The Godly Commonwealth - Discover Scottish Church Records talk this coming Saturday

I'm giving a talk this Saturday 27th to the London based Society of Genealgists (www.sog.org.uk), on the topic of The Godly Comnmonwealth - Discover Scottish Church Records. Here's the blurb:

From 1560 until the mid 19th century, the Kirk was Scotland’s shepherd, moral guardian and disciplinarian, its records today providing one of the key resources for genealogical research. But in trying to establish a Calvinist Godly Commonwealth on Earth it defied the Stuart monarchs for well over a century, and through its democratic and Presbyterian zeal constantly split into denominational factions over endless points of doctrine. In the immediate aftermath of its greatest crisis, the ‘Disruption’ in 1843, its ancient theological enemy, Roman Catholicism, was once again back in force in Scotland, as a consequence of the Irish Famine. By this point the dream of the Godly Commonwealth was finally over, with the state taking many of the Kirk's former functions, including poor relief, policing, and the registration of vital events. In this session family historian Chris Paton will provide a broad sweep of three hundred years of church history in Scotland, and discuss its impact for the family historian in locating relevant records for research.

To sign up for the talk, please visit https://members.sog.org.uk/events/6538e4a633d2260008bb7d29/description?ticket=6538e4a633d2260008bb7d2b - for non-members the fee is just £10.

I hope to maybe see you there!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.