Here are 15 useful free Scottish genealogy resources for researchers with an interest in this Country. You may find some surprises.
Scotland’s Places
This is a free Scottish Government site and is often overlooked by researchers with Scottish ancestry as you previously had to pay to access these records. A list of the records on the database can be found here. Probably the most useful to the family historian are the tax records which include delights such as the Clock and watch tax rolls 1797-1798.
For more information about this great website, see this article.
The Glasgow Herald on Google
Google has a full set of “The Glasgow Herald“ from 1806 to 1990 digitized and available free in it’s newspaper section. You can use Google search to look for content but, in my experience, this doesn’t work very well. However, these collections are fully browsable, so if you have an idea of the date a particular event took place, you can browse the papers.
Some other Scottish newspapers are also available on Google. A full list of their Worldwide newspaper collection can be found here.
National Library of Scotland Internet Archive Page
This is an extensive collection of books, manuscripts and maps, representing a “treasure trove of Scotland’s history and culture”. The collection contains things like military lists, local directories, family histories etc. It is well worth a browse to see what’s available.
The Scottish Emigration Database
This site contains records of over 21,000 passengers who embarked at Scottish ports headed for non-European destinations between 1890 and 1960.
Moving Image Archive
This is the National Library of Scotland’s film collection spanning 100 years. There are more than 2000 clips and full length films available to view online which include documentaries, public information films, home movies and newsreels. This site is well worth a visit to get a flavour of Scottish life through the twentieth century.
The Glasgow Story
The history of Scotland’s powerhouse is documented here in words and with thousands of images. Not the easiest site to get around to find images, but worth the effort if you have an interest in Glasgow.
Maps of Scotland 1560-1928
I wrote about the National Library of Scotland’s free online digital UK map collection here. Understandably, being a Scottish collection, there are more maps from here than from the rest of the UK. The earliest maps date from the second half of the sixteenth century, and there are examples from most decades up until the early 1900s.
Scottish Post Office Directories
Another extremely useful collection from the National Library of Scotland. There are over 700 digitised Post Office directories available covering much of Scotland. They date from 1773 to 1911.
Statistical Accounts of Scotland
The Statistical Accounts were surveys undertaken by parish ministers from the Church of Scotland between 1791 and 1799 and 1834-1845. They provide a wealth of information about local communities in Scotland, covering population, industry, transport, geography and culture.
Scottish Mining
A site devoted to the history of coal, iron ore and shale mining in Scotland with a database of over 22,000 names. It has information on housing, health and strikes as well as the employment of children in the industry.
Scottish Handwriting
A website with examples and tutorials teaching you how to read old Scottish handwriting; a skill needed when deciphering old documents.
The Highland Clearances
This volunteer website is devoted to the main reason why there are so many descendents of Scots scattered all over the Globe. It tells the stories of the people involved and has a database containing the names of many individuals.
The Scottish Highlander Photo Archive
This is a searchable online database of (mostly Scottish) photographic portraits. There are over 8000 images to search.
The Scottish Register of Tartans
A database with pictures of all registered tartans with the National Records of Scotland. If you are considering designing a new tartan, you should register it here.
Scottish Military History
Guides, help and advice for researching your Scottish military ancestors.
For more great free resources see: 120 Free Genealogy Websites
If these resources have whetted your appetite for Scottish genealogy, I recommend some further reading:
For more genealogy books and other useful stuff, visit our Resources page.
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Hello from Vancouver 🇨🇦
Small villages, all same surname, so frustrating to research.
I feel for you Carol! Lisa has some great advice for researching people with common surnames here: https://lisalisson.com/how-to-research-your-common-surname-ancestors/ Good luck!
I just found your site here and it’s wonderful. I am needing to research some of my ancestor’s that were born in different towns in Scotland.
Thanks Gloria. Good luck with your Scottish research!
New to genealogy study. I enjoy finding out about my ancestors but my information is very limited. It would be great to put a face to a story or at least read a story associated with a photo.
I agree Rebecca. I’m a big fan of historical newspapers for genealogy. Very often you can find interesting items about your family and occasionally a picture. Good luck with your research!
Do you know anything about the Forbes clan going to Germany for the 100 years war?
I don’t I’m afraid. Have you checked the Internet Archive? i see that there are some Forbes family histories there: https://archive.org/search.php?query=forbes%20family%20history&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22
Good luck
Researching Kerr clan
Know a lot of it already
Just found your site and
will be checking it out.
Thanks for your comment Sandi. I see that there are some Kerr family histories in the Books section on Family Search here: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/?navigation=&perpage=&page=1&sort=_score&search=kerr&fulltext=1&bookmarks=0#title
Good luck with your research!
Hi Alistar- I am doing genealogy on Macnamara relatives who were merchant mariners out of Maryport, Workington and Whitehaven, Cumbria/Cumberland, England in late 1790 to 1825. They attended Scot Presbyterian parish in Maryport and were considered non-conformists, but I cannot find their birth origins. Can you help to direct me?
Thank you in advance, Betty McNamara from Michigan
Thanks for your comment Betty.
McNamara is an Irish name with origins in County Clare (as MacConmara). Many Irish families emigrated to Scotland or England before travelling to North America. You should look at the possibility that the family were originally Roman Catholic. Often Catholics were persecuted in the US during the time you mention. They would often join other non-conformist churches rather than the established church.
If the family had always been Presbyterian and lived in Scotland, you may find records on Scotland’s People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
For the best chance of making progress is to thoroughly research the family in the US, including siblings, spouses etc, to see if you can find any link back to Ireland. Especially look for newspaper obituaries. Then do the same in the UK
Good luck with your research!
Alistair
Trying to get more geneology information on my family, from Scotland, the Bethune family.
Thanks for your comment Susan. Bethune is a Scottish name of French origin. You can find information on the name and the Clan here: https://www.scotclans.com/scottish-clans/clan-bethune/
And you can find links to Scottish resources needed to research your family in Scotland here: https://bespokegenealogy.com/find-your-scottish-ancestry/
Good luck!
My ancestors are Mackay maybe travel to Darien
Hi Tomas, Unfortunately, MacKay is one of the most common surnames in Scotland. It’s actually No 83 on the list of the 100 names on the NRS site: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/births/popular-names/archive/100-most-common-surnames
So, you really need to thoroughly work backwards to, hopefully, find an immigration document that can place the family to a specific place in Scotland.
Good luck!
I’m new to ancestry research. Have an ancestor from the battle of Dunbar that was sent to America as an indentured servant in 1651. Any ideas on how to pursue his history before the battle?
Hi Monica,
If you know where in Scotland your ancestor came from, you may find parish records from that time. Parish records and many other resources can be found on the Scotland’s People site here: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ . Access to records are pay per view, but it’s free to search. The website has a number of guides to these and other records that you may find useful: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides
Good luck!
My surname is Aird and I would like to find more information on the origins of the name,
According to the Surname Database, the name comes from Ayrshire or Wigtownshire in Scotland. More details can be found here: https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Aird