Well, there comes a time.... I have been trying for more than half my life to try to document where my husband's great-grandfather's roots are in Co. Tyrone, Ireland, but to no avail. After he came to the USA, things were a bit brighter and we were able to follow a rather flimsy paper trail until he died as a result of an injury whilst serving as a soldier during the American Revolutionary War. The staff at the cemetery where he is buried in Baltimore, Maryland, were outstanding in checking the 1863 records on to confirm, too, that a son was also buried in the same lair. That nailed that coffin shut, metaphorically speaking, where the records on this side of the water are concerned, but still not where my husband's great-grandfather's roots were in Ireland. I have also been trying "forever" to confirm where my great-great grandfather was actually born, married, and where his first child was christened, perhaps in Castle Douglas (old name Carlin(g)wark), Kelton, Kirkcudbrightshire. As I've noted before, I know I saw the book with the entry of their banns when I was at New Register House, Edinburgh, in 1976, as I had scribbled down the information. Where that piece of paper is now is anybody's guess. To try to get a digitised copy of this record of the banns seems to have taken on the proportions of washing an elephant as "no one" seems to be able to find the record book. This response from NAS (National Archives Scotland) may now have put the tin lid on further exploration on my part to try to confirm where my forebear had his roots. Perhaps the comments may help others who are "barking up the wrong tree" to realise that sometimes we're destined not to find anything further as the records are just not there for certain parishes. Maisie ----------------------------- ....further enquiries are best addressed to the general email contact address: [email protected] If you have a strong feeling that you saw a record relating to a marriage in New Register House then there is probably no point in pursuing the matter further in NAS. GROS can advise you further about the keeping of the OPRs in New Register House but they could not have been 'chucked' as you state as they form part of vital series of records. Also the surviving registers are very well documented in other published sources. ....Old Statistical Accounts are very useful for telling you about record-keeping practices in Scottish parishes. The relevant section of the entry for Kelton reads as follows:- "Parochial Registers.--It is to be hoped that there are few pa- rishes in Scotland, the registers of which have been so carelessly kept as those of Kelton. The session records extend no farther back than the year 1715. For the next eleven years from that date the preceedings of the session are reguilarly minuted, and the register of births is also complete. But from 1726 down 1762, neither record nor register can be found. For the next twenty-two years they have been regularly kept; but from 1794 down to 1839 no regular records appear to have been kept, and the regis- ter of births has been quite neglected. The transaction of the session are now regularly minuted; but so inveterate has become the habit of neglecting the register that not one parent in ten can be persuaded to record the births of his children." Record-keeping in the parishes did vary considerably from parish to parish unfortunately and it is not uncommon to find gaps in the registers where a minister/session clerk was unwell, where there may have been a fire, where a charge was vacant for a time etc. Although they were all obliged to keep good registers, many did not although Kelton appears to have been a particularly poor example. For information, most proclamations of banns ... give the name of the couple and their place of residence. I have rarely seen parents names given.... Although we do hold some registers of non-conformist churches (i.e. churches other than the Church of Scotland) they are not indexed by name so a search can prove time-consuming.... NAS