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Stow was a parish located in the southernmost part of the former Scottish county of Midlothian. The parish had an area of 105.9 sq. km (40.8 sq. miles) and had 7 neighbouring parishes; namely Fala & Soutra and Heriot in Midlothian, Caddonfoot in Selkirkshire, Channelkirk and Lauder in Berwickshire, Innerleithen in Peebleshire, and Melrose in Roxburghshire. Stow's boundaries were modified significantly in 1889 and 1894 by the Local Government (Scotland) Acts.
Since the administrative re-organziation of Scotland in 1996, Stow has been located in the Scottish Borders Council Area. It is 11 miles (17 km) northwest of the town of Melrose and 12 miles (19 km) east of the town of Peebles.
The parish church has records for births dating from 1626, for marriages from 1641 and for deaths from 1722.
Research Tips
Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses
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- 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.
Further Sources of Reference
Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.
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- Scottish Places article on the parish of Stow. The tabs of the right provide more information, and comparitive maps.
- The FamilySearch Wiki article on Stow 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.
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