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Hi Chuck,
Do you know of the website www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk ? It's the official goverment genealogy site. The government didn't begin keeping an official Civil Registry until 1855, however. I would guess that they would be RC if born/married in South Uist. The Births/Deaths/Marriages records pre-1855 were kept by the church but as far as I know they go back to about the 1820s - the oldest being, I think, Bornish RC Church. Prior to that you're into the realm of oral tradition.
There's also a genealogist called Bill Lawson, who's spent the past 40 years documenting the genealogy of the islands. He concentrated initially (and quite rightly so) on the oral record and documented many of the islands in his Croft Histories. They may well be your best bet. He has a genealogy research company called Co Leis Thu? (who do you belong to?) and details are at http://www.seallam.com/coleisthu.htm You have to pay for his services but many of his Croft Histories, including South Uist townships have been published.
There's also an archiving project on the go at the moment that is archiving the records of South Uist Estates. They hope that the archive will be digitally documented and made available in the future to anyone researching family history. But that may be a couple of years away yet.
Hope that helps,
Archie |
