Dalserf Parish

[JulieD]

Hi Everyone

I have what I think may be a 'Mission Impossible' question but I know you all love a challenge!

I have exhausted my Frame family line in the Dalserf OPRs which sadly do not begin until 1738. A cornerstone on the extant kirk is dated 1655, but I believe that an earlier church stood on this site and that the congregation was established in the late 1500s. From Commissariot records I know there were also Frames in Dalserf from the late 1500s.

I am aware that Dalserf was caught up in the Covenanter conflicts, so I suspect constructing the existing church during that period may have been a prolonged affair. My dilemma is, I do not know for certain if earlier registers were actually destroyed...or, if they never existed in the first place.

I can find any number of likely prospects in neighbouring parishes, but the problem with Frames in Lanarkshire, is that there were many of them! Also, I don't want to be taking a leap of faith in other parishes unless I know for certain that there were never any Dalserf OPRs prior to 1738.

Any ideas or words of wisdom anyone?? Should I just give up gracefully now??

Cheers
Julie

[AndrewP]

Hi Julie,

GROS claim OPRs from 1732 (births/baptisms) and 1740 (banns/marriages). The Statistical account of 1840 claims a burial register was begun in 1831 and had been carefully kept since. That does not show up in the OPR index, so may never have become part of the OPRs. It also has not gone to NAS with the Kirk Session records. The pre-1855 records that have gone to NAS from Dalserf are as listed below.

CH2/1013/1 Minutes 1812-1842
CH2/1013/2 Minutes 1842-60, Proclamations 1845-69 1842-1869
CH2/1013/6 Poors' fund accounts (with a few minutes) 1737-1759
CH2/1013/7 Poors' fund accounts (with minutes of session and heritors) 1802-1825
CH2/1013/8 Accounts 1812-1834
CH2/1013/9 Accounts 1834-1842
CH2/1013/10 Accounts 1842-1849
CH2/1013/11 Accounts 1849-1860

The 1840 Statistical Accounts say the following regarding the Parochial Registers (the documents later to be known as the OPRs).

The parochial registers, till they came into the hands of the current schoolmaster and session clerk, had been very irregularly kept. Indeed for nearly fifty years preceing 1812, there had been no regular session in the parish. In August 1812, a kirk session was formed and from that date there are accurate minutes of session business, and carefully kept registers of bans and baptisms. Of late years a register of burials has also been kept. The old parochial records are kept in two volumes of a very confused and miscellaneous description. The earliest entry is the registration of a baptism, 30th November 1738.

An extension chapel was opened in Larkhall on 10-Jan-1836 under the General Assembly's Church Extension movement. This was to relieve overcrowding in Dalserf Parish Church. Kirk session records of this quoad sacra church are held in NAS. The only pre-1855 records at NAS for Larkhall St Machan's are as follows:

CH2/991/2 Managers' minutes 1845-1855

Whether any of the records in NAS hold any details of your people, I don't know.

The statistcal accounts can be found at http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/ and selecting "for non-subscibers - browse scanned pages".

All the best,

AndrewP

[edit] - GROS dates revised

[JulieD]

Hi Andrew

Thanks so much for these details! Pre 1738 is my main area of interest since I am pretty much documented back to c.1712. However, I am very interested in the list you have given re Minutes, Poors' fund accounts and Accounts. I will have to see if I can arrange for someone over there to extract any Frames from them for me.

I have seen some Dalserf kirk sessions records from 1833, 1834 and 1854, and also some mortcloth rentals between 1740-1784 but there are gaps in those. I can never make up my mind with some of the mortchoth names whether they are of the deceased or the person paying the rental fee!

Have read the Statistical Accounts...thank goodness that schoolteacher came to town when he did... I really do need to get those Minutes checked for Frames!

Thanks again Andrew

Regards
Julie
NSW