Getting Started
In order to commence any research on your behalf we need some information
from you that will form the starting point of our research. Depending on what
information you seek we are likely to need a full name, date, and place of birth to
get started. Any other information is always helpful. Once we are sure that we
have the correct information we will commence work on your research.
For example, if you want to know about your fathers side of the family we would
need his full name and his exact or rough date and place of birth, or the date and
location of his parents marriage (on his birth certificate) or his own marriage, or
details of where and when he died. From this we should be able to work our way
back into the 18th century and depending on the condition of the records or
migration patterns of your ancestors we should be able to go back even further.
Example: John Hume Robertson, born 4th June 1874, at Glasgow. Parents: John
Agnew Robertson and Helen Smith married at Glasgow on 24th September 1873.
If you are concerned that you do not have enough information then please do not
hesitate to get in touch with us using the contact us page and we will discuss the
matter with you. We will assess whether or not it would be possible to make a
connection before commencing any research.
Once you have sent us enough details about the person whose ancestry you wish to
explore we will carry out a free preliminary search to assess whether or not the
research is viable. We will search the records and establish whether or not we can
find anything to work with. After a short period of time we will email you to
inform you about the results of the search. If we can find the person in the records
we can commence work to build your family tree after payment is received.
We use an extensive range of sources in
researching your family history however
customers should generally expect to
receive information from the following
records:
Birth Certificates
1855 - Present
Marriage Certificates
1855 - Present
Death Certificates
1855 - Present
Census Records
1841 - 1901
Old Parish Registers
1553 - 1854
Birth, marriage and death certificates in
Scotland have been recorded since 1855.
From these we can learn when and where
a person was born, who the parents were
and what they did for a living. Before 1855 we have surprisingly complete, Old
Parish Register entries of birth, marriage and death to aid in building your Scottish
family tree that on the most part date from the early 18th century.
Detailed census records for the decades covering 1841-1901 exist that can really
help to cast some light on where your ancestors were from, who their children
were, where they lived, etc. Census records are not released until a period of 100
years has expired to protect the identities of the living. The next census to be
released will be the 1911 census in 2011.
A wealth of important information can be garnered from these important sources
that might help to solve that old family mystery or perhaps even give rise to a new
family mystery!
from you that will form the starting point of our research. Depending on what
information you seek we are likely to need a full name, date, and place of birth to
get started. Any other information is always helpful. Once we are sure that we
have the correct information we will commence work on your research.
For example, if you want to know about your fathers side of the family we would
need his full name and his exact or rough date and place of birth, or the date and
location of his parents marriage (on his birth certificate) or his own marriage, or
details of where and when he died. From this we should be able to work our way
back into the 18th century and depending on the condition of the records or
migration patterns of your ancestors we should be able to go back even further.
Example: John Hume Robertson, born 4th June 1874, at Glasgow. Parents: John
Agnew Robertson and Helen Smith married at Glasgow on 24th September 1873.
If you are concerned that you do not have enough information then please do not
hesitate to get in touch with us using the contact us page and we will discuss the
matter with you. We will assess whether or not it would be possible to make a
connection before commencing any research.
Once you have sent us enough details about the person whose ancestry you wish to
explore we will carry out a free preliminary search to assess whether or not the
research is viable. We will search the records and establish whether or not we can
find anything to work with. After a short period of time we will email you to
inform you about the results of the search. If we can find the person in the records
we can commence work to build your family tree after payment is received.
We use an extensive range of sources in
researching your family history however
customers should generally expect to
receive information from the following
records:
Birth Certificates
1855 - Present
Marriage Certificates
1855 - Present
Death Certificates
1855 - Present
Census Records
1841 - 1901
Old Parish Registers
1553 - 1854
Birth, marriage and death certificates in
Scotland have been recorded since 1855.
From these we can learn when and where
a person was born, who the parents were
and what they did for a living. Before 1855 we have surprisingly complete, Old
Parish Register entries of birth, marriage and death to aid in building your Scottish
family tree that on the most part date from the early 18th century.
Detailed census records for the decades covering 1841-1901 exist that can really
help to cast some light on where your ancestors were from, who their children
were, where they lived, etc. Census records are not released until a period of 100
years has expired to protect the identities of the living. The next census to be
released will be the 1911 census in 2011.
A wealth of important information can be garnered from these important sources
that might help to solve that old family mystery or perhaps even give rise to a new
family mystery!
What we need to get started
| A typical 'Back close' of a Glasgow tenement in the 1940s with a WWII air raid shelter on the left hand side in the foreground. Copyright Your Scottish Descent 2007-08. |
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| Copyright Your Scottish Descent 2007-08 Unauthorised reproduction of copyright material is prohibited. |
| Mary Margaret Mercer McCallum in 1939 Copyright Your Scottish Descent 2007-08. |
