International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Old Parish Registers

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Before the introduction of Statutory Registration in Scotland, the most easily accessible source of information about our ancestors is the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland.  

This course will examine in detail the pleasures and pitfalls of the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) and the extent to which they survive. The various indexes to the OPRs and sources to find copies of the OPRs will be examined.  

The course will cover the main categories of records for christenings, marriage banns and deaths; and will consider irregular marriages and discuss the major alternative sources for death records: local authority burial records and Monumental Inscriptions.   

Course Length: 6 weeks

Optional Course Print Material: Scottish: Wills and Testaments

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Wills are one of the most valuable sources for genealogists because they usually mention several family members, even from collateral branches of the family. They are often the easiest means of extending a family tree before the introduction of Statutory Registration in Scotland.    

This course will examine Scottish Confirmations and Inventories (the equivalent of English Wills and Admons) in detail. It will cover the legislation defining what could be willed at various periods and the courts which had jurisdiction. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Census Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course looks at the history, structure and contents of the 1841-1911 censuses of Scotland. Strategies for searching and locating the records will be discussed together with the limitations of the various sources. We will then look at the research possibilities of earlier census returns, together with their survival back to Rev. Dr. Alexander Webster’s census of 1755. We will also look at the National Identity Register of 1939.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Course Print Material: Scottish: Statutory Registration

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Birth, marriage and death certificates are the fundamental building blocks of genealogical research in Scotland. This course looks at the development of the Statutory Registration system in Scotland. It will provide the practical details needed to understand the system of civil registration, where to find and how to use indexes and certificates. The course looks in detail at what the certificates can tell us and at the legislation that affected what was included in certificates at the different periods and in both copies of the registers and certified copies of the certificates.   

We will also look briefly at other, less well-known, birth, marriage and death registers including the Minor Records, register of Stillbirths and the Register of Adoptions.     

While civil registration started, eighteen years later in Scotland than it did in England and Wales, the records hold much more information and are easier to access. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Beyond the OPRs

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course explores the Church of Scotland records beyond the Old Parish Records or Old Parochial Records (OPRs). It covers the records of:

• Kirk Sessions
• Presbyteries
• Synods
• General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. 

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Land and Property Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course explores the many sources available for tracing land and property in Scotland. Students will become familiar with the laws concerning the inheritance and ownership of property and the different types of records available to trace both landowners and tenants. Practical guidance is given on locating records held in Scottish archives and in using the many sources now accessible online. 

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: The Poor and Poor Relief

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Scottish: The Poor and Poor Relief explores the background and history of poor relief in Scotland from the Middle Ages to mid-twentieth century. The course includes the system of poorhouses from the eighteenth century, inspectors of poor played a large role in the administration of relief. The Poor Law Amendment Act (Scotland) of 1845 is a crucial piece of legislation in the evolution of  poor relief. Its operation and effects on the public are important. The poor law system produced a great deal of documentation, which gives detailed insights into the lives of poor Scots and their families. The course covers in detail how they can be used to trace ancestors. Various strategies used to search these records and other sources available in archives and online are explained. General reference sources useful to clarify Scottish language, geography, and palaeography are also included.

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Special Aspects of Scottish Research

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course introduces concepts and terms which a student of Scottish family history coming to the topic for the first time is unlikely to have encountered in research in other jurisdictions.

The topics in this course include: Scottish currency, weights, and measures; dates/calendars; languages; glossaries; handwriting; names and naming patterns; clans, septs, and tartans; clan and surname DNA projects; heraldry; and compiled genealogies.