{"id":2353,"date":"2016-03-21T09:01:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T14:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geneosity.com\/?p=2353"},"modified":"2019-05-08T12:22:05","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T17:22:05","slug":"researching-scottish-death-burial-and-lair-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geneosity.com\/researching-scottish-death-burial-and-lair-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Researching Scottish Death, Burial and Lair Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the best resources for genealogy research are death records.\u00a0This isn’t limited to statutory records, but included burial records, cemetery records, and lair records as well.<\/p>\n

While we all learn to use monumental inscriptions, we have to bear in mind that until the 1700s, very few people in Scotland had headstones, and in fact, few cemeteries existed. Many rural and more remote areas had a segregated place in community for the burial of the dead. These were not what we know today as cemeteries. There are neither headstones nor burial records for many of the people interred in these places. Sometimes there will be notations in family bibles. Sometimes Kirk records will make mention, but for the most part, these early burials were undocumented unless the deceased had some money or status within the community.<\/p>\n

By the turn of the 18th century, we start to see burial grounds specifically attached to the Kirks, and many with headstones marking graves\/lairs for those interred. However, not everyone could afford their\u00a0lair. Any many more were unable to afford a headstone. We often see common ground burials where large numbers of people are interred. This also extended to the majority of those who died during times of epidemic illnesses, such as typhoid or the plague. In these instances, bodies were rounded up en masse and buried together in one\u00a0 grave. Few names, if any, were recorded. Often the deaths themselves were not registered either during periods of epidemic illnesses.<\/p>\n

\"monumental<\/a><\/p>\n

During the 18th century, we also start to see documentation in the Kirk records, either in the parish registers or in the Kirk Session records with regards to burials. This is often in the financial records\u00a0for the Kirk or parish and includes items such as:<\/p>\n