There seems to be some mis- information re Births records for Scotland, pre- 1854. Before 1855, records of birth are liable to be Church Register entries, for which there is no corresponding Civil Registration and no Certificate. As a rule, the parish, child name, date of baptism and parents' names were recorded. You may consult the original register image. This may tell no more than what you see in the Index. You may be lucky, and find that the birth date, place of residence, father's occupation, and where the child stands in the family "third child of......", and the names of sponsors. Less often, there may be the value of the offertory, and a hint as to the parents' origins. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Under the heading "REGISTER OF NEGLECTED ENTRIES" is a number of pre-1855 events (mainly births) which were registered retrospectively. These are in fact formatted like a Civil Registration. Not easy to access, but suited to the enthusiasm of desperate folk who want to focus on the period 1801- 1854 Cheers.............. ALISTAIR M. CAMERON, A.A.G.R.A. also known as ALEC acameron@hinet.net.au **My Ancestral File No. is TO4M-WJ** Consultant at Mittagong Family History Centre, and trading as CAMERON RESEARCH, Reg. with N.S.W. Dept of Fair Trading. P.O. Box 215 BUNDANOON N.S.W. 2578 AUSTRALIA