Family Roots in Scotland will trace your Family Tree as far back as possible, normally to the early 1800s and perhaps even the mid/late 1700s.

To do so, Family Roots in Scotland researches the Official Records held by the General Register Office for Scotland, such as Statutory Birth, Marriage and Death certificates from 1855, Census Records from 1841-1911, and Old Parish Registers from 1538-1854. These records cover the whole of Scotland.

You will be provided copies of all the successful documents found in the preparation of your Family Tree.

From the Official Records:

Statutory Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates

Civil registration in Scotland became compulsory on 1st January, 1855 regardless of religious denomination (see Old Parish Registers below). A standard format was introduced for each record, providing more comprehensive information than that contained on the equivalents in England, Wales and Ireland.

For example, Marriage and Death Certificates in Scotland normally provide the names and occupations of the parents, and an indication whether the parents were still alive at the time of the Marriage or Death so recorded.

On-line images of Birth Certificates are available up to 100 years ago, Marriage Certificates to 75 years ago, and Death Certificates to 50 years ago. 

Physical copies of more recent event Certificates are also available, but at additional cost.

Census Records

Census records are taken every 10 years to record information on Scotland's population. Records are only made available for public scrutiny after 100 years.

The information recorded during a Census is a snap-shot of the people in a household on a given night, be they family members, lodgers, visitors, servants etc. It will identify the Head of the family, their relationship to every other person at that address, their names, ages, occupations and birthplaces.

As such, Census records can provide information on the wider family, geographic mobility through the birthplaces, and social mobility through addresses and occupations.

Old Parish Registers

These comprise the Births & Baptisms, Banns & Marriages and Deaths & Burials (*) recorded before the introduction of civil registration in 1855.

There was no formality to Parish records, and as such, record keeping varied enormously from year to year/parish to parish. Although there was a requirement for parishes to record births and marriages from 1552, some did not do so until much later. Additionally, it was also costly and unpopular so many events went unrecorded. As such, the information varies greatly in availability, reliability and legibility.

(*) Deaths & Burials

There was no requirement to keep such records, and hence their coverage is very sparse. Further, the information recorded could contain very little detail, perhaps as little as a Surname.

As such, it is extremely difficult to accurately identify individuals from these records.

Likelihoods

It may not always be possible to definitively identify an event or individual from the official records. Any information which cannot be cross-referenced or confirmed by supporting documentation will be supplied and identified as a "likelihood" only.

Family Roots in Scotland will also make use of a wide range of other sources – from official, recorded, published sources such as Wills & Testaments, military records, Passenger Lists etc, to unofficial, unrecorded, personalised, local sources such as shared, commercial sites - to provide additional information on your family.

All information taken from an unofficial source will be identified as a “likelihood” –  

              and is provided free of charge!