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| The Ordination of Elders in a Scottish Kirk John Henry Lorimer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
The BIG news
in Scottish genealogy for a while is that ScotlandsPeople have today added free access to the kirk session records of the Church of Scotland.
These amazing original sources were created as records of meetings of the kirk session,
the governing council of a parish church. They met regularly to discuss parochial matters and often
acted as a “court” of discipline for members who had in some way acted
inappropriately, according to church teachings. After the minister had reprimanded the transgressor, the session could impose fines for misdemeanours, or summon wrongdoers to appear in front of the congregation on a Sunday.
A regular reason for being called up in front of the session meeting was illegitimacy, with the mother and often the alleged father of the child being named. Sometimes paternity cases dragged on for months or even years, so it's worth taking a good look at the whole time period of your ancestor's residence in a parish for any mention of their name.
Among the
minutes of these meetings, you may also encounter records of christenings, or marriage banns being called, as well as lists of parishioners who were in receipt of
poor relief or who were entitled to attend communion services.
Find out more in my video The Riches of the Scottish Kirk Session Records.
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