Findmypast Publish Huge Update to Scottish Roman Catholic Collection

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

This week’s Findmypast Friday sees the leading family history website expand their exclusive collection of Scottish parish registers with over half a million new Roman Catholic sacramental registers.

Also new to the site this week are monumental inscriptions from England’s largest county as well a whole host of historical newspapers. 

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Registers

646,933 new Scottish baptism, marriage, burial and congregational registers have been added to Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive.

Only available to search on Findmypast, the majority of these records cover the Archdiocese of Glasgow. This includes;

Over 307,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms

Over 158,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Marriages

Over 15,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Burials

Over 164,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records

Each record includes both a transcript and scanned colour image of the original document. The amount of information listed in these detail rich records may vary, although most results will reveal key biographical details as well as the date, parish, and location of the event that was being recorded.

Baptisms will reveal the names of godparents and parents, enabling you to uncover details of previous generations as well as the identities of family friends or relatives. Marriages will provide the name of your ancestor’s spouse, father and witnesses while burials allow you to discover the final resting place of your ancestors, their age at death, marital status and in some cases even cause of death. 

Congregational records are packed with other fascinating facts surrounding your ancestor’s relationship with the church such as details of their confirmation, first confession or even the location of their seat rental. 

Visit the Scottish Catholic parish list for precise details on the churches and timeframes covered by each update.

As many of the original registers were written in Latin, Findmypast have applied a Latin dictionary to the name search field. This gives their search the capability to search for the English and Latin versions of a name when the name variants option is selected.

Today’s release marks just the latest update to the Catholic Heritage Archive, Findmypast’s ground-breaking digitisation project to bring millions of records from across Scotland, England, Ireland and American online for the very first time.

The Roman Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best-preserved family records which, until now, have remained locked away for centuries. By working with partners at various Archdiocese, Findmypast has enabled millions of users across the world to explore their Catholic roots online.

Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions

Chosen by Findmypast users in last week’s community poll, more records have Been added to this rich resource. A must-search for anyone with Yorkshire roots, the collection can reveal essential information about your Yorkshire relatives’ lives, deaths and families. See Findmypasts Yorkshire parish list for more information this handy list.

Newspapers

Five English and Irish newspapers are brand new to the site this week, along with updates to 11 other publications. Online for the first time are:

Ballymena Advertiser covering 1873-1892

Boston Spa News covering 1873-1878, 1880-1882, 1884-1895 and 1898-1900

Galway Express covering 1853-1920

Isle of Wight Journal covering 1877, 1879 and 1889

Western Star and Ballinasloe Advertiser covering 1845-1869 and 1888-1902

While the following existing titles have been supplemented with additional pages:

Beverley Independent from 1888-1893, 1895-1896 and 1898-1911

Englishman’s Overland Mail from 1906

Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter from 1895-1896, 1898-1910 and 1913

Halifax Comet from 1895

Lynn Advertiser from 1926-1928

Middleton Albion from 1857-1867 and 1869-1880

Pontefract Advertiser from 1865, 1873 and 1889

Swindon Advertiser from 1900

Torquay Times, and South Devon Advertiser from 1934-1949 and 1951-1961

Weekly Journal (Hartlepool) from 1907-1908

West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser from 1983-1990