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From: "John D. Stevenson." <>
Subject: Re: [EDB] OPR Marriages mistakes?
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2003 20:51:54 +0100
References: <004b01c38b74$226557c0$5c01fea9@myoffice>


> A question for the knowledgeable researchers out there....
>
> Are the records on the Scotland's People site merely a mirror of the
records transcribed to the IGI? or are they actually taken from the original
records?

Good evening Sheila,
To answer your query, fully, would take for ever !
One needs to be very careful when using the IGI's as they are littered with
errors and I and most of my friends use them only as a starting off point
and ALWAYS try and verify the entry.
"Scotlands People" provide copies of ORIGINAL documents as transcribed from
the Old Parish Registers .This information is as "near the truth " as you
are ever going to get.
The OPR's are the registers of the established Church, the Church of
Scotland, which record births and baptisms, proclamation of banns or
marriages and deaths or burials, up to 1854. The parish ministers or session
clerks of some 900 parishes kept these records until their formal transfer
to the then GRO Scotland.
There are no hard and fast rules about the details given in the OPR pages
themselves . These vary from parish to parish and the information in some
cases can be very thin.
Remember also that although registration in the C of S registers was in
theory compulsory for all denominations , it was both costly and unpopular.
For example in the early part of the 19th C religion, for various reasons,
began to lose it's hold, and it is believed that as few as 30% of events may
be recorded for certain urban parishes.
Remember this was also at a time when large numbers of people were unable to
read or write.
From 1690's to 1790's I have the same family using Stevenson, Stivinson and
Steinson but by consulting the OPR's I know they were all from the same
"Stevenson" line.
Another prime source of information are the parish "Kirk Session Minutes"
( Kirk Session being the management committee of the church) .
These were kept by the Session Clerk and in many cases he kept notes at the
back of the ledger on marriages, christenings and deaths ( all things the
church made money from ! ) plus the "mort cloth" transactions.
These Minutes are only available at National Archives of Scotland,
Edinburgh, but can be a rich source of information .
Trust this is of some help.
Come back to me "off list" if you require more info.

Reagrds.
John.

John D. Stevenson,
Trinity Research Services,
Scottish Maritime History Research.
Edinburgh.


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