it and I hope you and he will be long spared and the he will prove a blessing and I here solemnly pledge and bind myself to have him brought up and educated as well as any other member of my family in as far as my abilities will enable me to do…” 

By 19 April 1837 Mitchell was already behind with his payments. He wrote to Elizabeth’s representative:

“I enclose three pounds as I promised in my last, this pays you up to the first of June next so far as board goes. I am still your debtor however for £2 of expenses incurred by you which I will send some time next month - Let me know how the little fellow is getting on - I intend being out to see him soon as I can spare time.”

The case papers also tell us how Mitchell and Betsy met. Betsy was a servant at the neighbour's house and their paths crossed as the gate was opened. Although we see in this record that Mitchell had a change of heart, we’re not told why this happened. Why was it that at first he was so pleased about the birth and happy to support Betsy? What changed so that Betsy had to drag him through the courts?

Mitchell was a lawyer so it is hard to believe that he simply couldn't pay. We cannot say for sure why Mitchell stopped paying, but what we have discovered is that on 1 June 1837 Mitchell Patison married Eleanora Mitchell Wilson, daughter of the late George Wilson, a farmer. It seems to be around this time that Mitchell became less supportive of poor Betsy and her ‘thumping laddie’.

This is just one of the genealogy gems hidden in the archives. What survives for your ancestors? To be able to learn so much about a woman and her circumstances in the 1830s is amazing.

Search for here and see what you can discover: Scottish Paternity Index

Scottish Indexes Adds More Records to Scotland's Criminal Database

Ahead of the Scottish Indexes Conference this weekend we’ve just added an index to Crown Counsel Procedure Books 1854-1863 to www.scottishindexes.com. These are entries from volumes AD9/15-18 which are held by the National Records of Scotland. In this release, we have added over 30,000 new entries.

The total number of records now in Scotland's Criminal Database is 365,732. You can see a breakdown of our coverage here: https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx 

Why are Crown Counsel Procedure Books so helpful? 

All cases reported to the Crown Counsel were recorded in the Crown Counsel Procedure Books. As is the case today, some went on to the High Court, some to the Sheriff Court or another lower court, and some were dropped. This means that the Crown Counsel Procedure Books act as an index to other records.

We may often wonder, why did our ancestors end up in prison? Join us at the Scottish Indexes Conference on Saturday 15 January 2022 for Emma Maxwell’s presentation, ‘Visualising Your Family History’. Emma is a genealogist and as well as tracing names, dates and places she enjoys helping her clients visualise the lives of their ancestors. Emma will share diverse records which can help you visualise your family history and share your story with your extended family. Visit www.scottishindexes.com to find out more about this free event.

New records added to Scotland's Criminal Database

So far Scotland's Criminal Database on scottishindexes.com has included High Court records, prison records and some Sheriff Court records. We have now added a new category - Crown Counsel Procedure Books. 

Why are Crown Counsel Procedure Books so important? 

All cases reported to the Crown Counsel are recorded in the Crown Counsel Procedure Books. As is the case today, some went on to the High Court, some to the Sheriff Court or another lower court, and some were dropped. This means that the Crown Counsel Procedure Books act as an index to other records.

This new record set effectively indexes Scottish Sheriff Court jury trials for the corresponding years. As time goes on we hope to link up the corresponding records to make the database even better!

As always our indexes are free to search and we give the full reference, enabling you to follow up for free in the National Records of Scotland. Check our coverage pages for the most up-to-date information on what you can search on our website, it will be updated as we add more records.

Five Ways to Save ScotlandsPeople Credits

Only ScotlandsPeople gives online access to civil registration, Church of Scotland parish records and Scottish census record images. We all know how important it is to view these original documents to make sure our research is accurate but the costs can soon mount up if we keep viewing the wrong records. Here are five tips to help you pick the right record the first time.

1 - Post-1855 Death Records.

Cross-reference death records using a woman’s maiden surname. In Scotland deaths of married women are indexed under all the names she used during her lifetime (or at least all the names the person registering the death knew about). Let’s say your ancestor was born Janet Porteous and she went on to marry a Thomson. There will be a lot of Janet Thomsons, so use the surname Porteous to narrow down your search. On the search page look out for ‘Other surname’. It doesn’t matter which way round you put the surnames, put Thomson in one and Porteous in the other and it will narrow down your search.

2 - Birth Records from 1855 to 1874

The International Genealogical Index (IGI) includes most Scottish civil registration births from 1855 to 1874. Unlike the index on ScotlandsPeople, the IGI includes the names of both parents. This enables you to narrow down your search then view only the correct entry on ScotlandsPeople. This index is available on Ancestry, Findmypast and FamilySearch. 

3 - Census Records 1841 to 1901

Use an index to the 1841-1901 census you already have access to. FreeCen gives access to a free indexed transcription of many Scottish census records from 1841 to 1901 (it is particularly for the earlier years) and it’s a great way to find the right household. Then you can simply go to ScotlandsPeople to view the original. You may also have access to the 1841-1901 census as part of your Findmypast or Ancestry subscription or you may have free access through your local library. 

4 - 1911 Census

As only ScotlandsPeople gives access to the 1911 census for the whole of Scotland we need to be a bit more savvy. Use the reference to group family members together. Let’s say I am looking for a ‘Scott’ family in the parish of Annan. I will see a lot of entries, for example there are four Agnes Scotts in the parish of Annan in 1911. In the free index on ScotlandsPeople I am also given the reference (‘Ref’), which is key. I can see, for example, that there is an Agnes Scott aged 48 with the reference ‘812/ 5/ 10’ and another Agnes Scott aged 49 with the reference ‘812/ 2/ 10’. Let’s break the reference down, 812 is the parish number for Annan. 812/2 means enumeration book two in the parish of Annan and the 10 at the end is the page number. This means that I know these two Agnes Scotts are not in the same household. Looking through the other ‘Scott’ entries for Annan I see that there are the following entries with the reference: 812/ 2/ 10. I can see James Scott aged 51, Robert Scott aged 20 and George Scott aged 17. Now I have a family group, this should be enough to tell me I have the right family or, in fact, that it’s the wrong family and I don’t need to waste my credits.

5 - Church of Scotland pre-1855 Births and Marriages

Although the images are not available, indexes to the Church of Scotland pre-1855 births and marriages found within the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) are available in various places. As with the 1855 to 1874 civil registration birth records, you can find indexes available on Ancestry, Findmypast and FamilySearch, entitled ‘Scottish Church Records’. Again a feature is that you can search by parents’ names. At first glance this feature is not available on ScotlandsPeople but it actually is! Enter your search criteria and click search in the usual way. When your results appear you will see new search options. You can now add ‘1st Parent Name’ and ‘2nd Parent Name’, this enables you to narrow down your search. I like to search by the surname of the child and the full name of the parents, which shows all children born to that couple.