Church Records.

Churchyards and Monumental Inscriptions, Burial and headstone information

Moderators: Global Moderators, LesleyB

kay
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:34 pm

Church Records.

Post by kay » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:44 pm

:roll:

Hi,

Although there is no death records,,would the church have recorded a burial on record in a graveyard even if there was no headstone,?
Always Looking

LesleyB
Posts: 8184
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:18 am
Location: Scotland

Post by LesleyB » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:47 pm

hi Kay
..and welcome to Talking Scot. :D
Although there is no death records,,would the church have recorded a burial on record in a graveyard even if there was no headstone,?
I'm guessing you mean before 1855? Very often there would be a record of who was buried in the lair, or just on what day someone was buried, without reference to exactly where. Can you tell us what area of Scotland you are looking for as the situation may differ with regard to what records were created and what material has surived for each area. For some areas the records can be very good, for some other areas the burial records are minimal and for some, nothing exists.

Best wishes
Lesley

Russell
Posts: 2559
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire

Post by Russell » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:26 pm

Hi Kay

As Lesley says, some records are very, very good, others are patchy and for some burial grounds they are now non-existent.
I have just transcribed the records of a United Presbyterian church from its inception in the late 1780's through to the 1920's when a new graveyard was opened. The records vary depending on who was in charge of recording burials at the time. Keep in mind that they were unpaid church officers and some were more accurate/consistent/diligent than others.
Tell us where, and there is probably a TS member who is in that area or holds written records for the burial ground.

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

DavidWW
Posts: 5057
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:47 pm

Re: Church Records.

Post by DavidWW » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:57 pm

kay wrote::roll:

Hi,

Although there is no death records,,would the church have recorded a burial on record in a graveyard even if there was no headstone,?
Hi Kay

Basically, yes, of course they would have.

But the question is whether or not that record has survived to the present day. Very sadly, however, many such church interment records have not survived the ravages of time.

The fact of there being, or not being, a headstone is irrelevant.


It's always worth a look in the kirk session records at National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, now digitised and available at Register House; most likely available on-line in 3 or 4 years from now.

David

My post for the month ! <g>