Where to start with Scottish Research?

[Forfarian]

A few niggly points picked up in Pam's excellent survey of the initial topic.

For those of you not able to get to Edinburgh, contact your local Registry Office to see what research facilities are available.

This applies only to Registry Offices in Scotland.

ScotlandsPeople have indexed all the parish records available and they are searchable from their site www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

They have indexed the extant Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic registers, but not those of any other denomination.

There are many Family and Local History Centres (FHS & LHS) around Scotland

Films of the Church of Scotland parish registers (and the 1841-1891 Censuses) can be ordered for viewing at any LDS Church Family History Centre anywhere in the world, not just in Scotland.

Probate in Scotland is based on Scottish Law

There is no such thing as 'probate' in Scots Law. The corresponding process is called Confirmation. The number of wills available depends on the number of people who made a will, not on differences in the legal process to deal with them.

[Forfarian]

ScotlandsPeople have indexed all the parish records available and they are searchable from their site www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

They have indexed the extant Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic registers, but not those of any other denomination.

Should have updated this before .... SP has now indexed many, probably most, of the surviving Free and Secession churches' registers in the care of the National Records of Scotland. Not all, because they have to have the permission of the relevant church or its successor to digitise and image them, and some permissions have not (yet) been obtained.

[Forfarian]

It is worth trying to see the Kirk Sessions records as these payments can be listed there rather than in the baptismal or marriage books.

Another, rather belated update.

Most of the older Kirk Session records are now available at Scotland's People under 'Virtual Volumes'. They are not indexed, but they are free to view.

[Ronda231]

I recently came across a parish entry for a 'Private marriage'  in Edinburgh.

This surprised me as I thought that the Scottish church had held a very strong grip on such things at that time (1794).

However after looking into it further I found out that the Scottish law on marriage was quite flexible:

“The law of Scotland as to marriage was this – it adopted the principle that consent alone made marriage… The law of Scotland did not require the presence of a priest, nor the intervention of any religious ceremony. The law of Scotland considered marriage to be a civil contract, but it did not provide any particular mode by which that contract was to be proved”

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/irregular-marriage-and-kirk-session-scotland

I have a lot of people in my extended family tree with very large families, but frequently I've been unable to find a Parish record for a marriage - so maybe there wasn't one and I've been searching in vain!

Best regards