Learning Zone - New to Scottish Indexes?

What exactly do you have on your genealogy website?

We have a wide range of genealogy records from Census and birth, marriage and death records to prison records and Scottish Asylum records. You can find out exactly which records you are searching here on our coverage pages.

Is this really a free Scottish genealogy website?

As you can see, we have no login and our family history indexes are not behind a 'paywall'. Some of our records, such as the census, are a full transcription. Our indexes are free and we give the National Records of Scotland catalogue reference so that you can look at the original record for free. If you cannot visit the archive yourself and you want the full record, you can pay a small research fee and one of our genealogists will assist you to access the original. We can offer this because of people like you, family history researchers who volunteer to index records and sponsor our genealogists to index records.

I have an illegitimate ancestor, can you help?

There are no guarantees in genealogy but yes, we can often help. Our Sheriff Court paternity case index is the place to start but feel free to get in touch if you need some assistance.

Kirk Session records can also help when a father is not named on the birth certificate or when you cannot find a baptism record. Kirk Session records are generally minute books kept by the elders of the church. If an unmarried woman was found to have a child she would be asked by the Kirk Session (Church court) who the father was. Unlike in the legal courts, she did not need to provide evidence. This means we sometimes find a father named in these records who is not named on a birth certificate.

These records are held by the National Records of Scotland and most of the Church of Scotland records have been digitised. Sadly these records are not online but we can make searches for you.

Can you help me find criminal ancestors?

We can indeed and we love doing it. There are over 800,000 entries in 'Scotland's Criminal Database' which you can search for free. When our ancestors were struggling they often left a paper trail behind.

Do you take US Dollars, Canadian Dollars or Australian Dollars?

As the question highlights, we have customers from all over the world. We are also a small business. We bill in pounds but as we use PayPal as it is simple and straightforward for you to pay online from anywhere in the world. You will find a link to your 'Shopping Cart' at the top and bottom of every page on our website.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like a book. Do you sell books?

When we began, all our indexes were sold as books! The world has now changed and there are obvious advantages to having online indexes and PDFs: but yes, we can still supply books. Visit our bookshop to see what genealogy books we have, and if you want a printed copy please contact us.

I am really stuck, can you help me trace my Scottish family history?

Yes we can. Please visit our research page for more details.

How can I find Scottish Birth, Marriage and Death Records?

A major change happened in 1855. Before 1855 we usually use church records, and after 1855 we look at civil records. Our Scottish genealogy Learning Zone sections explain this in detail.