Author Topic: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months  (Read 4921 times)

Offline TunjiLees

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This hasn't been officially announced yet, but I contacted ScotlandsPeople to ask when they would be releasing their kirk session records online and got this response:

Dear Tunji

Thank you for your email regarding kirk session records.

The part of the website that will make the kirk session (and other court) records available is under active development at the moment.

The coronavirus lockdown has hampered us a little, as no National Records of Scotland buildings are open, but we're managing to continue development work remotely. I hope it will be only a mater of a few months before the first few thousand volumes of kirk session and presbytery records appear. The first release will be minute books and accounts of Church of Scotland kirk sessions and presbyteries from 1560 to about 1860.

Yours sincerely

Robin Urquhart
Archivist
National Records of Scotland
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Offline Gadget

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 23 April 20 09:45 BST (UK) »
Well, I'll believe it when I see them as they've been saying something like that for quite a few years.


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Offline TunjiLees

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 23 April 20 10:06 BST (UK) »
Yes I remember them talking about it about 10 years ago and saying they will be online within a year or two. Now they are saying within a few months, so hopefully that means sometime this year!
LEES/LEE - Interested in all Northern Irish families, particularly those from Cos. Londonderry, Tyrone, & Antrim.

See the project website @ ulsterlees.azurewebsites.net

Offline Crumblie

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 23 April 20 10:10 BST (UK) »
At least Scotland is spending money on their records and making them available online, I wish the GRO would do the same thing.


Offline Gadget

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 23 April 20 10:14 BST (UK) »
I think the main problem was how to index them.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Crumblie - GRO do not have any parish records - many of which are on line via one or other sites and  we will have to pay to access them, just as we have to pay  for access to Eng & Wales parish records. You're not comparing like with like.

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Offline Crumblie

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 23 April 20 10:22 BST (UK) »
Crumblie - GRO do not have any parish records - many of which are on line via one or other sites and  we will have to pay to access them, just as we have to pay  for access to Eng & Wales parish records. You're not comparing like with like.

Gadget

You are right I did not actually mean parish records, I wish the GRO would make BMD records available online. If Scotland can do it there is no reason why England & Wales cannot apart from the expense involved of course.

Offline Gadget

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 23 April 20 10:32 BST (UK) »
 I think they started but the costs were too high. There is a thread (or threads) on here about it. I'm sure Guy will know.
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Offline Gadget

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 23 April 20 11:48 BST (UK) »
On a personal level, I would love for them to go online and then I maybe able to trace my  4 x greats parentage.
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Offline Forfarian

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Re: Kirk Session records to be made available on ScotlandsPeople within months
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 23 April 20 12:27 BST (UK) »
I wish the GRO would make BMD records available online. If Scotland can do it there is no reason why England & Wales cannot apart from the expense involved of course.
Don't we all!

You can get some English and Welsh certificates in digital form from GRO, but not instantly, and at £6 a time they cost 4 times as much as Scottish ones. Even though the information they contain is not as good.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.