Scotland Census

Sometimes, our research can get bogged down while we work on our family history. Not the least of which is in the field of parish registers. Some time ago, when I started this quest to find my ancestors, I was introduced to this list of twelve stones out of stumbling while I was doing an online course with tutors Pharos. Some of the barriers below can be circumvented, while others are not so easy to overcome!

1. Handwriting - It can be devilishly difficult to decipher and may vary greatly from parish to parish by the vicar or the clerk to write. The art of reading the ancient script is called paleography and you can find different books available for purchase in bookstores. Guides are available online at the National Archives site http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/Palaeography/ and another in Scotland peoples site http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ . This site is worth a visit even if you do not have Scottish ancestors that their guide is really useful to family historians.

2. Errors in documents - the records are often copies of the book original memorandum daily. They may have been written once a year and so the possibility of errors creeping or entries being ignored becomes a real possibility. If this has happened to the records you should use it no real work here other than to find a source of surrogate data.

3. Gaps in the records or they are completely absent is another vexing problem with no real recourse.

4. Details may be lacking in the records as there was no standard applied to what should be recorded.

5. Before 1733 most legal documents be written in Latin, although names, at least, would not be translated into Latin. My solution here is to do an Internet search for a Latin to English translation page, where entering the Latin in the box a translation in English is produced.

6. Spelling of names may vary from the norm. Think spellings probable how a name sounded to the writer. Remember also to consider the local accent when you do.

7. You can not find a baptism? Perhaps the children were not baptized at all or were baptized when they were older? In one of my four or five branches have all been baptized together on the same day! Remember to keep looking for several years.

8. Periods of non-compliance. Again, in my paternal line, I find several children baptized in the Established Church, and several others in the Presbyterian chapel, before returning to the Church of England. The lesson I learned from this was not to suppose that they were C of E from cradle to grave.

9. Illegitimacy - Do you have an ancestor whose parentage is in doubt? Search local folders poor law as bastardy bonds if you do not find your ancestor in church records.

10. A person who gives the details of the minister could be wrong and not knowing where they were born. The solution here is to expand your search to other parishes.

11. The people traveled more than many people expect so be prepared to examine the surrounding parishes that you assume your ancestors came from.

Similarly, the family may have moved into the area of a different parish. Here, you must search the parishes of the IGI or the County Record Office for a ten mile radius. A great piece of software to help find the names of neighboring parishes Parish is to find shelter from this site: