A clue to finding where your Scottish ancestor came from

Genealogists always say to begin with yourself and work your way backwards through official records, such as birth, marriage and death certificates.When you finally come to your immigrant ancestor, the Scot, you hopefully will have also found out the name of the Parish in Scotland he or she was born in.

Good in theory – but not always so easy.

The amount of information recorded on an Australian certificate varies greatly depending on the time period in question, and the State in which the event took place.We are fairly fortunate here in Victoria as our certificates are fairly comprehensive and we are able to find out the parent’s birthplace on the birth certificate of their child, or from their marriage or death certificate.Bearing in mind however, that the information on the death certificate is only as reliable as the informant (obviously not the person themselves).  However, a person looking in South Australian records would find that this information was not recorded on birth, death or marriage certificates until 1907.

For an excellent guide to what you can expect to see on an historical Australian birth, death or marriage certificate please visit http://www.jaunay.com/bdm.html