[11.1] How do I trace my Scottish ancestry?


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General Register Office (GRO)
=============================
All the records for
births, marriages and deaths in Scotland are held at:
New Register House, West Register Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY
Tel: 0131 334 0380
Fax: 0131 314 4400

Scots Origins

http://www.origins.net/GRO/

Scots Origins is an online pay-per-view database of indexes from the genealogical records of the GRO(s). It costs 6 pounds for 30 page credits. Each page consists of a maximum of 15 search results. Further credits can be bought in 30 page increments for a further 6 pound charge each time.

There is a link to online rates of exchange http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/ncc, although these are provided as a guide only and charges will be made at the exchange rate current at the time of the actual payment processing.

About the index

The Scots Origins database contains fully searchable indexes of the GRO(S) index to births/baptisms and banns/marriages from the Old Parish Registers dating from 1553 to 1854, plus the indexes to births, deaths and marriages from 1855 to 1897. One additional year will be added per annum (1898,1899 etc.) to protect the privacy of living persons. An index to census records for 1891 will be provided in the near future; 1881 census data will provided later this year.

Searching is possible on the following fields:

Surname
Event type (birth/christening, marriage, death)
Sex
Forename (or first initial)
Year of registration (or range of years)
Age (or age range) - deaths only
Registration District (Statutory Index)
County (Old Parish Register)

Searching is also possible on other names which are mentioned within a particular record. This includes spouse's name, father's name, mother's name and mother's maiden surname, depending on the entry.

Extract Ordering

An extract is a transcription of all the information held as an entry in the original records held by GRO(S). Entries themselves often contain additional information that is not held within the indexes and can be of historical interest. Extracts of the original entries in the GRO(S) records can be ordered directly from the database. Extract orders are processed by GRO(S) and sent via ordinary mail as paper documents. For details of what extracts are and what they look like click here. The cost of each extract is 10 pounds.

Extracts of entries not accessible via the online database (that is those which are less than one hundred years old) can be ordered directly from the GRO(S) website by printing off a form and either faxing or mailing it.

For further details about the GRO(S), visit their website. http://www.open.gov.uk/gros/groshome.htm

Manual searches or searches by post

If you use New Register House you have to know what you want because it is a bit bureaucratic and you have to order each item individually and one at a time. So it is tedious work, but naturally rewarding. The censuses only started in the 1800s so it is very difficult to track back earlier. Other records at Register House permit further research. In particular a computer driven search of parish rolls (sometimes called registers) can be very productive, very quickly.

I wrote to New Register House six months ago for birth certificates. They do a very efficient postal service. I think I paid 12 pounds an item. They will send you the details.

Western Isles

If your ancestors are from the Western Isles, there is a service there run by Bill Lawson in Harris called "Co leis thu" which may turn up information not at New Register House.
http://www.hebrides.com/coleis/

Address:
An Seann taigh-sgoile, An Taobh Tuath, Na Hearadh, HS3 3JA Scotland Phone: 01859 520258

There is a book published by HMSO (Her Majesty's Stationery Office) called "Tracing your Scottish Ancestry".

"Surnames of Scotland" by Black gives the general history of surnames, together with spelling variations and the earliest occurrences in written texts.

Another useful address or two:
Scottish Ancestry Research Society
296 Albany Street, Edinburgh
Tel 0131 556 4220

Scottish Genealogical Society
15 Victoria Terrace,
Edinburgh EH1
Tel 0131 220 3677

Further Information

There is a newsgroup soc.genealogy.britain which may also be of use. If you don't find what you want there, also try soc.genealogy.misc

http://www.clan.com/ScotRoots/
http://www.scottish-roots.co.uk/

Scottish Genealogy information
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genclass/205/gen205.htm
includes some interesting components such as a linkable outline of Scottish history at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genclass/205/gen205_2.htm

the Scotland GenUKI pages at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/

GENUKI includes a beginners guide, and general information on all sorts of subjects, including such items as the location of parishes, obsolete occupations, the addresses of local Family History Societies, archives, libraries and other useful institutions, and surveys of which records have survived - and where they can be found. There is a section for each country, and this is then sub-divided into its assorted parishes. Most counties now have associated surname-interest lists. On the GENUK site is an introduction to Scottish Family History http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/intro.html

This lists several other books and gives a description of using both New Register House and the Scottish Record office.

Scottish Genealogy Consultants
http://www.web-ecosse.com/genes/ (Gordon Johnson)
and also Carole Wilson mailto:sfs@cwsoft.demon.co.uk

http://www.impressions.uk.com/ - Clan and Family name information

Scottish Family Search is here to help you locate your Scottish ancestors. SFS provides a quality service for all kinds of family research. Whether your ancestors came from Scotland in recent times or in the past then we can help trace them.
http://www.demon.co.uk/sfs/

Genealogy FAQ
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RJWinters/gene-faq.htm

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