Do you have early Scottish ancestors? Search for your kin in the most comprehensive collection of regular and irregular Scottish marriage records online, transcribed and compiled from a wide range of primary sources.
Do you have early Scottish ancestors? Search for your kin in the most comprehensive collection of regular and irregular Scottish marriage records online, transcribed and compiled from a wide range of primary sources.
The detail contained in these records can vary (particularly by parish and era), but you will usually find the following information:
The Scottish national parish collection was compiled from a variety of different sources, from a number of organisations including:
It contains transcriptions of the original surviving Church of Scotland OPR (Old Parish Registers) material from across the country, including later records that have never been seen before online. It is supplemented by further new records from other faiths, including the Scottish Episcopal Church, Free Church of Scotland, United Free Church, and more.
Irregular ceremonies
Scotland has a tradition of Irregular marriage, legal until 1940.This consisted of a couple 'declaring their marriage' in front of witnesses, but not in a church ceremony. The church would legitimise the marriage by making the couple pay a fine, and writing this information into the records of the Kirk Session.
A growing number of these have been volunteer indexed and added to this collection, to give the best possible chance of finding your ancestors even if they did not marry in the expected manner.
Cross-border marriage
This collection also contains cross-border marriages, where individuals from other countries have arrived in Scotland to take advantage of permissive marriage laws to marry quickly or conveniently. These visitors arrived from both Ireland and England, often choosing areas just at the border.
Portpatrick is a popular destination for Irish marriages, while English ceremonies often took place at Gretna among other nearby locations.
This collection has been comprehensively indexed. Try using elements of what you know to get to the records you need, by using different fields, or the keyword search. You don't need to fill every field, add more information if you get too many potential results to narrow things down.
These records have been transcribed from the original documents, some of which have deteriorated considerably since their creation and become harder to read. make use of Wildcards to ensure you have the best possible chance of finding your ancestors.
The Findmypast Scottish collection is large and growing. Consider supplementing your research in this record set by exploring some of the following additional resources, accessible from the all record sets part of the website:
New Scottish records are regularly added to the website. Revisit old names and searches periodically to be sure to catch additional information about your ancestors that may have been added since your last visit.