Old Parish Registers

Prior to 1855 all baptisms, marriages and deaths within the Church of Scotland were recorded by parish clerks. They were recorded in the parochial registers which are now available on microfiche at the General Registry Office and other sites around Scotland.

The Old Parish Registers (OPRs) do not by any means provide a complete record of baptisms, marriages and deaths in Scotland for many reasons. The first OPR was a register of deaths, burials and mortcloths kept in Anstruther Wester in Fife from 1549; the first baptisms were not recorded until 1553. In many cases records are missing or pages are stained or damaged. Also, the handwriting from hundreds of years ago is often faded and can be very difficult to read.

It is fair to say that some clerks were better than others at keeping records. It is not uncommon to come across a birth where the name of the mother was not even recorded and in some parishes there were few records of marriages kept as this was not regarded as a sacrament of the church.

And of course these were the records of the Church of Scotland. If a person was not a member of a Church of Scotland congregation they will not be found in the Church of Scotland records.

From 1773 a stamp duty was levied on entry into the registers. This duty, 3d, was levied on each and every entry of birth, baptism, marriage or death and refusal to pay could lead to a substantial fine. Needless to say many events went unrecorded as a result of this tax.

All in all, the OPRs are a vital source of information to the genealogist but it must always be remembered that they are incomplete and will not necessarily cover every event.