Angus (or Forfarshire), Scotland Genealogy (2024)

Guide to Angus (or Forfarshire) County ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History[edit | edit source]

Angus (formerly Forfarshire until 1928) is a maritime county in the east of Scotland. It is bounded on the north by the counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine, on the east by the German Ocean, on the south by the Firth of Tay, and on the west by Perthshire. It is about 38 1/2 miles in length and 37 1/2 miles in extreme breadth, comprising an area of 840 square miles or 537,600 acres. The county or area was anciently called Angus after the brother of King Kenneth II to whom it was granted by the king after his victory over the Picts. It was later called Forfarshire after the county town of Forfar. (Apparently the name changed back to Angus in 1928.)

The county is comprised of fifty-five parishes and two civil districts of Forfar and Dundee. The royal burghs are Forfar, Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, and Brechin. The market-towns are Kirriemuir and Glammis, and there are several smaller towns and villages.^[1][2]

ScotlandsPeople: An Important Online Source[edit | edit source]

ScotlandsPeople is one of the largest online sources of original genealogical information. If you are researching UK genealogy, your Scottish ancestry or building your Scottish family tree, they have more than 100 million records to look through.

The comprehensive choice of Scottish records includes:

For more detail on record availability, see Guides. For the content guide to what records are on the site, see Guides A-Z. More information on the site, its contents, and instructions for using it can be found in the ScotlandsPeople Wiki article. Indexes may be searched for free, and there is a pay per view fee to see the digitized record.

Census[edit | edit source]

Many census records have been indexed by surname. Some indexes cover one parish (and will be listed in the Wiki on the parish page) and some indexes are for the county as a whole. The FamilySearch Library has county-wide census placename indexes for Angus (or Forfarshire) for 1881. Click here for other census indexes available at the library.

• ScotlandsPeople, index, images, free index, pay per view ($)
• Scotland Census, 1841, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1851, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1861, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1871, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1881, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1891, no images. Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1901 at FamilySearch — index
• Scotland Census, 1901, index and images ($). Also at MyHeritage, index ($); findmypast, index ($); Ancestry.com, index ($).
• Scotland Census, 1911, index and images ($).

Church Records[edit | edit source]

• 1562-1855 Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Births & Baptisms 1562-1855 at Findmypast ($) — index
• 1562-1855 Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Marriages & Banns 1562-1855 at Findmypast ($) — index
• 1562-1855 Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Deaths & Burials 1562-1855 at Findmypast ($) - index
• 1658-1919 Scotland Church Records and Kirk Session Records, 1658-1919 at FamilySearch — index
• 1736-1990 Scotland Presbyterian & Protestant Church Records, 1736-1990 at FamilySearch — index
• 1822-1839 Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus), Dundee Poor Relief Assessments 1822-1839 at Findmypast ($) — index

Civil Registration or Statutory Registers[edit | edit source]

Parishes[edit | edit source]

Some of the Angus (or Forfarshire) parish records are indexed in Angus (or Forfarshire), Scotland, Extracted Parish Records.

This database is a collection of historical parish registers from the county of Angus (or Forfarshire) in the country of Scotland. The records in this collection can range in date from the early 1500s to the mid- to late-1800s. The records include baptisms/christenings, burials, marriages, tombstone inscriptions, obituaries, tax lists, wills, and other miscellaneous types of records. Also included are some records from non-conformist churches. You will find interesting phonetic spelling. Some of the records may be in Latin or even a Welsh or Scottish dialect. Due to the nature of the records and because the records were originally compiled by a third party, it is difficult to absolutely verify the completeness and validity of the data.

Here is a list of the historic parishes of the county of Angus (or Forfarshire) with their parish numbers. Click on the parish name to see information about records. Click on the link for an outline map of the parishes of Angus.

Biographies[edit | edit source]

• People of Angus | Courtesy of the Angus Council

Directories[edit | edit source]

• Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus), Dundee Trade & Postal Directories 1783-1842 - Findmypast ($)

Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland:

PO Directories Online:

• 1846 "Angus and Mearns directory and almanac"
• 1847 "Angus and Mearns directory and almanac"

The above directories includes the following areas:

• Montrose
• Forfar
• Brechin
• Arbroath
• Kirriemuir

Electoral Registers[edit | edit source]

• 1857-1939 Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Electoral Registers 1857-1939 at Findmypast ($) - index and images

Land Records[edit | edit source]

• 1823-1938 Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Valuation Rolls 1823-1938 at Findmypast - index ($)

Maps[edit | edit source]

• National Library of Scotland map collection

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Military Records[edit | edit source]

• 1801 Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus), Dundee Militia Lists 1801 at Findmypast — index
• 1939-1945 Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus), Dundee, D C Thomson Staff War Album 1939-1945 at Findmypast ($), index and images

Poorhouse Records[edit | edit source]

NOTE: Workhouses in Scotland were commonly known as poorhouses. For more information on Scottish poorhouses, go to the Scotland Poorhouses, Poor Law, Etc page.

There were five workhouses in this county:

• Arbroath and St. Vigean's Combination
• Brechin Almshouse
• Dundee Combination
• Forfar
• Kirriemuir Almshouse

A description with drawings and photos of the workhouses today along with databases of those living there from the 1881 Census are provided on the links above located on the site entitled The Workhouse: The story of an institution... which is owned and operated by Peter Higginbotham.

Ancestry also has a searchable index for Dundee: Web: Dundee, Scotland, Poor Law Indexes, 1854-1878 ($)

Societies[edit | edit source]

In every county in Scotland there are one or more family history societies made up of members with genealogical interests in their areas. A coordinating organization for many societies is the Scottish Association of Family History Societies (SAFHS). The society publishes the SAFHS Bulletin, which contains news and updates on its member societies. For information about this organization and its member societies, contact or visit their website.

Taxation[edit | edit source]

• 1691 Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Hearth Tax 1691 at Findmypast - index ($)

Websites[edit | edit source]

• Scots History on Line
• Angus (Forfarshire) Resources and help pages on RootsChat Angus (Forfarshire) Resources and help pages. (Free).

Research Tools[edit | edit source]

For a list of archives and libraries on the national level, go to the ScotlandArchives and Libraries page.

References[edit | edit source]