General Chat

I don't know if records of Scottish families can be investigated on this site or not? However, I am trying to find out more details about the sister, possibly Jane, of a Francis Rice 1813 - 1855. Francis married Agnes Ferguson 1813 - 1891, in 1831, and their children were Agnes, Margaret, Francis, Isabella, Catherine, John, Hugh and John. I would also like to find details of the parents of Francis: another Francis Rice dob about 1790 who married a Margaret Burns born around the same date.
Can anybody help me?
Thanks a lot
Regards, Irene.

Irene,

You may be better posting this on Records and asking for a Scots Lookup giving as much info as poss.

There are a couple of researchers on there that will help. Should you do that you need to delete your thread on chat.

Good Luck
Annx

Ancestry have transcribed census, but for the images and BMD you need Scotlandspeople. The latter is free to search, but pay to view, They have *no* subscription package.

Hi Irene

Scotlandspeople is the best way to go and as said, it is pay to view. £6 buys you 30 credits but they don't last long so you need to be a bit canny with your searches to maximise your chances. On the plus side, you can download the information immediately - you actually see the whole page fo the register - instead of ordering and paying for a cert. Remember to click "view" and NOT "order" or you will end up paying £10!

Statutory Registration didn't begin till 1855 in Scotland so after that all BMDs are recorded. They also have more information than English certificates, especially if you get an 1855 death certificate. I think you may already know that though, as you know the names of the children of Francis who died in 1855!!

Before 1855 we have OPRs which are good up to a point.
They only cover Church of Scotland records and if the event was recorded, the detail depended on how good the minister/clerk was.
Not all the registers have survived so there are a lot of gaps.
I generally use familysearch (or scotsorigins) first and then check it out on SP. If the event is on familysearch then it's usually on SP as well.

I've sent you a pm also as I belong to another site which might be able to help you.

As far as I can see, Francis senior came from Maybole; son John and daughter Catherine both died in infancy.
I rather think his widow would have claimed Poor relief especially as he was ill some time before his death.
We do all these look-ups on Scotfamtree.

Hi Woody,
Thanks for the info. On scotfamtree do I create a blog - is that how you join?

No, Irene, no blogs! Just register and that is free. There's an introduction section and once people realise you're new to the site they will help if you're unsure of what to do.
It's a very friendly site and well moderated as well.

If you post a request for info on Tier 1, they'll tell you the best place to look and we will also help you with advice on how to search SP - we've all lost money on there so we try to pass on our experience!

If you think it's of benefit to you, then you can become a subscription member. It's £10 for a year and we really give value for money. You post on Tier 2 then and we do the look-ups for you. That would include the Poor relief records as I think there's a fairly good chance they made a claim.

I do think you would benefit from subscribing actually, as we have an awful lot of books and discs that may be of use. We also have access to Ancestry world-wide as well as things like free look-ups on the 1911 census etc.
The Scottish 1911 census isn't online till next year and of course we don't know the costings yet so that may be different.

There will be a database to match with others researching the same families but it's still in the testing stage. We want it to be right!