Family History Research Primary Sources
We are fortunate that all the most essential sources for Scottish family history research are held in Edinburgh, where we are based. These are our most frequently used sources:

Statutory Registers
From 1855 onwards in Scotland, it has been compulsory to register all Births, Marriages and Deaths. These very detailed records are known as the Statutory Registers. Their annual index is generally our starting point in genealogical research.

Old Parochial Registers
Our principal source of information for ancestors in Scotland who lived, married and died before 1855 is the Old Parochial Registers - usually known as the OPRs.

Whilst the information given in the Statutory Registers is uniform, the quality and quantity of that provided by the OPRs varies enormously from parish to parish.

Some registers may date from the 1500s, others do not begin until the 1800s, while many have substantial gaps, were badly kept, or have suffered the damage of time, damp, fire and mice!

In addition, since registration in the OPRs was not compulsory, many people chose not to make use of them at all; members of Seceder, Episcopalian and Roman Catholic congregations were particularly reluctant, as the OPRs are the records of the Established Church of Scotland.

All the original OPRs are now in the custody of the Registrar General. As many of them are extremely fragile, access to them is by microfilm.

Censuses
The first detailed Census of the whole of Scotland was taken in 1841; it gives the full name of each person, their occupation, ages to within five years and whether or not they were born in the county.

Subsequent censuses, taken at ten year intervals are designed to give the relationship of each person to the head of the household, the exact age and the parish of birth.

Comprehensive name indexes are available for all Scotland for the 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 Censuses. The 1901 Census is the last open to public inspection.

Scottish naming custom
When a point is reached where we no longer have certain knowledge of an ancestor's parents' names, we rely on Scottish naming custom to guide us. According to tradition in Scotland, the eldest son and second daughter were named after their paternal grandparents, the second son and eldest daughter after their maternal grandparents.

Although this custom was widely followed, there were, of course, always individual and local exceptions, but naming patterns remain a useful guide for searches in earlier times.

Wills (testaments)
Most of our ancestors struggled to earn a living for themselves and their families, and few were lucky enough to own much property in the form of valuable possessions, money or land. Testaments were usually recorded in the local Commissary Court until 1824, then in the local Sheriff Court. There is a national index now available.

General Particular and Burgh Registers of Sasines
Heritable landed property can be traced in the General and Particular Registers of Sasines, established in 1617 (although some fragmented , earlier records exist).

All the General and Particular Registers are indexed from 1781, but fewer than half before this date. Certain Scottish Burghs were entitled to keep their own Registers of Sasines, but relatively few of these are indexed.