How to Find Ancestors From Scotland
Scottish family roots are among the easiest ethnic heritages to trace because there is such a wealth of information in the Scottish national archives. And the good news for those who want to find ancestors from Scotland is that much of the information contained in the Scottish national archives has been made available to search through online. Through these records, you can discover information on your Scottish ancestors' births, christenings, their occupations, religions, marriages, how they lived, where they lived, the history of their community, when they died, and more.
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Instructions
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Trace your family line back to the first of your ancestor(s) to immigrate to the United States from Scotland. If you don't already have this information, you'll have to acquire it.
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Interview older relatives to see what they can tell you about your family history. The most valuable piece of information you can have about your immigrant Scottish ancestor(s) is their first name and surname; date of birth, death, marriage, and/or immigration; what parish your ancestors were from. Even if you're able to obtain this information simply through interviewing your relatives, you still need to corroborate your relatives' accounts of your family history by finding public records to support your relatives' claims. For instance, finding your immigrant Scottish ancestor(s) listed in U.S. nationalization records or on a ship's passenger list would serve to authenticate verbal accounts.
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Verify whatever information you have about your family history through official U.S. documents such as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, census records, and property records. If your relatives are not knowledgeable about the family line going back to the family's immigrant Scottish ancestor(s), take what information your relatives can supply you with about the family history to help you trace your family roots back to your immigrant Scottish ancestor(s) through U.S., or even possibly Canadian, public records. For some, your Scottish family line may have come to the States via Canada. Ancestry.com is a great online resource for various public records.
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Find the parish where your first Scottish immigration ancestor came from if you don't already know. Once you know the name of your Scottish ancestor, if you can also track down where this person lived in the U.S., the date of immigration or the ship he came over on, when he became a U.S. citizen, what he did for a living, or when he died, you stand a good chance of also being able to track down the town of origin in Scotland. Your Scottish ancestor's nationalization records, obituary, or pension records may provide this information. You could also check passenger records, and old local newspapers where your Scottish ancestors lived which may include sections which list passengers and new arrivals.
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Educate yourself on Scotland's historical versus modern geography of administrative divisions. You'll need to understand this geography in order to track down records of your Scottish ancestors. Prior to civil registration in 1855, Scottish vital records were logged and filed according to local parishes. Parishes are the districts contained within Scotland's counties. You can use the "Scots Family: Parish List" resource link to help you determine the modern county name for the parish your ancestor(s) lived in.
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Use the "General Registry Office of Scotland" and "Scotland's People" resource links contained in this article to look up birth, baptism, marriage, and death records for your Scottish ancestor(s).
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Tips & Warnings
When searching for your ancestors in Scottish public records, try using different spelling variations of your ancestors' surname.
