New Scottish church ministers database

I have just been informed in the comments section of a previous post on this site that an index to the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae and other church based biography guides is now available online at http://ecclegen.com/general-index-general-index/, a website entitled Ecclegen which I have not come across before.

The Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae is a multi-volume collection providing biographical summaries of Church of Scotland ministers from the 1560 Reformation to the 20th century. In the past it was often a messy process looking for the correct entry for a minister, as you needed to know which synod he served in to locate the correct entry. A database version of the set on the subscription based Ancestry website has been previously made available at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1923, whilst a completely free but unindexed presentation of the volumes is available on the Internet Archive (www.archive.org). This new database links to these latter volumes on the Internet Archive, presenting ministers' names in alphabetical order, some with the year of their first ordination and place of ordination noted alongside. For some, more than one link is given, for each charge taken hold of - for example (the references on the database in italics are linked to the relevant sources):

Halkett or Halket, Andrew:
1843, New Brunswick, FES, Vol.7, p.609; 1847, Brechin, FES, Vol.5, p.378

Information for some nonconformist ministers, as sourced from further sources (including The Annals of the Free Church of Scotland and History of the Congergations of the United Presbyterian Church from 1733 to 1900), is also presented - for example the following record for an Archibald Hall:

Hall, Archibald:
1760, Torphichen (Burgher), Small, History, Vol.1, p.678; General, Small, History, Vol.1, p.598; Family, Small, History, Vol.1, p.683; Scott, Annals, p.265

This looks to be a very promising and useful website and database - a blog post is available on the site with additional details about the project at http://ecclegen.com/2017/09/04/fasti-ecclesiae-scoticanae-digital-index-2/.

NB: For more on the background to the history of the Church of Scotland, and the various schisms and mergers both from and to it following the Reformation, see the free to access Kirk History chapter at the top of this page, https://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/kirk-history.html.

(With thanks to 'RC'!)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.