What records can I find in the Mitchell: Registrars?
Many of the records for Scottish Catholic parishes, together with some Catholic cemetery records, have been digitally imaged. Copies of these images together with a full index, are one of the many resources available as part of the ScotlandsPeople network which you access in the Registrars on payment of a daily fee.
Baptismal and marriage registers occasionally date from the beginning of the 18th century but mostly do not begin until the late 18th century or the 19th century.
The information contained in the original registers is varied but the best baptismal records include:
name of child
dates of birth and baptism
legitimacy
parents’ names, including mother’s maiden name
place or parish of residence
father’s occupation
name of witnesses
Some registers record minimal information such as the names of the child and parents and a baptismal date.
Marriage registers rarely record much more than the names of the individuals being married. Catholic Parish registers usually record the date of marriage, often with the information that the banns of marriage have been duly proclaimed.
There are only a small number of death, burial and funeral records. This scant coverage has been supplemented by utilising the surviving cemetery registers from St Peter's Dalbeth in Glasgow and Mount Vernon in Edinburgh.
The information contained in the original death registers can be quite minimal, and varies from parish to parish and indeed over time within each parish. At best, a death, burial or funeral register will record the following:
name of deceased person
dates of death and burial
address, place or parish of residence
age
name of a relative (perhaps a widow, or parent if deceased was a child