Search new UK parish records & Scottish Wills this Findmypast Friday

2-3 minute read

By Alex Cox | October 18, 2019

Does your family tree have roots in the North West of England?

Here’s what’s new this Findmypast Friday:

Scotland, Will and Testament Index 1481-1807

Did your ancestors die in Scotland? Explore this index of more than 164,000 records from the commissariat courts of Scotland between 1481 and 1807. Each record includes a transcript of the original will and testament that will reveal the date of the will and where it was made.

When an individual wishes to settle their affairs prior to death, a will is drawn up. The will sets out the instructions for the disposal of their possessions. A testament is the legal document that is drawn up after a person has died. This enables the court to confirm an executor, the executor is then responsible for the winding-up of the deceased’s estate. The testament includes an inventory of the deceased’s property, this can be a brief summary valuation of the goods involved or a list of individual items and their valuations.

Scotland Monumental Inscriptions

Over 112,000 new records covering all of Scotland are now available to search. The latest updates include 9 burial sites across Dumfriesshire - Cummertrees Churchyard, Dalton Graveyards, Kirkconnel Churchyard, Kirkpatrick Fleming, Langholm Old Graveyard, Lochmaben Old Churchyard, Staplegordon Graveyard, Staplegordon Graveyard, Wauchope Graveyard and Westerkirk Churchyard.

Monumental inscriptions are memorials placed on a person’s grave or burial place. They vary in size and in how much is recorded about the person. Monumental inscriptions are an excellent resource for family historians because many record the names of other relatives such as a spouse, children or parents, as well as their birth and death dates.

Westmorland Parish Records

Three brand new parish record collections from historic English County of Westmoreland are now available to search on Findmypast, including:

· Westmorland Baptisms – over 39,000 records that will reveal details such as baptism date, parents' names and residence.

· Westmorland Marriages – Over 22,000 records listing details such as marriage date, spouse’s name, father’s name and place of marriage.

· Westmorland Burials – Over 9,000 records that enable to discover your ancestor’s final resting place, age at death, burial date and residence.

Each record includes both a transcript and an image of the original parish register provided by the College of Arms, the official heraldic authority for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and much of the Commonwealth.

Westmorland is a historic county in the North West of England, it is bounded on the north and west by Cumberland, on the southwest and south east by Lancashire and on the east by Yorkshire, and on the northeast by Durham. From the 1889 Westmorland was an administrative county until 1974 when it became part of the new administrative county of Cumbria.

International records update – The Philippines

Does your family tree have roots in the Philippines? Search thee new indexes covering births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials spanning the years 1642 to 1994 are now available to search of Findmypast.

These records consist of transcripts created through the International Genealogical Index and will generate hints against any names stored in your Findmypast family tree.

British & Irish Newspaper Update

This week we have added over 136,000 brand new pages to our collection. We have added four brand new titles, and updated eight of our existing ones, with new pages spanning the length and breadth of the British Isles.

This week’s new titles include two Scottish publications, the Arbroath Guide and the Perthshire Constitutional and Journal, daily London title, the Express and the Sheerness Times Guardian.