Book Review: A History of Parish Registers in England and Wales, by John Wintrip

A huge thanks to publisher The Lutterworth Press for a review copy of John Wintrip's new book, A History of Parish Registers in England and Wales: From the Restoration to Civil Registration.  

The following is the listed description of the book at https://www.lutterworth.com/product/history-of-parish-registers-in-england-and-wales-from-the-restoration-to-civil-registration-a/:

A comprehensive account of the history of parish registers from 1660 to 1837, Wintrip’s exposition focuses on the changes in format and content of parish registers between the Restoration and the introduction of civil registration, offering an insight into the evolution of official record-keeping in England and Wales during a period of significant change.  

Following a short preface and a useful introduction on the history of the Anglican based Church of England, as well as an introduction to the history of parish register keeping, the book is then structured across fourteen chapters. In the first chapter the author looks at the evolution of parish registers from 1538, just shortly after the Reformation, to 1660, the year of the Restoration of Charles II, discussing the various statutes passed requring them to be kept, and the interruption of the Commonwealth period following the English Civil War. Chapter 2 then offers a general introductory overview of the keeping of registers from 1660-1754, covering the requirements of Canon 70 of the church for the registration of baptisms, marriages and burials, and detailing the subsequent efforts of individuals to improve the level of detail to be recorded, as well as attempted legislation by the state. 

Chapter 3 moves on to examine the evolution of parish baptism and burial registers in the period from 1754-1812, which includes discussion on interesting topics such as the introduction of the Stamp Duty Act of 1783, with Chapter 4 covering marriages in the same period, and the huge impact of Hardwicke's Act, with discussion on how the registers of marriages and banns were kept. 

Chapter 5 then diverts to the Diocese of Carlisle in the north of England, examining the first diocesan intervention to try to improve the quality of record keeping there, whilst Chapter 6 covers the detailed registers introduced by William Dade (1740-1790) within the dioceses of York and Chester, the envy of many of us with ancestors from other parts of Britain and Ireland! Chapter 7 is a short chapter which looks at the record keeping of the Diocese of St. Asaph in north-east to mid-Wales, which similarly reported exceptional details, with similarly brief looks at the Diocese of Norwich in Chapter 8, and Barrington and the dioceses of Salisbury and Durham in Chapter 9. 

Chapters 10 and 11 advances the story to the period 1813-1837, discussing the important introduction of Rose's Act in 1812, and its standardisation of record keeping across all parishes in England and Wales, prior to the introduction of civil registration in July 1837, with each chapter focussing on baptisms and burials, and marriages respectively. 

Following a brief look in Chapter 12 at the custody and storage of records, and the changes implemented following Rose's Act, there is then a perhaps suprisingly brief discussion of bishops transcripts in Chapter 13 (I suspect genealogists in Scotland would give their eye teeth for a similar system here - albeit the lack of bishops in the Presbyterian church is something a lot of us are proud of!!), which can act as a useful back-up if the original parish registers have not survived. Chapter 14 then ends with the impact of civil registration from 1837 in the two countries, and how parish records have since been kept and made accessible. The book concludes with thirteen short appendices providing additional details on particular topics raised in the book, followed by a useful glossary and index.

There are many clear differences in how record keeping was done south of the border when compared to Scotland, and it has to be said, they probably did it better than we did! John Wintrip's book is very easy to read, providing an exceptionally useful overview of the various parts of England and Wales in their record-keeping practices and their efforts to make improvements, with many clear examples given of details to be found in various parochial entries. The book has various useful black and white illustrations to accompany the text also. Whilst the final part of the book discusses recent efforts to microfilm and to then digitise records, there is no real attempt to steer people towards the relevant archives or websites where such records can be found, but that is not the point of this book, with such information found in many other publications. This work is very much about the history of the records and the context within which they were created and kept, and as such, is a title that I would heartily recommend as an invaluable addition to every genealogist's bookshelf.   

A History of Parish Registers in England and Wales: From the Restoration to Civil Registration is available to purchase at https://www.lutterworth.com/product/history-of-parish-registers-in-england-and-wales-from-the-restoration-to-civil-registration-a/ - the paperback edition is £22.50 +p&p, the hardback edition is £49.50, +p&p, and there is an ePub edition at £18.

Chris

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Scottish GENES articles - Researching Church of Scotland records

The following article written by me was first published in the UK's Your Family History magazine in 2011. I've made a few tiny updates, as there have been some developments since then!

Researching Church of Scotland Records 

Chris Paton

Prior to the advent of Scottish civil registration in 1855, the most important records to consult are those of the parish churches. The main denomination was, and still is, the Church of Scotland, though there were many other nonconformist churches also in existence. In this article we will look at the history and records of the established ‘Kirk’, as it is known, and turn to the nonconformist and other faiths another time.

The Celtic Church

The Church of Scotland has always differed from its counterpart south of the border. Although the religion had reached Scotland by the 2nd and 3rd centuries, it was the establishment of Iona as a monastic centre by the Irish missionary Colum Cille (Columba) in 563AD that would see a beacon created which would shine a light on Europe for centuries to come. Although an earlier missionary called Ninian had sought in the 5th century to convert the southern Picts, one of the main Celtic peoples within Scotland, it was from Iona that the mission was finally accomplished in all of Pictland. With a common religion, the Picts, and the descendants of the Irish Gaels, who had settled in the west within what they termed ‘Alba’, eventually united to form the basis of what was to become ‘Scotland’ (with the word ‘Scoti’ used by the Romans to denote the Irish colonists who settled in 'Argyll', or ‘the coast of the Gael’). 

For centuries Scotland maintained its independence from Rome, holding many theological differences such as the date of Easter, and the right for priests to marry. It would not be until the 11th century that the Celtic Church was finally integrated within the Roman Catholic order, a situation which would continue for the next five centuries.

The Reformation

The Scottish Reformation of 1560 occurred following years of decline within the Catholic Church as it continued to operate within the country. The cause of the revolution was centred firmly on a desire to get back to the older forms of the Celtic Church. The reformers had for decades been unhappy at the corruption of the institution and the evolving use of hierarchies and practices for which they could see no evidence in the early church. A healthy dose of politics was also involved, with at this stage Scotland slowly becoming a puppet state of France and under the rule of a French regent, Mary of Guise, during the minority of Mary Queen of Scots. There were many reformers involved both before and after the Reformation, such as George Wishart and Andrew Melville, but the catalyst for the event itself was a firebrand Roman Catholic priest called John Knox.

Knox had been a protégé of Wishart prior to his being executed for heresy in St. Andrews in 1546, as a martyr to the ‘protestant’ beliefs then in circulation. Following the subsequent murder of Cardinal Beaton, who had authorised his execution, protestant activists had taken refuge within the town’s castle. Although uninvolved, Knox had found himself caught up alongside them, and was subsequently arrested and prosecuted also. After a short period on the French galleys he fled to the city state of Geneva, where he soon fell under the influence of a reformer called John Calvin. 

Calvin had created a new protestant order in his city based on the concept of ‘the Godly Commonwealth’, with the church responsible for the moral discipline and education of its flock, working in partnership with the state. Upon his return to Scotland Knox helped the anti-French nobles and protestant reformers to rally and to oust Mary of Guise and her French forces from the country. Along the way statues were torn down as ‘idols’ in abbeys and churches across the land, and out of the flames and rubble a new Church of Scotland was born.

Presbyterianism

In its earliest ‘Calvinist’ form, the new Church was not exactly the happiest of institutions, with ministers instructing people that they were all damned to hell unless they had been predestined to join God in the afterlife as one of the pre-destined, chosen ‘Elect’. Despite a bumpy beginning, however, it was to become a very democratic body. A key criticism of the old order was the idea that there should be a controlling hierarchy with a pope, cardinals, archbishops and bishops. In the English Reformation of the 1530s, despite some reforms Henry VIII had to all extents and purposes just kicked the papacy’s influence out of England and taken the pope’s place as the head of the new Anglican Church. Scotland instead went for a much more thorough re-ordering of its basic institutions.

Under the new concept of ‘Presbyterianism’, the congregations of each parish were invited to choose their own ministers and elders to run their churches. Just for good measure, the landowners on which the churches were built, in the role of ‘heritors’, were required to pay a stipend to the ministers accepting such a ‘calling’ on their patch, being essentially required to break out the cheque book to keep the whole thing financed (with little in return). To the Kirk, it was not the concern of either the nobles or the monarchy’s business who would preach in every parish. The monarchy, however, under the rule of the House of Stuart, begged to differ.

Following the Reformation, Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic, briefly returned to Scotland from France and clashed with just about everyone, before being deposed in 1567. She was then replaced by her son James VI, and for the rest of the 16th century he and his nobles sparred with the Kirk over its constitution and the role of bishops, which James wished to bring back to allow him direct control over the body. It was not until the Union of the Crowns in 1603, however, that tensions between the two dramatically escalated. As James I of Britain, the Scottish king now had control of the much larger Anglican Church south of the border, and wished to impose its conditions in his northern kingdom. His policies for doing so, such as the introduction of bishops in 1610 and the ‘Five Articles of Perth’ of 1621, which brought in alien practices such as kneeling during communion, confirmation by a bishop, and the observance of holy days such as Christmas, led to Scotland temporarily becoming episcopal i.e. under the rule of bishops. 

The attempt to make Scotland Anglican continued under James’ successor, Charles I, and was one of the causes leading to the Civil Wars in Britain, following the Kirk’s rejection of episcopacy in 1637. The Scots were nevertheless appalled when Charles’ head was eventually removed from his body prior to the establishment of Cromwell’s Commonwealth. Although they considered him a pain, he was still their pain, the rightful king of Scotland from a long line of Stuart kings. They therefore immediately pledged allegiance to his son, Charles II, and agreed to help with his restoration to the English throne if he would guarantee Presbyterianism in Scotland. The king agreed, but upon his eventual restoration in 1660 he completely went back on his word, sending the hated bishops north once more. Three hundred ministers of the kirk abandoned their charges in protest, and thus followed one of Scotland’s darkest chapters, when people found secretly found worshipping at illegal Presbyterian based outdoor services called ‘conventicles’ were shot on sight. The period became known as the ‘Killing Times’. 

It was not until James VII & II, successor to Charles II, was forced to flee soon after during the events of the so-called ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688), that Presbyterianism was finally secured as the state church in Scotland.

Parish Records

There were just over 900 Scottish parishes, though the number varied across time as some were occasionally split or merged. Registers for baptisms and marriages were in fact first introduced prior to the Reformation following a decision of the Edinburgh based Provincial Council of the Scottish clergy in the early 1550s, with the earliest surviving register that for Errol in Perthshire, from 1553. Burial records were not compulsory, though some parishes did record burials for accounting purposes, detailing the hire of services such as the use of the parish mortcloth. There is in fact a reference to burials being recorded as early as the 14th century, with the Synod of St Andrews instructing local parishes to list those who had died to help in subsequent probate matters, but these have sadly not survived. It is worth knowing that one key difference between England and Scotland following the Reformation lies in the Scottish equivalent of the probate procedure. Known as ‘confirmation’ in Scotland, this became an entirely civil process through the consistory courts (and later the sheriff courts), and not through various levels of ecclesiastical courts as in the case of the Anglican Church south of the border. The upshot of that is that it considerably easier to source the relevant records in Scotland.

Despite further instructions from the Kirk’s General Assembly in 1616 and 1636, most parishes did not keep registers until the 17th century or after, with some parishes in the Western Isles not recorded until well into the 19th century. The surviving ‘old parochial records’ (OPRs) as they are now known, have all been digitised and made available up to 1854 on the pay-per-view ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk), but can also be accessed on microfilm at many libraries, or through the FamilySearch family history centres across Britain. To establish which records have survived to the present day, visit the ScotlandsPeople website at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/help-and-support/guides/church-registers. You can also consult William B. Turnbull’s Scottish Parochial Registers: Memoranda of the State of the Parochial Registers of Scotland, written in 1849, to find what became of many others. The book is available online at http://tinyurl.com/4swm4zx. Some records may not have been recorded until a particular date, some may have been destroyed accidentally, or at times even deliberately – such as in 1802 when parish registers were used to help prove the age of potential conscripts following the Militia Acts, provoking the ire of some in certain parts. Some baptisms and marriages were also not recorded between 1783 and 1794 because a tax of thruppence was required to register them following the Stamp Act.  

The records up to 1854 have also been largely indexed by FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) and made available through the site’s Historic Records collection. Never attempt to research your tree purely from the indexes alone, however, as you may well find additional information in the original entry. An extreme example lies with the christening of Margaretta Sarah Tyrwhill Brown in Perth on December 26th 1807. FamilySearch notes her parents as Jonathan Brown and Julia Anna Craddock, but the original record in fact describes several generations of her family! You may also find that a child was a foundling, illegitimate, and witnesses may be listed or a place of residence.  

Bear in mind also that whilst a marriage was completely legal if performed in the Church after the regular proclamation of banns, it was also possible to be wed by other common law means in Scotland. With burials, note also that many people chose not to be buried in the parish where they lived and died, but rather in the parish of their ancestors. If you have a job finding someone’s burial, whilst it may be that a record was not kept, it may also be that you are not thinking laterally enough!
 
Other records

The day to day business of the parish, such as poor relief (prior to 1845), communicants’ lists, parish discipline (including an obsession with ‘antenuptial fornication’), illegitimacy cases, and more, was kept within the kirk session records. These are essentially the equivalent of vestry records in England, and are mainly held at the National Records of Scotland, with many now digitised and made available on ScotlandsPeople. There was an ecclesiastical court structure, with parishes grouped together in presbyteries, then within synods and ultimately under the General Assembly. Records for presbyteries and synods can also be found indexed in CH2, as can records for parish heritors (sometimes containing payments to local tradesmen or for poor relief), though General Assembly papers are listed under CH1.

If your ancestor was a minister, you will also find data on him within a series of biographical volumes known as ‘Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae’. These can be accessed online in digitised format at www.archive.org or www.ancestry.co.uk.

For more on Scottish kirk session records, please sign up for my Scottish GENES Webinar on Saturday, 25 July 2026, with details on how to sign up available at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/webinars.html.

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

ScotlandsPeople adds dissenting presbyterian church session records

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has uploaded a substantial tranche of dissenting presbyterian church kirk session records, for the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church, covering a period from 1739-1900. These are from congregations that seceded from the Church of Scotland, and which later merged with others to form these two particular bodies, the creation of the Free Church being the bigest development, in 1843. (The Kirk's history is a bit complicated, but you can read my handy free guide to what it is all about at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/kirk-history-2.html). 

A full breakdown of the new releases is available at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/media/iimdque0/nrs-digital-services-church-records-ch3-online-release-list-of-churches-for-guide-11-june-2026.pdf

Happy hunting! 

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Scottish GENES Webinar: The Godly Commonwealth - Discover Scottish Church Records

Hi folks, 

My next Scottish GENES Webinar takes place on Saturday 29th November 2025 at 7pm UK time:

The Godly Commonwealth - Discover Scottish Church Records 

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.

Registration is £10, and can be carried out via https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_enWsWNSfSeOZgNZlEmep9g

I hope to maybe see you there!

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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 the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Scottish GENES Guest Post - Early LDS Church Records in Scotland: Newly Available on FamilySearch, by Tunji Lees - UPDATED

I am delighted to run the following guest post from Tunji Lees, to whom thanks is given. It features an amazing resource that Tunji has been working with concenring early records from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scotland, now available via FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org). 

Early LDS Church Records in Scotland: Newly Available on FamilySearch
By Tunji Lees

A recently released collection on FamilySearch, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members (Worldwide), 1836–1970 (https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/3714676), has for the first time made early LDS Church records from across Scotland searchable online—records that were previously available only at the Family History Library in Utah. These volumes, created by local branches and mostly beginning before the start of Scottish civil registration in 1855, offer a window into a little-known aspect of Scotland’s religious and social history and, as it turns out, an unexpected treasure trove for genealogists.

In genealogy, I’ve often found that the answers to long-standing brick walls appear where I least expect them. That was certainly the case here. I had never encountered any evidence that my ancestors had any connection with the Mormon Church—yet among the records of the LDS Irvine Branch in Ayrshire, I discovered an entry for my 3×great-grandfather’s sister, Mary Ann Lees, born in County Derry, Ireland. Her baptism in 1850, at age 40, provided the first concrete documentary link between our Lees family in Scotland and the Lees households of Killymuck Glebe, Tamlaght O’Crilly, County Londonderry—a breakthrough that resolved a long-standing genealogical mystery.

The LDS Church in Scotland, 1839–1850s

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established its first presence in Scotland in 1839, when two Scottish converts, Alexander Wright and Samuel Mulliner, returned from Canada as missionaries. They preached in Edinburgh and Banffshire, and on 14 January 1840, they baptized the first Scottish converts, Alexander and Jessie Hay, in the River Clyde near Paisley.

A few months later, Apostle Orson Pratt arrived to direct the growing mission. Preaching in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and surrounding towns, Pratt and his companions distributed tracts and organised small congregations, eventually numbering some 3,000 members by 1853. Converts came mainly from the working classes—miners, weavers, artisans—who found the Church’s message of spiritual renewal and community appealing. 

By the mid-1850s, however, most of these early converts had emigrated to the United States, heeding the call to “gather to Zion.” Local membership declined sharply, and many Scottish branches eventually closed. It is precisely from this early period that many of the records in the FamilySearch collection originate.

The Record of Members Collection

The FamilySearch database includes thousands of entries from LDS branches across Scotland, primarily dating from the 1840s through the late 19th century (though some continue into the 20th century). These are local branch membership registers, containing lists of baptisms, confirmations, blessings, marriages, deaths, and disciplinary actions.

While the FamilySearch Wiki provides an overview, not all Scottish branches are mentioned, so it is unclear whether the database currently offers full coverage. What is clear, however, is that these records document the Church’s peak years of activity in Scotland and contain unique personal data that may not be preserved elsewhere.    

A Source Unlike Any Other

What makes these Scottish LDS records especially valuable for genealogists is their level of detail and the populations they document. 

1. Pre-Civil Registration Births.
Many members were born before 1855, the start of statutory registration in Scotland. These LDS records often supply both exact dates and places of birth—details that may not survive in parish registers. (They do not, however, record the parents’ names of adult baptisms.) A few examples from baptisms at Lanark in 1853:

• Christina Gordon, b. 5 Jul 1830 Carluke, Carluke, Lanark, Scotland
• John Thom, born 8 Mar 1791 Airdrie, Monkland, Lanark, Scotland

2. Precise Geographic Information.
Members born outside Scotland, such as in Ireland, England, or even India, often have their birthplaces recorded down to the parish or sometimes even townland level. This specificity far exceeds the general “born Ireland” or "born England" usually found in census records. A few examples: 

•    John Roxburgh, Single, born 26 Nov 1826 Greenwich by Kingston, Island of Jamaica
•    Ephriam Tomkinson, Married, born 15 Apr 1825 Burslem, Staffordshire, England 

3. Social and Disciplinary Notes.
Entries often include notes such as “dead,” “emigrated,” or “cut off”—a reference to excommunication for moral or behavioural reasons. These notations help trace the movement and social history of members over time.

4. Records of Marriages and Children Blessed.
Some branches kept separate marriage and “Record of Children Blessed” registers, which can predate civil records. For example:

•    Agnes Barr, born 20 September 1846 in Lennoxtown, Campsie, Stirlingshire, to Robert Barr and Eliza Hunter; blessed 18 October by Robert Scott.
•    Jane Scott, born 9 August 1850 in Kirkintilloch to Robert Scott and Jane Martin; blessed 2 September 1850 by Joseph Clements; died 9 November 1854 of scarlet fever.

Irish Migration Revealed
One of the most striking aspects of the Scottish LDS registers is their documentation of Irish migrants who joined the Church after settling in industrial towns such as Irvine, Kilbirnie, Kilmarnock and Glasgow. These entries frequently include precise Irish birthplaces—often naming the townland, parish, and county.

Examples from Irvine Branch, Ayrshire:
•    James Connel, b. 10 May 1781 Aughnish, Donegal; bapt. 1843.
•    Mrs Janit Weir, b. 24 Dec 1770 Lisburn, Antrim; bapt. 1843.
•    John Higgins, b. 1 May 1816 Dunglody, Maghera, Londonderry; bapt. 14 May 1850.
•    Torrance Higgins, b. 16 Aug 1791 Ballinderry, Ballinderry, Londonderry; bapt. 3 Jun 1850.

Examples from Kilbirnie Branch, Ayrshire:
•    Mary Kirkpatrick, b. 15 Dec 1835 Larne, Antrim; bapt. 13 Nov 1850.
•    Hannah Kirkpatrick, b. 17 Mar 1833 Lorraine [Larne], Antrim; bapt. 25 Mar 1851.
•    Mary McMillan, b. 1 Aug 1841 Dernot, Armagh; bapt. 16 Mar 1851.

Such detail provides rare, parish-level and occasionally townland evidence for Irish origins that might otherwise remain untraceable in Scottish civil or census sources.

Case Study: Mary Ann Lees of Irvine Branch

Among these records I found my 3×great-grandfather’s sister, Mary Ann Lees. Here is the entry as it appears on FamilySearch:

Name: Mary Ann Lees
Birth Date: 1810
Birthplace: Killymuck, Timlet [Tamlaght O’Crilly], Londonderry, Ireland.
Baptism Date: 13 Jun 1850
Baptism Officiator's Name: Mathew Rowan.
Event Type: Membership
Event Place: Scotland, United Kingdom 

The digital image however reads:

Mary Ann Lees
Irvine Branch.
When born: 1810.
Where born: Killymuck, Timlet [Tamlaght O’Crilly], Londonderry, Ireland.
When baptised: 13 June 1850, by Mathew Rowan.
When confirmed: 16 June 1850, by Thomas Lyon.
Where baptised & confirmed: Irvine, Ayr, Scotland.
Dead, cut off, emigrated, etc.: “Cut off 20 June 1852 second time.”

Note that the FamilySearch index included only a fraction of this information, omitting the branch, officiators, and remarks. Viewing the original image revealed additional details and helped connect the entry to my relative who was known to have been living in Irvine at the time.

There appears to have been no consistent way of recording female members' surnames (at least within the records of Irvine branch), as Mary Ann is also listed several times under her married name McKeachie (variant of McGeachie/McCaughey).

Indexing Limitations and Accuracy

The Record of Members index is extremely useful but far from perfect. Many names and places have been mistranscribed, and some entries are missing entirely. 

For example:

•    Jean McGechie, born 23 August 1841 in Loughguile, Antrim—baptized at Irvine in 1854 and later “cut off for stealing the value of 6d”—appears in the digital images but I could not find it in the index.
•    Some entries list the wrong county or location. Dalry is often recorded as being in Midlothian, Scotland, although it is in Ayrshire. I also found entries that were indexed as Dalkeith, Midlothian, although they occured in Clackmannan!

Additionally, the same generic reference number (CR 375 8/b6330/f0001) is attached to every entry, making citation and tracing the actual image cumbersome. Researchers are therefore strongly advised to consult the original images to access branch details, officiators, and remarks not captured in the index.

Accessing the Original Images

Curiously, the digitised images are not hosted on FamilySearch but through the LDS Church History Catalogue and a seperate free account is required. Access to the Scottish collections is restricted because the records continue into the 20th century. However, access can be requested; my own requests were approved for 30-day viewing periods.

The Scottish “Record of Members” files are grouped under Call Number CR 375 8, divided into five parts (possibly six - see below), covering dozens of branches across Scotland. Researchers may also find supplementary digitised materials in the same catalogue, including: 

•    William McKay journals, 1847–1875 (Caithness; record of blessings, prayers, and baptisms).
•    Dunfermline Ward papers, 1845–1948, 1961–2009.
•    Aberdeen membership records, 1841–2005.
•    John Gray history of the Church in Irvine, 1848 (un-digitised).

List of Scottish LDS Branch Records (CR 375 8)

Part 1: Aberdeen (1841–1866, 1877–1948); Airdrie (1842–1856, 1894–1947); Arbroath (1845–1880); Auchinearn (1848–1858); Ayr (1848); Bailleston (1851–1853); Balfron (1847–1855); Barrhead (1847–1851); Bathgate (1846–1868); Blackbraes (1846–1868); Blairgowrie (1849–1856); Bonhill (1847–1855); Boroughstonness (1846–1853); Bridge of Weir (1847–1848); Burnbank (to c.1905); Busby (1846–1849); Calton (1857–1862); Camberslang (1847–1849); Campsie (1848–1854); Clackmannan (1843–1877); Cowdenbeath (to c.1883); Crofsgates (1885–1886); Crofthead (1842–1868).

Part 2: Dalkeith (1851–1858); Dalry (1846–1853); Dundee (1842–1881); Dundee Conference (1842–1881); Dunfermline (1842–1871, 1887–1889); Dysart (1840–1875, see also Pathhead before 1850); Edinburgh (1840–1868, 1880–1948); Edinburgh Conference (1840–1868); Falkirk (1843–1884); Fruchie (1851–1854).

Part 3: Gallowshiels (1851); Galston (1849–1901); Girvan (1848–1852); Glasgow (1847–1947); Glasgow Conference (1840–1854, 1867–1887).

Part 4: Gorbals (1857–1861); Gorebridge (1884); Greamsay (1851–1853); Greenlaw (1847–1848); Greenock (1840–1864); Haywood (to c.1888); Hearthill (1844–1852); Holytown (1848–1878); Hunterfield (1844–1853); Inverness (1847–1850); Irvine (1849–1883); Johnstone (1848–1864); Kelty (1880–1883); Kelvindock & Knightswood (1848–1856); Kilbirnie (1848–1854); Kilmarnock (1844–1909); Kilwinning (1857–1886); Kirkcaldy (1842–1849); Kirkintilloch (1842–1875); Kirkliston (1851–1853); Lanark (1844–1886); Leith (1840–1847); Loan Head (1844–1848); Loch Gelley (1842–1854); Lugar (1850–1852); Maybole & Crosshill (1848); Motherwell (1869–1881); New Craig (1846–1851); Newmains (1864–1879); Oakley (1847–1850).

Part 5: Paisley (1856–1912); Paisley, Renfrew & Neilston (1848–1855); Parkhead (1855–1882); Pathhead (1881; see also Dysart Branch). 

? Part 6: Pollockshaws & Thorndie Bank [Thornliebank] 1848-185;, Renfrew (1848); Rutherglen (1848-1854); Stewarton (1848-1850); Tollcross (1848-1855); Vale-of-Leven (1847-1848) [These parishes are listed in several branch lists on the digitised microfilms. It appears that their records may belong to a sixth and final part of the Scotland Records collection. However, I have not been able to locate these records so far. I have contacted the LDS Church History staff and hope they can help identify their location]

Note that, although the above list appears mostly accurate, it contains some inconsistencies. For example, there are records of the Clackmannan Branch in Part 2, even though they are not listed there in the description. Additionally, I could not find any records for the Kirkcaldy Branch where they are listed in Part 4. It is possible, therefore, that these records are located elsewhere in the collection. 

Links: FamilySearch Wiki https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints,_Record_of_Members_(Worldwide)_-_FamilySearch_Historical_Records
LDS Church History Catalogue https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/ 

Tunji Lees

 

NB: Regular readers may recall that Tunji wrote a barnstorming piece for this blog many years ago (fourteen years ago!), concerning British Army pension appeal records for Scots following the First World War - you can read this at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2011/08/guest-post-scottish-ww1-pensions-appeal.html. The latest update on developments following that post can be read from 2024 at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2024/07/update-on-pt6-scottish-first-world-war.html.

UPDATE: The above article was updated on 19 October 2025, with additional finds by Tunji included.

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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.

TheGenealogist adds 900,000 Catholic parish records for County Waterford

A big Irish records release from TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) this weekend:

TheGenealogist adds over 900,000 individuals to its Irish Parish Record Collection

TheGenealogist is delighted to announce the release of an exciting new collection of Irish parish records from Waterford, Ireland. These newly transcribed records offer researchers a fresh opportunity to explore their Irish roots and uncover family connections in one of the country's most historically significant counties.

Among the records is Thomas Francis Meagher, a leading voice in the Young Ireland movement and later a Union General in the American Civil War. Following in his father’s footsteps, he was a successful merchant and the former Mayor of Waterford, remembered for his influence and standing in the early 19th century.

TheGenealogist's Head of Content, Mark Bayley, commented: “We are thrilled to add these parish records to our growing Irish collections. Waterford is the home of Ireland’s oldest city and is the birthplace of Thomas Francis Meagher. These records offer family historians an opportunity to connect their past to a truly historic part of Ireland.”

The release is part of TheGenealogist’s continuing commitment to make Irish records more accessible for family historians around the world. Whether you're tracing ordinary ancestors or uncovering links to Ireland's revolutionary past, these records offer an invaluable resource.

These records are now available to Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist, adding to its comprehensive collection of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials.

Thomas Francis Meagher can be found in this release - read his story here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2025/thomas-francis-meagher-8629/ 

NB: I have carried out a couple of test searches for members of my wife's family from Carrickbeg. The records are actually hosted on the National Library of Ireland's Catholic Registers platform at https://registers.nli.ie, but these are not indexed; TheGenealogist has usefully produced brief transcriptions of each record, and a link to the relevant page for each record on the NLI site (click to enlarge images). 

(With thanks to Paul Bayley) 

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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.

FindmyPast updates Scottish Roman Catholic records collections

I missed this from last week - FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has updated two Scottish Roman Catholic records collections, and added a third, as follows:

• Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Marriages - 12,718 more records
• Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms - 1,568 new records from 1881-1934.
• Scotland Roman Catholic Directories - 63,901 directory records from 1829 to 2016. 

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/tv-times-scottish-parish-records

*NB: FindmyPast has twice the available number of Catholic records available for Scotland than can be found on ScotlandsPeople. The records are sourced from the Scottish Catholic Archives.

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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.

New Tipperary records added to RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

We are delighted to announce the addition of almost 9000 new Roman Catholic baptismal and marriage records from South Tipperary to the Roots Ireland database! They are as follows:

6,393 baptisms, 1834-1905 (Knockavilla RC parish);
2,404 marriages, 1834-1905 (Knockavilla RC parish).

For an up to date list of sources for South Tipperary and to search these records, go to rootsireland.ie/tipperarysouth and login or subscribe as required.

Yours Sincerely
rootsireland.ie 

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available - Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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.

Scottish and Irish Pharos Tutors genealogy courses in October

I will be teaching two courses for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com) this October:

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers
5 weeks, starts Monday 7th October

This is an intermediate level course in Scottish family history for those who are going back beyond 1850. You should have some experience with research in the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland and in using major websites for Scottish research.

This course discusses sources that fill the gap when the OPRs are uninformative or missing, such as the kirk session and presbytery courts records generated by the Kirk (Church of Scotland), as well as the records of dissenting and seceding Presbyterian congregations. From the forerunners of Scotlands modern towns and cities are the administrative records of the burghs, and the trades incorporations and merchant guilds, as well as other professions, which can enhance our understanding of our ancestors lives. And in the final two lessons the course turns up a notch and tackles two areas where the Scottish records, as generated through the feudal system, are truly unique, namely the various registers of land records known as sasines, and the separate legal processes in Scotland for the inheritance of both moveable and heritable estate.

Whilst some of the records discussed in the course are available online, many are available only in the archives, or in private hands, and a strong focus of this course will be in how to successfully employ the relevant catalogues and finding aids to locate such treasures. 

For further details visit https://www.pharostutors.com/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-the-old-parish-registers


***NEW COURSE*** 

Researching Irish Land Records
5 weeks, starts Monday 21st October

The issue of land ownership was a potent question in Ireland for centuries. In the 17th century vast swathes of land was settled by Protestant British colonists during the Plantations of Ulster, drawn mostly from Scotland, whilst the subsequent Cromwellian conquest led to mass confiscation of land across Ireland, to be conveyed to English soldiers and 'adventurers'. The Penal Laws had soon dispossessed the native Irish Catholic population of many rights, including landownership and inheritance rights. At the same time, the first national land valuation survey in the world was carried out, and an elaborate system of land administration imposed. In the 19th century, Ireland's incorporation into the United Kingdom was followed by great tragedy with the Famine, but in its aftermath a new opportunity arose following the Land War to radically alter rental provisions and then to redistribute land away from an absentee landlord class.

Following on from the Progressing Your Irish Research Online* course, this brand new course will look at the various types of records that can help with land research in Ireland from the period of the 17th century to the present day. It will examine the various forms of land tenure that existed, the records of ownership and rental, the valuation and conveyance of property, maps, and many other resources. Importantly it will show how to find the most useful land records, and how to use them for your family history research.

* Although not compulsory, it is recommended that students will have first completed the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course.

For further details visit https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-irish-land-records

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.

FindmyPast Scottish Roman Catholic records collections expanded

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has expanded its collection of Scottish Roman Catholic records to include 1829 new baptism, marriage and burial records for the years 1924, 1949 and 1974. 

In addition, new Catholic records from England and Philadelphia in the US have also been added. 

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/roman-catholic-england-scotland-philadelphia.

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.

Temporary closure of Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland library and archive

I was considering visitng the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland's library and archive in Belfast next week, but have come across the following message on its home page, posted on July 31st:

The PHSI Library and Archive will be closed for the next few weeks due to a change in prevailing circumstances.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

For any enquiries about our services please email the Librarian at phsilibrarian@pcinet.org.

Hopefully the society will re-open again soon. For more on the society visit https://presbyterianhistoryireland.com.

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.

New Armagh records on RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie), via email:

New Armagh Records Added!

We are delighted to announce the addition of almost 10,000 Armagh records to the Roots Ireland database. They are as follows:

    Seagoe CI baptism, marriage, and deaths, 1672-1821 (9050 records);
    Seagoe CI Hearth Rolls, 1662 (149 records);
    Seagoe CI Landholders, 1709 (128 records);
    Montiaghs CI baptism records Register 4, 1851-1867 (385 records).

For an up to date list of sources for Armagh and to search these records, go to armagh.rootsireland.ie and login or subscribe as required.

Yours Sincerely
rootsireland.ie

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.

RootsIreland adds more Cork and Kerry records

Just added to RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

New Cork and Kerry records added!

We are delighted to announce the addition of 11,606 new Roman Catholic records for the diocese of Kerry (in Counties Cork and Kerry) to our database. They are as below:

- Roman Catholic baptisms, parish of Dromtariffe, County of Cork (Diocese of Kerry), 1801-1902: 10,345 records.
- Roman Catholic marriages, parish of Moyvane, County Kerry (Diocese of Kerry), 1831-1905: 1261 records. 

(With thanks to RootsIrelands via email)

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 the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Kildare Catholic records and Irish Tithe Defaulters added to TheGenealogist

Fom TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist adds 1831 Irish Tithe Defaulters and more Irish Parish Registers

TheGenealogist has today released 371,400 Kildare Catholic Parish Registers covering 323,923 records of baptisms, 46,914 marriages and 563 burials to make it easier for its Diamond subscribers to discover their Irish ancestors from this eastern part of Ireland.

Also released at this time are more than 29,000 individuals recorded as Irish Tithe Defaulters. These records from 1831 can be a useful stand-in for the 1831 Irish census which was almost completely destroyed in 1922.

Tithes were levied on all occupiers of agricultural land, no matter what their religion was and the Roman Catholic population of Ireland particularly resented paying these tithes to the Church of Ireland (the Established Church) on top of often supporting their own priests. Refusal to pay the tithes came to a head in the years 1831 to 1832, beginning what is known as the ‘Tithe War’ in Ireland.

To alleviate the Church of Ireland’s shortfall The Clergy Relief Fund was established in 1832 by the Recovery of Tithes (Ireland) Act 1832. This provided the affected clergy compensation in return for providing the government with the names of the defaulters.

Many of the non-payers named were ordinary folk such as labourers, farmers and widows who would most likely have been Roman Catholics and so not part of the congregation at their local Church of Ireland parish church, but surprisingly there are also Magistrates, Peers of the Realm and even Knights.

These new releases, now available to all Gold and Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist will be a welcome resource for those family historians wanting to research their Irish ancestry.

Read TheGenealogist’s featured article: Can’t Pay or Won’t Pay – The Tithe Defaulters https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/cant-pay-or-wont-pay--the-tithe-defaulters-1651/

Update: The Kildare records are hosted on the NLI's site at https://registers.nli.ie/, with links to that site for entries found in the collection. I've just checked with TheGenealogist, and this is a separately created index to that hosted on Ancestry and FindmyPast, which I've never been a great fan of (they were produced very quickly), so a very useful addition indeed.

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

The new Scottish Catholic Archives website

The Scottish Catholic Archives has launched an impressive new website at www.scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk. 

Amongst its offerings is a History of the Archive (https://www.scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk/History) and a detailed Genealogy section (https://www.scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk/Home/Genealogy) exploring many of the Scottish Catholic vital records and other sources that can help with research, and providing links through to both FindmyPast and ScotlandsPeople. Findmypast hosts about twice as many records as ScotlandsPeople, with the site explaining why this is at https://www.scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk/Home/Parish-Register-Project:

The second phase was carried out in 2004, the Bishops decided, for preservation reasons, to call in all the historic registers into the Scottish Catholic Archive to facilitate the preservation and digitisation of them. These were retained in the Archive and a copy was issued for retention in the parishes. The digital images created were indexed and made available to the public via the government’s web site “Scotland’s People”, where they generate a small return used to cover the cost of the digitisation and indexing that took place. This has been a very successful operation and has ensured for the future these very valuable registers. 

As with the first phase of the project, these coved all Scottish parishes in existence before 1855; the records of Glasgow's Catholic cemetery; and the records of the RC Bishopric of the Forces, which records all sacramental events for British service men and women serving in the armed forces worldwide.

We now find ourselves at the third stage in the Parish Register Project, with the signing of the contract with Find my Past. This phase also necessitates the calling into the Archive of the Parish Registers from the parishes founded before and including 1950, and will ensure their preservation well into the future.  The original register where accessioned in to the archive for long term preservation and copies where sent out to the parishes.  

There is also a useful section detailing its Collections at https://www.scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk/Collections.

Plenty to get stuck into - enjoy!

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

GWSFHS uploads Glasgow High Kirk baptisms 1609-1625

From Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society (www.gwsfhs.org.uk), news of a new collection available in the members only area of the website:

Glasgow High Kirk baptisms - volume 1, 1609-1625 published online

Today, we published on-line, in our member only area, the first volume of an indexed full transcription of the Glasgow High Church Baptism registers for the period 1609 to 1777.  The transcription includes Godparents/Witnesses, and their Occupations where they occur.  It includes whether the child was ‘lawful’ or ‘natural’ born.

The dataset was captured and indexed from typescript transcripts of Glasgow High Church Baptism registers created by Dr Arthur Jamieson, founding Chairman of GWSFHS, in the 1960's and 70s.

See https://www.gwsfhs.org.uk/data-sets/glasgow-high-kirk-baptisms/

(Dr Jamieson prepared his transcription independently of the LDS index and so it is valuable as another interpretation of the manuscript documents. Previously, Jamieson’s transcription was available only as typescript volumes held in the GWSFHS library and the Mitchell Library. There are 29 volumes, with more to follow in due course.)

(With thanks to Murray Archer)

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast adds Caribbean parish records and UK naturalisation records

Amongst the records released by FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) this week:

St Vincent, St George's baptisms 1765-1820

These are records from St Vincent's most populous parish, St George, dating from 1765, offering date of baptism, name of the person baptised, and parents' names. In some cases you may also find information on parents' occupations, race, and social status (free or enslaved). The original register is now fragile and partially damaged, so the information varies record to record. The records also include the names of many enslaved people on the island, including those of mixed race.


St Vincent, St George's marriages 1765-1820

1,534 marriage records.


Britain, Naturalisations 1844-1990

Almost 100,000 records, of naturalisations granted by the British Home Office.


For further details, and relevant links, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/st-vincent-naturalisations.

Chris 

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Access to many RCBL records temporarily suspended

I've just noticed the following on the website of the Representative Church Body Library (https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library) in Dublin, which holds many records for the Church of Ireland:

Important notice: Access to Manuscripts, Diocesan and Cathedral Archives Suspended

For essential maintenance in our strong–rooms we regret to inform researchers that access to all manuscripts, diocesan and cathedral collections in the Library is suspended until further notice.

Parish record collections continue to be available. We will update you as soon as works are complete.

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

New Kilkenny records join RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

New Kilkenny Records added

We are delighted to announce the uploading of 9,504 new Kilkenny records to our database at Roots Ireland. They are as follows:

    Thomastown RC baptisms, 1900-1910   567 records
    Slaters Directory, 1856   982 records
    Bassettâs Directory, 1884   7955 records

The Slater's and Bassett's directories contain the names of county and public officials, clergy, professional and business people, tradesmen and craftworkers.

For an up to date list of sources for Kilkenny and to search these records, go to kilkenny.rootsireland.ie and login or subscribe as required. 

(With thanks to RootsIreland via email)

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

 

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

More Kerry records added to RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie)

We are delighted to announce the uploading of 7,643 new Kerry Roman Catholic baptismal records to our database at Roots Ireland. They are as follows:

Kilgarvan RC baptisms, 1818-1895.

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - 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. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.