The Douglas Archives

A collection of historical and genalogical records

Difficulty finding a Scottish Parish marriage record? Maybe there isn't one & never was!

Dear all,

I recently came across a parish entry for a 'Private marriage' in Edinburgh.

This surprised me as I thought that the Scottish church had held a very strong grip on such things at that time (1794).

However after looking into it further I found out that the Scottish law on marriage was quite flexible in that period (perhaps even more flexible than Las Vegas is now!):

“The law of Scotland as to marriage was this – it adopted the principle that consent alone made marriage… The law of Scotland did not require the presence of a priest, nor the intervention of any religious ceremony. The law of Scotland considered marriage to be a civil contract, but it did not provide any particular mode by which that contract was to be proved”

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/irregular-marriage-and-k...

I have a few people in my extended family tree with very large families, but frequently I've been unable to find a Parish record for a marriage - so maybe there wasn't one and I've been looking in vain!

The above record is also quite unhelpful as the bride's parish is not listed - which complicates further research on that person.

Best regards

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Making conections

The more information you can give about the people you mention, the more chance there is of someone else connecting with your family.

Dates and places of births, deaths and marriages all help to place families.

Professions also help.

'My great-grandmother mother was a Douglas from Montrose' does not give many clues to follow up! But a bit of flesh on the bones makes further research possible. But if we are told who she married, what his profession was and where the children were baptised, then we can get to work.

Maybe it is time to update the information in your profile?


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