Getting to the Roots of Your Family - RootsWeb - Ancestry.com

• Register of the Great Seal 1306-1668, 11 vols. (FHL book 941 N2sc): 1306-1651 are available on
Ancestry at http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=34544
• Statistics of the annexed estates, 1755-1756: from the records of the forfeited estates preserved in the Scottish
Record Office [NAS]. FHL Q book 941 R2sa. Lists tenants on the estates forfeited as a result of the
1745 Rebellion.
• Index of Place Names to the Abridgements of Sasines (see that section)
• Timperley, Loretta R. Directory of Landownership in Scotland circa 1770. (FHL book 941 B4sr n.s. v. 5)
• Return of Owners of Land and Heritages in Scotland 1872-73 (FHL Q book 941 R25i)
• National Register of Archives (searchable online) www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/
Once you have determined the owner of land where your ancestor may have lived, search the NAS
online catalogue for the owner’s name or the property name and the references of E, GD, or RH. Also
look in the FHL catalog for the county where the property was located and the topic of Land and
Property.
VALUATION ROLLS
Valuation rolls are tax records based on land value. Valuation rolls exist sporadically before 1855 (the
Directory of Landownership in Scotland circa 1770 is based in part on the rolls for that year). The Inland
Revenue Service records (NAS catalogue reference IRS) include pre-1855 records for the counties of
Aberdeen, Ayr, Banff, Dumfries, Fife, Lanark, Midlothian and Edinburgh, Roxburgh and Stirling.
Beginning in 1855 the records are complete (except they do not include the burghs) and are listed in the
NAS online catalog with the reference of VR. Learn more about them at
http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/valuationRolls.asp. The FHL has only a few records. Look in the FHL
catalog for a place of interest and the topic of Taxation.
JURISDICTIONS: INHERITANCE
Before 1824, probate of the estates of deceased persons was handled by twenty-two county
Commissary Courts. You may see a list of the counties and the commissary courts that had jurisdiction
over them by going to: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=551&572.
Jurisdiction changed to Sherriff courts in 1824.
INHERITANCE RECORDS
Property was divided into two types: movable and immovable (or heritable). Movable property was a
person’s personal goods. Heritable (real) property included land, buildings and mineral rights.
Heritable property could not be bequeathed through a will until after 1868, so there was a court process
for determining who was the rightful heir to the property.
The Scottish records dealing with inheritance are testaments and wills, retours and services of heirs,
inquests, tailzies (entailments), and others. Collectively they are referred to as probate records.
Additional information about these records can be found on the National Archives of Scotland website
at http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/default.asp and in the FamilySearch Wiki at
http://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Scotland_Probate_Records.
RETOURS AND SERVICES OF HEIRS
When a subject of the Crown (who held land and other immoveable property) died, the Chancery
Court sent out a document called a ‘brieve,’ which summoned the local sheriff to hold a jury trial or
inquest to determine the heir to the property (sometimes a mere formality). Inquests were also held to
determine a tutor to administer the affairs of minor heirs. The verdict of the jury was returned