Scottish: Basic Sources (From 2012 - Scottish: Statutory Registration )

NOTE: The initial course start date is tentative. Please check back periodically as there may be some slight changes.

AFTER JUNE 2012:
SCOTTISH: STATUTORY REGISTRATION (Sheena Tait)
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 which affected what was included in certificates at the different periods of time and in both copies of the registers and certified copies of the certificates.

BEFORE JANUARY 2008
BASIC SOURCES (Arlene Eakle)
The usual approach to building a pedigree is to begin at the local level, where records closer to the family members are kept. Tracing a Scottish family in 2004 requires a more efficient access to data. The General Register Office for Scotland (GRO-S) received official and mandated copies of many of the records we consider "local" (because they were collected at the local level). These records have been entered into a digital database, centrally and directly available to you—so, we begin here.

Jurisdictionally, we orient ourselves to the parish (district) and the county. Practically, we search the central database for these parish and county records. This will happen with several record categories required in your research because of the need of government officials to report, account for, collect, and preserve the records of your ancestors.