Genealogical Goldmine - Kirk Session

One of the most common issues with genealogical research in Scotland is hitting a brick wall at a time where records start to dry up and you just can’t accurately identify your family line. The first census was in 1841, civil registration didn’t start until 1855, so before the 1840s we’re reliant on other sources such as old parish registers, wills, land documents and so on.

Some of the best and richest information is contained in church records but for a variety of reasons these are often neglected by researchers. If you’ve never dipped a toe into the wonderful world of the Kirk, here’s why you really should.

Church Kirk Session Records – accessing and purpose

The Church of Scotland is the established Protestant church in Scotland and in a time before civil registration was a powerful body. Parents were supposed to have their babies baptised by a minister even if they had no particular religious faith, and the church regulated marriage too. Church “Sessions” made up of the parish minister and some senior (male) members of the congregation known as Elders also managed relief of the poor in the parish, heard paternity cases, and sat in moral judgement of parishioners who had not committed any criminal offence, but who had sinned according to the rules of the church.

What records there are have been scanned and are available online through Scotland’s People. From the homepage, click on “virtual volumes”. Then I find it easiest to click on “place search” and enter the name of the town, village or parish which you are interested in. Depending on what records have survived, you may be presented with a range of options. Kirk session minutes are the most common, and we’ll talk about these in a second. There may also be accounting ledgers, communion rolls, lists of parishioners, seat allocations in the church and more. Everything that exists has been scanned – if you don’t find records for a particular year or timespan on Scotland’s People, they haven’t survived.

However – and I think this is the reason people are put off using these records – the collection is not indexed beyond being categorised by parish. You can’t put in someone’s name or surname and see if there is any reference to them. So it’s a case of starting at the beginning of the period you’re interested in and reading. Some of these records go back to the 1620s and both handwriting and document condition can be challenging.

Detail in Kirk Session Records

The Kirk Session records are not standardised, each parish did their own thing with one of the Elders acting as scribe – typically a local lawyer or schoolteacher who was literate. In general terms, the later the record, the easier to read. Here are a couple of examples of things in the Kirk Session records from Kelso in the Scottish Borders which are genealogical gold dust.

October 26th, 1777.

Compeared Agnes Gascoigne, an unmarried woman, who being interrogated, acknowledged that she had brought a child in uncleanness, about five weeks ago, and being charged to be ingenuous, said that Joseph Skirvine, a single soldier in the Regiment called Scotch Royals and no other was the father of her child, that the guilt was committed about the 22nd December last, in the town of Kelso.

(note: Compeared is a Scottish legal term meaning to appear in court.)

Feb 26th, 1778

Compeared John Aitchison and Margt Jackson, who being interrogated, acknowledged themselves irregularly married and produced a certificate of the same dated at Edinr Feb 18th 1778 and signed by Chas Johnston as Minr.

The immediate value of these entries is clear and the time period is 65 years before the first census. The Session records are packed with this sort of stuff – people who have got married outwith the parish by declaration rather than in front of the minister and congregation, women (never men) admonished for having children illegitimately, multiple rebukes for fornication and even people being hauled up in front of the minister to justify why they were working on the Sabbath.

If you've never looked at Kirk Session records before - why not have a go? And if you find them too challenging or too time consuming, I'm only too happy to help.