FindmyPast launches National Scottish Record Collection

Brace yourself for a major Scottish release from FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Explore 450 years of Scottish family milestones with millions of new parish registers

We've published over 10 million new baptism, marriage and burial records, creating the largest collection of Scottish family history records available online.

This Findmypast Friday, we've added a vast new collection of 'Old Parish Registers' to the site in collaboration with local archives and organisations across Scotland. Read on for all the details on this major new records release.

Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929

This is the most comprehensive collection of Scottish birth and baptism records online, transcribed and compiled from a wide range of primary sources.

The incredible new collection features the vital details of Scots from all walks of life, including some of the country’s most famous sons and daughters.

You’ll find records for Robert Burns, Alexander Graham Bell, Scipio Kennedy and many more.

Scotland, Parish Marriages & Banns 1561-1893

Millions of new regular, irregular and cross-border marriage records are now online, some for the very first time.

Rare “irregular marriages” occurred during Kirk Sessions, were not officially recorded in parish registers and were conducted without a ceremony.

Names, dates, locations, the names of parents, spouses, children and other biographical details such as occupations, residences and more were painstakingly transcribed and then digitally converted thanks to the hard work of hundreds of Scottish family historians.

Scotland, Parish Deaths & Burials 1564-2017

Is your ancestor’s final resting place in Scotland? Find out in millions of new records, published in partnership with local societies, archives and volunteers including:

    The Scottish Genealogy Society
    Fife Family History Society
    The Highland Family History Society
    Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society
    Renfrewshire Family History Society
    Lothians Family History Society
    Lanarkshire Family History Society
    Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society
    West Lothian Family History Society

The collection also includes 20th-century records (most online Scottish parish collections stop at 1855) that provide vital details of more recent relatives, helping you to trace your family tree back from there.

For details of the links and other records visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/scottish-old-parish-registers

And the press release:

Dundee, July 29th 2021

Leading UK family history website, Findmypast, has today announced the publication of a vast new online collection of “Old Parish Registers” in collaboration with local archives and organizations across Scotland.   

Dating back to 1561 and spanning 450 years of Scottish history, the new collection contains more than 10.7 million historical documents chronicling baptisms, marriages, burials and more. This vast new online resource will allow family historians across the globe to uncover rare details of their ancestor’s lives and the stories behind major life events.  

When combined with Findmypast’s existing collection of Scottish records and historical newspapers, today’s release firmly establishes Findmypast as the home of the largest collection of Scottish family history records available anywhere online, enabling users to explore their Scottish family tree in greater depth and detail than ever before.   

This groundbreaking new resource is the result of Findmypast’s close collaboration with local family history societies, archives and volunteers from across the country. It brings together a wide variety of important historical records, many of which were previously inaccessible to public and are now fully searchable in new ways for the first time.   

This includes records that not only reveal vital information on Scottish ancestors, but also provide valuable insights into parish life, including;  

* Records of non-conformist churches including the Episcopal, Free Church, United Free Church and more, fully indexed and searchable for the very first time  
* Newly published 20th century records (current online collections stop at 1855) that provide vital details of more recent ancestors, allowing users to uncover the details of previous generations and trace their family tree back from there  
* Rare “Irregular Marriages” from Kirk Sessions (those not officially recorded by the parish registers and conducted without a ceremony) 

 

COMMENT: It was great to hear from actors Brian Cox and Colin McFarlane, and the University of Strathclyde's Tahitia McCabe, at FindmyPast's official launch of this new collection this evening, a substantial release of parish material that includes records from many new denominations, and with coverage beyond 1855. A list of areas covered is available at https://www.findmypast.com/articles/scotland-parish-records-place-lists, although the denominations included are not detailed, which would certainly be a useful enhancement (details of denomination are included in the results though!).

Myko explained in the launch that FindmyPast has released some 200 million Scottish records since 2019. You might want to bookmark the site if you have Scottish connections!

Congrats to all at FMP and the many societies involved for a very useful release, which will substantially enhance our ability to carry out Scottish research.

And if you're interested in finding out more about the history of the various denominations, and how to find and use their records, my book Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records is available from Pen and Sword at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848

 

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.