Discovering your Scottish Roots
By Tony Reid

Every one has ancestors, probably not with the right to armorial bearings or whatever but that isn’t important.

There are two inter-related aspects to digging up your roots – genealogy and family history. The former is necessary to establish the tree which then provides the basic framework for subsequent family research. In a sense, it is not so much who your ancestors were that is interesting, it is what they were.

You will find that the very act of establishing your tree will result in a considerable amount of background information such as addresses, occupations and the like.

The following three key sources for ancestral research are all housed in New Register House, Edinburgh.

1. The Statutory Registers of Births, Deaths & Marriages

Although compulsory registration began in England in 1837, it wasn’t until 1855 that the General Registry Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages was established in Scotland and compulsory registration began. In this first year of Statutory Civil Registration, an excessive amount of detail was requested. Thereafter a format was adopted which is similar to that used today.

In the UK, the Census was established in 1801 and has been carried out every ten years since, apart from 1941. The objective of the Census was, and still is, to provide Government Departments and planners with a wide range of population data and trends.

Up to 1831, the exercise was essentially a head count undertaken by the parish schoolmasters and, only exceptionally, do actual listings of people survive. The 1841 Census was therefore the first to take the form of a Census as we know it, although not in much detail.

Thereafter the census returns provide, in respect of every member of a household: relationship to head, marital status, age, occupation and place of birth. From 1871 the householder was required to admit if anyone was imbecile, idiot or lunatic. The 1891 Census indicates Gaelic speakers.

Because they are considered to be highly confidential the returns are not open to the public until they are at least 100 years old.

From the standpoint of ancestral research, these documents provide a virtual snapshot of a household on census night.

For "events" taking place before 1855, one has to rely on the Old Parochial Registers (OPRs). These can be something of a disappointment in the sense that a) they don’t generally provide much detailed information and b) many christenings, marriage proclamations and burials went unrecorded for all sorts of reasons. It however ancestors were regular attenders of the local Established Church of Scotland, and not Episcopalians, Catholics or Members of one the seceding churches, then there is a fair chance that their baptisms/births and proclamations/marriages will be found – at least back to the late 1700s/early 1800s.

There are, basically, three ways of doing an ancestral research study.

1. By visiting New Register House (NRH) – Edinburgh

Access to NRH costs £17 sterling per day and there are discounted rates for longer periods. Each reader is allocated a desk with a computer terminal and microfiche reader. There are also several microfilm readers in the various search rooms. There is no limit to the number of records which may be examined (on a self-service basis) within the time allocated.

There are user-friendly computer indexes to the statutory certificates and to the OPRs (not deaths) and there are also name indexes to the 1881 and 1891 Census Returns. Staff are on hand to help the first time users and, sometimes, even the regulars!

In addition to the above basic records there is a well stocked library providing a wide range of additional material such as:

• Indexed Memorial Inscriptions on the gravestones of most cemetries and burial grounds
• Various indexes and CD-ROMs provided by the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
• Maps and Gazetteers
• Street Indexes of the main towns and cities for the 1841-1891 Census Returns
• Name indexes to the earlier census returns in specific districts
• Post Office Directories

The General Register Office (Scotland) leaflet S5 lists professional Associations & Firms, and Private Researchers, all of whom are based in Scotland, most in the Edinburgh area.

Of these, Scottish Roots (www.scottish-roots.co.uk, e-mail: stuart@scottish-roots.co.uk) has recently been licensed to use the Scotland the Brand device (logo). Their Standard Search fee to research a specific ancestral line is £185 sterling. Some private researchers charge less, and English-based organisations much more. If more than one line requires to be searched then the rates increase accordingly. Most professionals are prepared to offer a free estimate in advance.

Generally one can except to get back to the late 1780s but this cannot be guaranteed. It problems are encountered at an early stage, most professionals would abort the search and simply charge for the work completed.

The Internet has revolutionised this means of researching family trees.

By far the most relevant website is "Origins" the official pay-per-view database of the indexes to the records of the GRO(s).

This includes:

• Indexes to the statutory registers of births and marriages from 1855-1899 and deaths from 1855 to 1924;
• Indexes to births/baptisms and proclamations/marriages in the Old Parochial Registers;
• Indexes to the 1891 Census and, when some technical problems are overcome, the 1881 Census

This website, www.open.gov.uk/gros/groshome.htm costs £6 sterling to provide up to 30 pages of index entries (each page comprising a maximum of 15 entries). The actual extracts which have to be ordered from GRO(s), cost £10 each and are despatched by post.

In time, digitised records will become available online starting with the 1891 Census.

Another useful website is Family Search (www.familysearch.org) which makes available, free of charge, all the data compiled by the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS), more popularly known as the Mormons. These are indexes covering the OPRs, and the statutory birth and marriage certificates from 1855 to 1875.

According to Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet (Cyndi's List) there were 63150 genealogy links (as at 16/4/00). Most of these are in respect of mailing lists and newsgroups.

Much will depend on the location of the searcher particularly with regard to direct use of NRH facilities in Edinburgh. Apart from travel and accommodation, the most cost-effective way would be direct visit; the only expenditure being the entrance charge.

In assessing the cost of searching at a distance it should be borne in mind that a) extracts of register entries cost £10 each and that it will be necessary to go back and forth several times to the indexes as the search progresses.

If a search for one ancestral line requires fifteen records to be examined (and they often do) and, say, five visits to the Origins site, this would cost £200.

In most cases a professional research service would offer the most efficient option. The professionals know the pitfalls and the best ways of overcoming the inevitable difficulties which crop up during almost every search.

Most amateurs derive enormous satisfaction from researching their own family tree. It is difficult to describe the "thrill of the chase" and the excitement in eventually finding the "right" certificate or census entry after a lengthy search.

Compilation of a family tree, or pedigree chart, should not be an end in itself. Once you have discovered who your ancestors were, the next stage is to find out more about them, their jobs, their families and the localities in which they lived. You will, of course, have already acquired basic family information from the certificates and census returns.

There follows just a few suggestions:

• Contact the relevant local history library, normally based within the main public library for the town or region concerned. They will hold copies of local newspapers, perhaps containing an obituary on one of your forebears; old photographs possibly showing the street where the family lived and much else besides. Even to scan through old newspapers will give you an insight into the way of life in the town or village.
• Obtain copies of large-scale maps covering those areas where your ancestors lived. In the latter half of the 19^th Century, Ordnance Survey (OS) 25-inch:mile maps were produced for most of central Scotland and for the more populous areas elsewhere. The whole country is covered by the 6 inch:mile maps.

Copies may be ordered from the National Library of Scotland Map Library (www.nls.uk, e-mail: maps@nls.uk)

• Visit local and industrial museums. These will also give you an insight into the conditions in which your ancestors lived and worked.
• Join the appropriate Local Family History Society who might even be able to put you in touch with relations you never knew you had!

Some recommended books:

The best, and most up-to-date practical guide is: Tracing Scottish Ancestors by Rosemary Bigwood (Harper Collins 1999)

A very readable history of the records of the General Register Office for Scotland is: Jock Tamsons Bairns by Cecil Sinclair (GROS, 2000).

Concerning the resources of the National Archives of Scotland the following is now some years old but still in print: Tracing your Scottish Ancestors, Scottish Record Office (Mercat Press 1991).

For anyone requiring local or specialised resources there is one invaluable publication: Exploring Scottish History, 2nd Edition, edited by Michael Cox (Scottish Library Association 1999).

An example of a Standard Search

To get an idea of what you can get from a professional genealogist see Alastair's Ancestry Research which cost £185.00 to search one line of his family.