Place:Dalserf, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Area: 11.7 sq. miles (30.5 sq. km)
Population: about 18,000 in 2001 (latest census available)

the following is based on an article in Wikipedia

Dalserf is now a civil parish in the South Lanarkshire Council Area, Scotland. It lies on the River Clyde 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Larkhall and 7 miles (11 km) south east of Hamilton. The parish includes Ashgill, Larkhall, Netherburn, Rosebank and Shawsburn, as well as the small village of Dalserf.

The name of the parish comes from the Gaelic dail, meaning field, and Serf, the name of a 6th century saint who lived here. The village kirk, built in 1655, is dedicated to Saint Serf, and may be built on the site of an early church founded by him. The church dates from the The Killing Time (roughly 1680-1688), when the rebel Covenanters were persecuted for their faith, and Dalserf was a centre of Covenanter activity. John McMillan, reformist preacher and first minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, is buried in the kirkyard. The kirk is Category A listed.

A ferry once operated across the Clyde at Dalserf village, although this has long since been superseded by the nearby Garrion Bridge. Dalserf railway station once served the village.

Scottish Places states that the parish boundaries of Dalserf were modified as a consequence of the Local Government (Scotland), 1894.

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 Lanarkshire

• GENUKI has a list of references for Lanarkshire. Some of these may be superseded by more modern material.

• The Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society has a vast website containing a great variety of information (including some databases), not only on Glasgow but on Lanarkshire outside the metropolis.

• There is also the Lanarkshire Family History Society based in Motherwell which caters for Lanarkshire outside of Glasgow. Its publication list may be of interest.

• FreeCen index includes the whole of Lanarkshire for 1841 and a substantial section for 1851. The Genealogical Society of Utah sponsored the collection of 1881 census records and these will be found at FamilySearch. A search of all the censuses for Scotland may be done for a fee at Scotland's People

• ’’Lanarkshire Monumental Inscriptions: Pre 1855 Inscriptions and maps from the burial grounds of the Upper (southern) Ward of South Lanarkshire’’. Edited by Sheila A Scott, M.A. Book available through both of the above family history societies or from the original publisher: The Scottish Genealogical Society.

• The Dalserf Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide information on baptisms (1738-1854), marriages (1740-1775, 1785-1789, and 1802-1844) and burials (1740-1774 and 1783-1784). See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Dalserf for other church denominations.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

• GENUKI article on Dalserf.

• Scottish Places article on the parish of Dalserf. The tabs of the right provide more information, and comparative maps.

• Scottish Places article on the village of Dalserf and Scottish Places article on Larkhall

• The FamilySearch Wiki article on Dalserf 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.