Vital Records in Scotland

Civil Registration of births, marriages and deaths begain in 1855. Both Civil Registration records and the Old Parochial Registers can be found at:

General Register Office New Register House Princes Street Edinburgh EH1 3YT Scotland

Census returns for the years 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 are also held at this address. You cannot visit this office for personal searches, they must be made by mail/post.

Unfortunately, Scottish parish registers were mostly poorly kept. Many of the registers were not started until the early 18th century. However one should still search parochial and parish registers. An advantage to tracing ancestors in Scotland is the "Sasines Registers". This is a large register of records on the transfer of lands titles from one owner to the next. Therefore, it is possible to trace anyone who was a land owner, even if they only owned a small house/cottage. These records exist from the early 17th century and are located at:

Scottish Records Office H.M. General Register House Edinburghh EH1 3YY Scotland

The Scottish Records Office also has a large number of public and privately donated records and family histories.

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