Genealogy
with David W Weatherill

Scottish Research

Last month I wrote about Irish research. This month I will briefly deal with Scottish research and again, given the size and complexity of this area, this article will only be a brief overview.
As with Irish assistance, the GSV has a Scottish Ancestry Group that can assist people with their research. This group meets at the GSV on the third Saturday in March, June, September and the fourth Saturday in November at 1.00pm. The group also publishes a newsletter – Thistle – and has speakers at their meetings. For information on the group, get in touch with the GSV. There is also a number of other family history/genealogical groups that also have smaller groups and people to assist with Scottish research.
England and Scotland are part of the United Kingdom, but Scotland is administered separately. The Church of Scotland is the main church in Scotland and Presbyterian. Scotland is divided up into counties and their records are held in many cases via county groupings. When civil registration started in Scotland in 1855, the earlier parish records that were available were taken over by the Registrar General. These records are now called Old Parochial Records or OPR. You can get copies of Scottish certificates for births, deaths and marriages via the General Record Office for Scotland. Check out their website (listed below).
A number of publications might assist your research. These include:
• Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestry Research in the Scottish Record Office. This booklet is published by HMSO, Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Research Outline: SCOTLAND – published by the Latter Day Saints Church. This is a 48 page guide that you can obtain from their Family History Centres or read/download a copy from the LDS Church website at www.familysearch.org
• There are a number of good websites where you can access Scottish information. Some provide free data; others are pay to obtain data sites. These include:
- General Records Office, Scotland at www.gro-scotland.gov.uk
- Scots Origins at www.origins.net
- National Archives of Scotland at www.nas.gov.uk
- Genealogy at United Kingdom and Ireland (GENUKI) at www.genuki.org.uk and follow links to Scotland.
- Scotlands Peoples at www.scotlandpeople.gov.uk which is a government source of genealogical data on Scotland.
• There are a number of mailing lists for Scotland and research that you can access via Rootsweb at www.rootsweb.com
In conjunction with the LDS Church, the Scottish Record Office published their indexes for Births and Marriages (not deaths) initially on microfiche, then to CD-Rom and also on the IGI that you can access. These indexes cover the period of 1855-1875, plus 1881 and 1891. The GSV holds these indexes on microfiche, but only LDS Family History Centres hold the records on CD-Rom. But everyone can access the information via the LDS Church FamilySearch website via the IGI at www.familysearch.org
You will probably obtain initial information about where your ancestors came from in Scotland via the births, deaths and marriage certificates that you obtain from the Australian registries for family members who came to Australia. In most cases it will provide information on the place of birth for these ancestors. But, if you are still looking for help, get in touch with the GSV or with your local family history group.
Good luck with your research. If you do have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. Also if you have any topics or areas that you would like me to address in future columns, please let me know. You can contact me either by email at dww@tpg.com.au or phone or write to me care of The Genealogical Society of Victoria Inc, Level 6, 179 Queen Street, Melbourne 3000, phone 9670 7033.