Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry through Church and State Records

Book excerpt: “The ideal instructional guide and reference for anyone doing genealogical research” by the author of Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet (Midwest Book Review). Despite its Union with England and Wales in 1707, Scotland remained virtually independent from its partners in many ways, retaining its own legal system, its own state church, and its own education system. In Tracing Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, genealogist Chris Paton examines the most common records used by family historians in Scotland, ranging from the vital records kept by the state and the various churches, the decennial censuses, tax records, registers of land ownership and inheritance, and records of law and order. Through precepts of clare constat and ultimus haeres records, feudalism and udal tenure, to irregular marriages, penny weddings and records of sequestration, Chris Paton expertly explores the unique concepts and language within many Scottish records that are simply not found elsewhere within the British Isles. He details their purpose and the information recorded, the legal basis by which they were created, and where to find them both online and within Scotland’s many archives and institutions. “A useful and very readable introduction to Scottish records, with many case studies to assist the reader, but there is also much in it that may be new to more experienced family historians.” —The Local Historian, journal of the British Association for Local History “Leads the reader through the Scottish record jungle.” —Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections