Old Parish Registers (OPRs) comprise the births/baptisms, proclamations of banns/marriages, deaths/burials recorded by parish ministers or session clerks of the Established (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland before the beginning of compulsory civil registration in 1855. The earliest date from 1553, but most began after 1600 and some are much later. The original registers were deposited with the General Register Office for Scotland under the 1854 Registration Act and microfilm copies are available for public scrutiny. However, the condition of the registers varied enormously - some were well looked after and neatly written, while others were incomplete, badly kept, eaten by mice, affected by damp or missing altogether. Recording of deaths/burials was particularly sparse and there are currently no national indexes available for these. However, a national project is currently underway to index burials before 1855. See GROS for a List of Old Parish Registers. The Scottish Association of Family History Societies also publishes a useful guide to "The Parishes, Registers and Registrars of Scotland" (1993) Reprinted 2001 ISBN 1-874722-05-6, which incorporates parish maps for each county.
As with the condition of the registers, the standard of record keeping was variable and the amount of information recorded can affect the outcome of your research. You should not expect too much from OPRs, when compared to the information found in the statutory records. For example, at best, you may find the following in a birth/baptism: name of the child, date of birth and/or date of baptism, father's name, mother's name and maiden surname, place or parish of residence, occupation of the father and names of witnesses. Occasionally, as in, for example, Dundee, witnesses' relationship to the child (if any) may be recorded. On the other hand, it is quite common for the mother's name to be unrecorded in some parishes in certain years. A burial entry might just be a name and a date recording payment of the fee for use of the mortcloth (the pall used to cover the coffin), with no age given.
Not every event was actually recorded - many people simply did not bother, particularly if they had to pay a fee (or tax as was the case 1783-1794). Rapid urbanisation during the 19th century contributed to the diminishing influence of the Church and a decrease in registration in these areas. As such, it was estimated at the time that as few as 30% of events actually occurring were being recorded for some urban parishes. A number of people belonged to other religious denominations altogether and although some non-conformists can be found in Established Church registers, many preferred to register in their own church. Non-conformist records (Episcopalian, Methodist, Free Church etc.) are held in the National Archives for Scotland or in local archives. All Catholic Parish Registers are now located at the Scottish Catholic Archives, Columba House, Edinburgh and currently all birth and baptism records are available, indexed, via the ScotlandsPeople website. All other Catholic parish registers (marriages, deaths, confirmations etc) will be available online by the end of 2009.
A Register of Neglected Entries, compiled by the Registrar-General after statutory registration began in 1855, contains some birth, marriage and death entries proved to have occurred between 1801 and 1854, but not entered into the parish registers. These are located at the end of the microfilm reel of the appropriate register.
Sources
General Register Office for Scotland
, HM New Register House, Edinburgh
- holds the original registers for the whole of Scotland, with microfilm copies available for public scrutiny. See GROS for more information. Indexes to, and images of OPR births&baptisms and banns&marriages can be viewed here on ScotlandsPeople.
Local Registrars
- may have access to OPR indexes for whole of Scotland and images for own area.
LDS Family History Centres
- provide access to the International Genealogical Index (IGI), compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from parish registers and other sources of births & baptisms and banns & marriages. Deaths & burials are not included. On-line access is through www.familysearch.org.
Local libraries
- generally have OPR indexes on microfiche, images on microfilm for own area, and copy of the IGI on microfiche.
Family History Societies
- generally have OPR indexes on microfiche, images on microfilm for own area, and copies of the IGI.
For more information on searching OPR records, see Record Types & Examples