There were indeed many other factions at that time. The OPRs come from the established church - the Church of Scotland. They handed their material over to the nation and that is why it can be searched at Register House in Edinburgh, or online at Scotlandspeople. The competition were the secession churches which broke away over such issues as the right of the congregation to choose a minister. They then had their own schisms and reunions. Then in 1843 there was a mass breakaway from the Church of Scotland, forming the Free Church. (And then more splits and reunions). All of which means that in some parishes pre 1855 lots of people would not be attending the parish church. Perhaps as many as half the population. They would need to have their marriage banns called there, but they would be married and baptise their children in the church of their choice. Membership was particularly strong in the artisan ie skilled working class families. Some records of these churches survive and are to be found at the National Archives of Scotland. these are many Kirk Session records - the records of the committees who ran things. I dont know whether the Inverness region was particularly affected, but one way to check is to go and look at the online Statistical Accounts for Scotland. (Follow links from National Library of Scotland site). The parish ministers who compiled these reports often give a summary of the extent of secession attendance on their patch. bear in mind too that people who attended non Church of Scotland churches werent limited to their home parish. The nearest church for them might be a distance away, or they might go a bit further for a preacher they approved of. On the other hand there are many other reasons for 'missing' families. It would be a good idea to find some corroborating evidence for the family being in the parish eg place of birth in 1851 census, or a will. Judy ---------- >From: "DP & EM O'Connell" <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Subject: [SCT-INV] Religions & Other Records Late 1700s >Date: 02, Sat Aug, 2003, 8:23 pm > > We are having trouble locating a family c. 1790s in the OPRs and was > wondering whether there > was another 'religious faction' at that time and could our family be > recorded in another set > of records. > Or .. if there were other religious factions at that time, did those people > still have to be > recorded in the Church of Scotland Registers (OPRs)? (They were not Catholic). >