ScotlandsPeople adds more dissenter Presbyterian baptism records

From ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk):

More than 3,000 baptism records covering the period 1752-1855 have recently been added to ScotlandsPeople. These new additions cover Presbyterian congregations in Ayrshire, Fife, Dundee Renfrewshire, Aberdeenshire and Midlothian and may be helpful for anyone searching for a person who was born before the introduction of statutory registration in 1855.

The baptismal entries occur within the records of Presbyterian churches which were outside the Church of Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries but had united with the Church of Scotland by 1929. The Church of Scotland compiled what are known as Old Parish Registers (OPRs) of baptisms, marriages and burials prior to 1855 but OPRs do not always record baptisms carried out by other churches, which kept their registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. NRS has been indexing these ‘Other Church Registers’ and adding them to the ScotlandsPeople site since 2016. More baptism entries from other congregations are in preparation.

If you are unable to find an ancestor within the OPRs, consult the ‘Roman Catholic Church records’ and within ‘other churches’ for pre-1855 events, especially for the period 1843-54, when a third of the Church of Scotland members left to set up the Free Church.

Search the church baptism registers or read more about them in our church registers guide.

List of volumes released in August 2019

Beith – Head St Relief (CH3/1054/10) 1802-1820
Dundee – Tay Square United Secession (CH3/94/15) 1831-1848
Dunfermline – Gillespie Relief (CH3/1689/5/1) 1752-1782
East Calder Associate (CH3/349/2) 1777-1802
Greenock – Trinity Associate, Nicholson Street United Presbyterian (CH3/659/9) 1836-1850
Irvine Relief, Irvine United Presbyterian (CH3/409/1) 1778-1831
Kintore Free (CH3/195/3) 1843-1855

Fiurther information is available at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-article-release-additional-presbyterian-church-records

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scottish Research Online course starts 2 September 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.