Why are there so few records for Scotland?

RitaRestorick

 I have a lot of info on Restorick family that moved to Scotland in 1850s but there do not seem to be any Scottish records to attach them to. Is there any point my inputting this info?

MNuttall

Hello @RitaRestorick

To answer your question - yes! You most definitely should input the information about your ancestors who lived in Scotland in Family Tree.

As for the availability of Scottish records, please review the articles associated with the following link. These results were returned by entering the search term "Scotland research" in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/index.php?search=scotland+research&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go&ns0=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns102=1&ns108=1&ns3100=1

The FHL Card Catalog has numerous entries for Scotland:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=75&query=%2Bplace%3AScotland

Depending on the information you input for your ancestors who moved to Scotland, you may find them in the Scotland Censuses (1841-1901) or in Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950, Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910, Scotland Church Records and Kirk Session Records, 1658-1919, or Scotland Presbyterian & Protestant Church Records, 1736-1990.

If you should find an outside source (meaning, outside of FamilySearch historical records), you can always create a source with a URL link to that source and add it as a source on your ancestor's sources page. Here are the directions on how to do that:

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-add-an-outside-source-to-family-tree

Also, keep in mind that new record collections are being digitized and added to our historical records database on a current and ongoing basis. If there are no record hints now, there may be some in the future. FamilySearch won't find those records unless you enter the person's information in Family Tree.

Best wishes and happy researching!

A van Helsdingen

FamilySearch is not necessarily the best or only website for Scottish genealogy.

Indexes of the decennial censuses (1841-1911) are only available to Latter Day Saints. Members of other religions need to use Ancestry.com, FindMyPast or ScotlandsPeople.

There are some civil registration (1855+) indexes on FamilySearch. But for best results, and the ability to pay for the original records which contain much more information, you will need to use ScotlandsPeople.

You can see images of pre-1855 Church of Scotland records at Family History Centers and Affiliate Libraries. This often works well when used in conjunction with the free indexes on ScotlandsPeople. FamilySearch has only partial indexes of pre-1855 church records.

RitaRestorick

Many thanks to both of you for this advice, which I will follow up.