Place:Parton, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland

source: Family History Library Catalog

Parton was a parish located in the former county of Kirkcudbrightshire. Both county and parish ceased to exist following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1974. The parish had an area of 65.6km² (25.3 sq. miles) and had 5 neighbouring parishes: Balmaclellan, Balmaghie, Crossmichael, Kells and Kirkpatrick-Durham.

The parish included the settlements of Corsock Village, Glenlair and Shieldhill.

Parton is now located in the Dumfries and Galloway Council Area, some 8 miles (12 km) north of Castle Douglas and 14 miles (23 km) north of Kirkcudbright.

Research Tips

Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses

• FamilySearch (Indexes only)

• Scotland's People This is a pay website providing vital statistics and census data for all of Scotland with original images. There is a description at Scotland under Genealogical Resources.

Notes for Kirkcudbrightshire

• The Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society website may point to material of interest to the general researcher. Amongst their publications are indexes for the 1841 census. These are prepared as small booklets, one for each parish, and are alphabetically indexed transcriptions. Obtainable from the D & G FHS, address at website.

• The FreeCen Project has a searchable (not browsable) transcription of the whole of Kirkcudbrightshire online for the 1841 census.

• The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright Monumental Inscriptions pre-1855 by Alison and Angus Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogical Society. A series of 7 small volumes of transcriptions of gravestones from all the cemeteries in the former county. Obtainable from the Scottish Genealogical Society, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2JL.

• Monumental Inscriptions for Some Parishes of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright An online handling of the same information as above, with full transcriptions and photographs. Borgue, Buittle, Colvend, Parton, Rerrick, Tongland, Twynholm, Anwoth and Girthon parishes are included.

• A Historical Index of the People and Places of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbrught. A resource containing a variety of information to assist people interested in places in the Stewartry (or County) of Kirkcudbright including places and placenames, historical articles, newspaper marriage and death notices.

• The Parton Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1714-1854), marriages (1714-1783 and 1833-1854) and burials (1744-1783). See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Parton for other church denominations.

• The surviving Kirk session records for Parton include the Minutes (1692–1706, 1744–1791 and 1800–1850), the Accounts (1744–1791, 1800–1830, 1832–1852 and 1856–1951) and the Poors' Fund for 1714. These are available from the National Archives of Scotland at Edinburgh.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

• GENUKI article on Parton. These articles often include a bibliography.

• The Gazetteer for Scotland article on the parish of Parton. The tabs on the right provide more information, and a map of the parish within its surrounding area, with small settlements highlighted and linked to more information.

• The FamilySearch Wiki article on Parton provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the parish.

• The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.

• The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.

• Excerpts from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.