SCOTTISH RESEARCH on L.A.R.F.H.C. Site .....

[DavidWW]

Hi Dave,
Salt Lake actually has 5 Folders on the subject of the Churches: Ch of Scotland and Non-Conformists, in each Parish.
The Project was put together by Barbara Baker, it was this Project that I acquired for our collection at L.A.
She was reluctant in the begining to share it, citing that it was still a work in progress. I, in turn sent her a copy of my Project, to show what I was endeavouring to do for researchers and help convince her to share her work outside Salt Lake. Along with Los Angeles, McLean, Virginia, is the only other FHC with a copy of theis Project. In part, because their Director, Linda Jonas, was formerly at L.A. and lead the British Isles Family History Society and is an authority on British Research.

I am now finding, as I refine the information on my own Non-Conformist Project, that Barbara has a lot of errors and omissions in her own Project. In spite of this, I wouldn't have got as far as I have without all the work she has done to pave the way for mine. My own isn't going to be perfect, just as I've improved on Barbaras work, I'm sure someone in the future, will take my Project and refine it a bit more.

SAM

Hi Sam !!

Quite fascinating to be given the inside view on the basis of the outcome as regards your own quite magnificent efforts in relation to non-conformist church records in Scotland..............

In an earlier post in this thread you referred to the publication of the results of your extensive research in relation to these records.

I'm sure that there will be many TS members who will be most interested in purchasing the outcome of your research ......

Orraverybest

David

[sam gibson]

Thanks Dave.

I hoping to get the CH3 Reportory completed this weekend, as far as going through each individual record and extracting the churches and their location. I think if anyone, a first timer, was in a mind to go through the Reportories, they soon give up. There is no location given only names of churches. I've had a few challenges in the past few weeks trying to find out in which Parishes particular churches were to be found. My Project is laying them out by Parish using the OPR numbering system.

I've been given and have read information that there were an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 Non-Conformist Churches in Scotland, but no one could substantiate these claims. Right now, I have 2,376 Churches listed and only 4 that I'm still trying to track down locations for. As I move on to the other Reportories and go through them in more detail, the number will increase.

I've been going through other Forums and finding there are people looking for Roman Catholic Records. I've been using Michael Gandys book on Scottish R.C. Missions for that part of my Project. I have the RH21 Repotory pretty much complete, I think there are only 2 churches I have to track Parish locations for.

I'll keep everyone posted as I progress.

SAM

[DavidWW]

Hi Sam

As of a couple of months ago, - and I'd be distraught and surprised if the situation has changed since then, but I've been in Oz for 4 weeks, and catching up since then, so not necessarily fully up to date, - NAS were on the verge of signing an agreement with the Catholic Church in Scotland to digitise and index their records, - most probably, eventually, to come on line at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk ..........

David

[sheilajim]

Hi Sam

What a project you have undertaken. As someone else said, it certainly must be a labor of love.
When you have finished, will it be available to the local LDS centers. I live in San Clemente and have one relatively near, about 15 miles away in Mission Viejo, or will I have to make the trek to LA. It has been about 12 years since I have been to LA.

Regards
Sheila

[sam gibson]

Hi Sheila,
At present I'm planning to have Part I published by Carlberg Press in Anaheim. I'm also planning to let Scottish Groups around the area know it will be available, it will be up to them if they want to add it to their collections or not.

Are there many people doing Scottish Research in your area? I know there is a group in Central Orange County and I had a lot of people show for an all day workshop I did at Escondido a couple of years. I was also down talking to a group in San Deigo last year.

SAM

[sheilajim]

Hi Sam

If it will be published, does that mean that it will be available for sale to the public, or only to special groups?

I started my family search only last year, and because I have other interests as well, so far I haven't felt the need to join any group.
Because of this, I can't tell you if there are many other people in Orange or San Diego Counties, interested in Scottish Research. But if a lot of people showed up in Escondido, and there is a group in Central Orange County, there must be a fair amount.

I think that I will check and see, if there are any in Southern Orange County.

Regards

Sheila

Researching: Stirlingshire, McDonald, Kay/Key, Dunn/Dun/Din, McNab
Ulster and Renfreshire-Kennedy, McKee, Boyd, Jamieson, McLaren,
also McKinnon, Campbell

[Ina]

Hi Sam,

We have a very active Scottish Society here in Palm Desert and three well attended genealogy clubs.

I'd be interested in getting a copy of your book for our genealogy club. Please advise me by IM if it is for sale and where I can purchase a copy.

Ina

[sam gibson]

Hi Ina,

Nice to hear from you again. You did get the material I sent you last year for the"Begining Scottish Research Programme"?

I'm hoping to have Part I of the book published in the next few weeks or so, I'm just waiting on the copyright material coming back from the Library of Congress.

I've been hussling to get Part II revamped with all the new information I've uncovered by going through the CH3 Reportory piece by piece. Those things are in a mess, I can't even imagine what the actual documents themselves look like, but I think I'm going to surpass the 2,367 Non-Conformist Churches I have on my current list. There also appears to be a number of records missing and even cross-referencing with the alphabetical lists at end is no help. They are either incomplete or unreadable as well. Up around CH3/ 1300, a lot of blanks start appearing between the call numbers. I can't tell if they are missing, were overlooked when compiling the Reportory, or just never existed in the first place. The last OFFICIAL Call number on the Reportory is CH3/ 1375, but I have other material that indicates call numbers up to CH3/ 1550.
Is this a mistake or are there a whole lot of Non-Conformist Churches Records unaccounted for? If anyone has an answer out there, I'd love to hear from you.


So for all the mistakes I know there are going to be in Part I, at least it should open up a whole lot of new avenues for the researchers to check out. I've been working the past week trying to figure out how to best indicate in Part II, the errors and omissions there are in Part I. I think the best way might be to publish the chart I have put together on the CH3 Reportory. The Call numbers are arranged sequencially and the churches pertaining to each call number listed, along with the churches and names that evolved from the first church. In some cases I've shown several names under a single Call number to indicate the evolution and then later on down the list, one of those evolved names has it's own seperate Call number and a subsequent evolution from that point.


I've finished extracting the Churches from the Reportory, I just have to get them all arranged by Parish for easier understanding.

I'll keep you posted on all future developments.

SAM

[emanday]

Hi Sam,

I loved your comment =D> ...

....snipped....
As to the question of me being an expert.
I hate being called an expert. Anyone who calls themselves an expert should be taken outside and shot with their own words.
So many experts, it turns out, can be surprised by wee tidbits they never knew anything about. There is no subject that can ever be entirely learned 100%.
....snipped....

As a retired IT Consultant I never could get used to people referring to me as an expert. I would never be an expert. An expert knows all things, and if I ever reach that stage with nothing new to learn, I WOULD shoot myself

[sam gibson]

Good Morning Folks,
I posting this request in the hopes that someone out there has the answers or at least can direct me to the answers.

I just finished extracting the Non-Conformist Churches from the CH3 Reportory and came up with a total of 2287. This surpasses my original 2267 which included all denominations, not just those on the CH3 Reportory. I now have to integrate this list with my original and try and get a working total of Non-Conformist Churches in Scotland.

But there are a few bumps in the road before I'll be finished.
I've been using 2 sources in compiling the list, the CH3 Reportory of cource, but also the material sent to me from Barbara Baker of the British Reference Unit at Salt Lake. The CH3 Reportory is the 1984 Chadwyck-Healey 30 fiche set. Fishe numbers 1 through 27 cover CH3/ 1 through CH3/ 1375. In cross-referencing with Barbara Bakers work, I find that she has entry numbers beyond 1375. She goes as high as CH3/ 1575--WIG Kirkmaiden Free Church. I have written Barbara to find out what her source was for the additional information not shown on the Chadwyck-Healey set. I'm also hoping that someone out there might know of this additional source to help me complete as accurate a list of all the Scottish Non-Conformist Churches as I can.

On the last 2 fiche of this set there are 19 numbers that are missing. I have to assume that there were originally assigned when the Reportory was assembled, but what happened to them.
CH3/ 1334, 1335, 1338, 1339, 1340, 1345, 1346, 1347, 1348, 1350, 1351, 1354, 1355, 1356, 1361, 1362, 1363, 1366, 1367.

In Barbaras Project I have only found 25 additional CH3 numbers from CH3/ 1384 to CH3/ 1575. Again, I have to assume that the other numbers refered to other records and were assigned for a purpose. By the way, the extra churche names indicated in Barbaras work do not show up on my list from CH3/ 1 through CH3/ 1375, so I have to assume that these are legitimate churches and numbers. One I know is legitimate, because my parents were married there.

I'd appreciate any light anyone can throw on this subject.

SAM