Thanks, Gordon, for the "lecture." I was hoping that someone would respond with such a thorough discussion and I much appreciate the effort you put into it. Regarding my situation, let me add some information: I am looking for this family during a relatively short timeframe - specifically in a 15 year (approximately) period around the birth of George Fullerton about 1707. That should significantly reduce the complexity of the search although it also limits the available resources. I believe many of the branches of the Protestant movement mentioned by you were not around in 1700 (e.g., the Free Church, to which some of my family belonged in the 18th century.) I would be interested in which groups were "in business" about 1700 so I can consider their importance in my search. I know, for example, that the Fullertons of Kinnaber were Quakers and that my family lived only a few miles from Kinnaber but the fact that my family was recorded in the Dun parish records after 1739 suggests they remained mainstream (unfortunately the Dun records are fragmentary prior to 1740.) Additionally, the usefulness of many of the available resources is also reduced by my focus on the 1700 period - the post-1855 material is of no use at all (for this specific purpose.) Hence my focus on the IGI (and related material.) Thanks again! - Wally - On 7/12/2011 7:29 AM, Gordon Johnson wrote: > Wallace , > There is a big difference between the word "protestant" and the churches > of Scotland. Effectively, ALL churches that are not Roman Catholic are > Protestant, so that apart from the Church of Scotland there are the > Scottish Episcopal Church of Scotland, The Congregational Union, the > Baptists, Unitarian, and all the breakaway denominations which formed > (and re-formed) over the years. A Church of Scotland minister years back > produced a diagram showing all the splits and joinings, and it was a > complicated jigsaw. The main non-C. of S. offshoot denominations today > are the Free Church of Scotland, The United Free Church of Scotland, the > Free Presbyterian Church, the United Reformed Church, etc. > Earlier we had for example the Relief Church and the United Secession > Church who amalgamated to become the United Presbyterian Church, which > later united with part of the Free Church to become the United Free > Church of Scotland. You can get tied in knots just following all the > Protestant demoninations! > I have not mentioned the Quakers or the Salvation Army, as they were not > mainstream nor have they many records useful for genealogy. > Take into account that each of these denominations had their own > records, and that most have not made it into any online index yet, on > cannot rely on any online index to be comprehensive. Being the only > solution in an online index does not mean that there are no other people > who have not been indexed; in fact a survey done in Glasgow in the 1800s > indicated that up to one third of all births never appeared in church > records! > One is dependent on the completeness of records in one's parish of > interest, and that various from pretty good to almost nil. > You can use a range of other records to supplement what is available on > the IGI and scotlandspeople - the census returns, poor law records (from > the 1840s, and just as variable as the church records, though sometimes > fantastic in detail), newspapers (though very few are indexed), wills > and testaments, sasines (property transfers), estate records, business > records, militaryt records, court cases, to name but a few.... I would > suggest a trawl through the online National Archives of Scotland > <http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/> > (shortly to become the National Records of Scotland) catalogue, as it is > becoming a very useful tool. > Enough of this lecture....!:-[ > Gordon. > >

"I would be interested in which groups were "in business" about 1700 so I can consider their importance in my search." There's a useful table on page 287 of Tracing Scottish Ancestors by Rosemary Bigwood which sets out all the main schisms and re-unifications. According to that, 1690 saw the split which led to the creation of the Episcopal Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church (RP) and the Church of Scotland itself. 1712 saw the passing of the Patronage Act which in turn led to the 1st big secession in 1733. So if you are looking for ancestors around 1700, then your main options seem to be Church of Scotland (ie Presbyterian), RP or Episcopal. Elwyn