Looking for Scotish geneology help

Question

Hi there,

I've hit a brick wall.  Looking for parents of Robert Reid (DOB 1889 - may have been born in Bell's Hill, Glasgow, Scotland).  Married to a Margaret Whyte.  They lived in Bellshill for a while but moved to Corby, England just before the war.  I have found their headstone there.

Any help you can provide on my Robert & Margaret or Scottish geneology sites to search is appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Pam

If you're new to Scottish genealogy (I note that you have extensive knowledge about ONT Canada), I would strongly commend the WikiTree Scotland Project Tartan Trail training modules with guidance from experienced and friendly Trail guides:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1697757/would-you-like-learn-research-your-scottish-ancestors-2024

Inevitably you will need to access the records held by the National Records of Scotland website ScotlandsPeople https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ this provides free indexes (sometimes with limited information) and access to downloadable images of records on a banked credits basis (you buy blocks of credits and can use them to access primary sources like church registers, the Statutory Registers of BDM from 1855, and heaps of other data sources, including church courts, wills and testaments, real property ownership records). Searchings the indexes and downloading more info requires some skills and knowledge: the Tartan Trail will provide an entrance into this wealth of info. Ancestry and FamilySearch both index some Scottish records with and without images. For the 1921 Census FindMyPast indexes the data.

You will also need to develop skills in Scottish geography, to know where to look for information. Records are often organized by parish or county. ScotlandsPlaces https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/places can provide assistance. Bellshill for example is a locality in Bothwell parish in Lanarkshire https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search/place/Bellshill?id=2058

On Robert: in 1939 he was living with Margaret and presumably their son Matthew (born 1919) at 47 Rutherglen Rd, Corby. The 1939 England and Wales Register records that Robert was born 14 Mar 1889 https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/12940810?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a2238645a4b59383455734c7976464b332f6b35666a6872384f4869525a4c724d76722f704a424a537a3239553d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

With that info (arguably accurate and correct) you could go to the ScotlandsPeople Statutory Register and search for Robert's parents.

I hope that's useful. Because Robert's forename and surname are extraordinarily common in Scotland and Lanarkshire, take Ancestry and other genealogical site recommendation very much with a large dose of scepticism.

Cheers

Neil

Answer 2

Robert Reid married Margaret Kernoh Whyte in 196 in Bellshill. The records are available on ScotlandsPeople.

Comments

If you have the WikiTree Sourcer browser extension it will search the Scotlands People site for you from the WikiTree profile. If will also create citations for Scotlands People records. For example:

Robert's marriage to Margaret Kernoh Whyte was registered in 1916 in the Bellshill district.<ref>
'''Marriage Registration''':
"Statutory Register of Marriages"<br/>
National Records of Scotland, Ref: 625/3/56<br/>
[https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ ScotlandsPeople] (accessed 19 April 2024)<br/>
Robert Reid marriage to Margaret Kernoh Whyte registered 1916 in Bellshill.
</ref>

The formatting of the citations is controllable via a lot of options.