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- source: Family History Library Catalog
The parish of St. Fergus is on the north east coast of Aberdeenshire, just north of Peterhead. For historical reasons, it traditionally belonged to Banffshire, even though it is physically surrounded by Aberdeenshire and not connected to the rest of Banffshire.
From the New Statistical Account of 1840, by Rev. James Anderson, courtesy of GENUKI:
- "This parish was formerly named Langley, and originally Inverugie. It assumed its present designation in 1616; ... it belongs to the County of Banff, to which it was annexed at a very early period through the influence of the Cheynes, the ancient proprietors, who, being the hereditary Sheriffs of Banff, were naturally very desirous to have their own domains placed under their own jurisdiction."
Gavin Bell continues in GENUKI:
- Being a "detached part" of lying some 20 miles away from the Banffshire "mainland", St Fergus represented one of the largest of the anomalies which were corrected on 1st May, 1891, but it was a quite straightforward one. Up until that date, the entire parish belonged to Banffshire; after that date, the entire parish belonged to Aberdeenshire. But (perhaps because it was such a large anomaly) different records for St Fergus are liable to appear under either Aberdeenshire or Banffshire. (source:GENUKI article on St. Fergus)
Research Tips
- official civil (from 1855) and parish registers (from when first produced) for births, marriages and deaths for all of Scotland
- original census images for all years available (1841-1911).
- references to wills and property taxes, and
- an extensive collection of local maps.
This site is extremely easy to use. There are charges for parish register entries and censuses. The charges are reasonable and payable by online transfer.
- The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online provides access to digitised and fully searchable versions of both the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) and the New Statistical Account (1834-45). These uniquely rich and detailed parish reports, usually written by local Church of Scotland ministers, detail social conditions in Scotland and are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Scottish history.
- Scotlands Places
- Gazetteer of Scotland includes descriptions of individual parishes from F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)
- The FamilySearch Wiki
- GENUKI which provides, amongst other data, complete quotations from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) by Samuel Lewis, John Bartholomew's A Gazetteer of the British Isles (1877), and A New History of Aberdeenshire edited by Alexander Smith (1875)
- A list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the website of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies.
- Aberdeenshire and Moray Records. Town Council minutes, accounts, letters, plans and harbour records provided by Aberdeenshire Council plus other local records.
- Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society is one of the largest and most reputable family history societies in Scotland and has a long list of publications referring to individual parishes.
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