This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Forfarian Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.scotland.ans.general/5566.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Baptismal registers after 1854 are mostly still in the churches concerned, though a few have found their way into various archives. Also, 'the Presbyterian Church' is not a sufficiently precise description. The word 'presbyterian' describes the structure of the particular denomination, not its beliefs. Each congregation belongs to a presbytery, which is a district grouping of congregations. Each presbytery belongs to a larger grouping called a synod, and all congregations, presbyteries and synods belong to the General Assembly, which is the governing body of the denomination. In particular, what distinguishes a presbyterian denomination is that it does not have bishops like the episcopalians and Roman Catholics do. Besides the Church of Scotland, which is a presbyterian denomination, there are currently other presbyterian denominations active in Scotland, and in 1902 there were probably more. The current ones include the Free Church of Scotland and the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and probably others. There is a wonderful chart showing all the splits and recombinations of the presbyterian denominations in Scotland, but is is currently doing one of its regular disappearing acts. As the city of Dundee grew, it spread out to occupy land which was part of the parish of Liff and Benvie, and there was by 1902 more than one presbyterian church in the parish besides the Parish Church. In particular, Lochee is on part of what is or was Liff and Benvie, as are Balgay and Blackness, and there are several churches in Lochee. So you might need to find out the names of all the churches in both the west end of the city of Dundee, and in the rural part of Liff and Benvie including Invergowrie, which also belongs historically to Liff and Benvie, and then find out which of them were presbyterian, what happened to them and what became of their baptismal registers. There will be lists of city churches in the Dundee directories at the time. I do not know of any online, but you could contact Dundee Public Library, who have sets of Dundee directories: see http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/library/local_history In my own family tree I have several marriages in Lochee St Ninian's Parish Church (presbyterian) St Luke's Parish Church (presbyterian) Lochee West Parish Church (which may be either St Luke's or St Ninian's above) St Mary's Church/Chapel (Roman Catholic) St Francis Church (Roman Catholic) St Margaret's Church (episcopal) and one conducted in Lochee by the minister of Bell Street United Presbyterian Church, which may or may not have been in Lochee. I think if you really want to find this baptism, your best plan would be to try the offices of the Church of Scotland http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/index.htm and ask them which C of S churches there were in Liff and Benvie, including the ones in Lochee, Balgay and Blackness, and where their baptismal records (cradle roll) for 1902-3 are held. If that draws a blank, try asking the Free Church of Scotland http://www.freechurch.org/ and then the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland http://www.fpchurch.org.uk/ and the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) http://www.freekirkcontinuing.co.uk/FCC/Welcome.html and the United Free Church of Scotland http://www.ufcos.org.uk/ How do you know that Trixie Whyte was baptised in one of the presbyterian churches? Do you have some sort of document? Have you seen her birth certificate? At what address was she born? Do you know the name of the minister who baptised her? Or which church the minister who married her parents belonged to? All these bits of information will be much easier to find, if you don't already have them, than her baptism record. Hope this helps. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.