Argyllshire

• The Argyll and Bute District Libraries (Highland Avenue, Sandbank, Dunoon PA23 8PB, Argyll. Tel. +44 1369 703214) hold local history material and the IGI (all of Scotland) and sasines. The former Online Catalogue is no longer available.

• General advice on census records and indexes can be found on our Scotland Census page.

• General advice on parish registers throughout Scotland can be found on our Scotland Church Records page.

• Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. These and other records are held at New Register House, National Records of Scotland. Researchers unable to visit New Register House can search the birth and marriage (100-year rule applies) and death indexes (75-year rule applies) online through ScotlandsPeople. This service will also allow searches of the indexes to the Old Parish Records.

• Records of testaments, inventories, etc., are held at the National Records of Scotland.
• Cases from Argyll heard by the High Court of Justiciary, the supreme criminal court in Scotland, have been published in: The Justiciary records of Argyll and the Isles. Edinburgh : The Stair Society, 1949-1969. Vol. 1. 1664-1705, edited by John Cameron - v. 2. 1705-1742, edited by John Imrie. (Stair Society [series]; 25)

• The Scots overseas : emigrants and adventurers from Argyll and the northern Highlands, David Dobson. Pt. 1- St Andrews : [The Author],1993-(Pt. 2 appeared in 2000.)
• Scotland Emigration and Immigration - all kinds of information on Scottish immigration and emigration
• Brief History-Emigration/Immigration Scotland Research Guide - a history of Scottish immigration and emigration
• Scots Genealogy - Emigration
• Scottish immigration to America
• Information as to why highlanders emigrated to America

• Scotlands Places
• The Gazetteer for Scotland deserves study - take some time to fully explore its features in depth.
• A transcription of the section for Argyll District from Groomes's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1896.
• A transcription of the section for Argyllshire from Groomes's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1896.

• Wikipedia has a list of Clans of Argyll with links to more information about each clan.
• The Mull Genealogy website (notable resources there include a burial index and a list of subscribers to the rootsweb mailing lists and their family interests).
• Mull family names for ancestor hunters, by Jo Currie. Tobermory: Brown & Whittaker Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-9528428-8-2.

• Search for information on Argyll and places therein in Vision of Britain.
• Search for information on Argyll and places therein in British History Online.

• Abstracts of the General Register of Sasines for Argyll, Bute and Dunbarton, otherwise known as the Argyll Sasines, collected by Herbert Campbell. Edinburgh : W. Brown, 1934
• Abstracts of the Particular Register of Sasines for Argyll, Bute and Dunbarton, otherwise known as the Argyll Sasines, collected by Herbert Campbell. Edinburgh : W. Brown, 1934
• Index to Particular Register of Sasines for Argyle, Dumbarton, Bute, Arran and Tarbert, 1617-1780 Edinburgh : HMSO, 1926

• Ordnance Survey maps of the County of Argyll in the mid 19th century are available via old-maps.co.uk.
• The location of Argyllshire.

• Rolls of Honour and War Memorials (monuments) are one good resource for family historians, but need to be addressed with some caution - it should not be assumed that they are either complete or accurate. Memorials (and Rolls of Honour) were created at the local parish level after asking the local inhabitants whose names should appear. Thus:
  
  - Some names may have been omitted, for a variety of reasons.
  - Some names may appear on more than one memorial.
  - Some names may be misspelled, or given names transposed.
  - Some people may be listed as killed in action, but were not.
  - Some people may be listed who were not in the service at all.
  - Some people may have been confused with others of a similar name.
  
  - A Roll of Honour may sometimes list the names of all who served, not just those who died.
  - Some of the original records may have been incorrect, for a variety of reasons.
  - Some (more recent) research may be incorrect.
• View a list of the Rolls of Honour for Argyllshire.

• The place-names of Argyll : an historical perspective, I.A. Fraser. IN: Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 54 (1984-86), 174-207
• Isle of Mull : placenames, meanings and stories, Charles Maclean. Dumfries 1997.
• The place-names of Iona, by Alexander Carmichael. IN: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 2, no. 8 (1886), 461-474 (Pt. 1), 3, no. 2 (1887), 80-87 (Pt. 2), 3, no. 5 (1887), 242-247 (Pt. 3).
• Notes on place-names of Iona, Hector Maclean. IN: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 3, no. 1 (1887), 35-38

There are several Clans and families whose ancestral lands fall within the boundaries of Argyllshire. Many families make up each Clan in Scotland, so although a Clan may be called Clan MacLachlan or Clan MacLean, there are many family names that are different than those of the Clan leaders yet are still make up the membership of the Clan. Below is a list of Argyllshire Clans. Most of the Clan websites provide the names of families who belong to the Clan.

Clans and Families

• Clan Campbell was the main clan of this region. The Campbell clan hosted the long line of the Dukes of Argyll.
• Clan Gregor historically held a great deal of lands in this region prior to the proscription of their name in April 1603, the result of a power struggle with the Campbells.
• Clan Lamont historically both allied and feuded with the Campbell clan, culminating in the Dunoon Massacre. In the 19th century, theclan chief sold his lands and relocated to Australia, where the current chief lives.
• Clan McCorquodale held lands around Loch Awe from the early medieval period until the early 18th century. Their seat was a castle on Loch Tromlee.
• Clan MacMillan held lands in Argyll, notably in knapdale (viz. "MacMillan of Knap")
• Clan Malcolm Also known as MacCallum. The Malcolm clan seat is Duntrune Castle on the banks of Loch Crinan
• Clan MacLean Historically held lands on the Isle of Mull with its seat at Duart Castle
• The Clan MacLachlan Society, Britain & Ireland Branch - historically feuded with the Campbells, and espoused Jacobitism. Held lands on both sides of Loch Fyne
  • The Western USA Branch of the Clan MacLachlan Society
  • The Clan MacLachlan Association of North America
  • The Clan MacLachlan Society of New Zealand
  • The Clan MacLachlan Society of Australia
  • The Clan Lachlan Association of Canada
  • Old Castle Lachlan

• A listing of death notices, taken from local newspapers, of natives of Mull who emigrated to Prince Edward Island, has been compiled by Judy LeDrew and published on The Island Register, a website devoted to the genealogy of Prince Edward Island.

• Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society
• Highland Family History Society
• Lochaber and North Argyll Family History Group

• The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799, edited by Sir John Sinclair. Vol. 8. Argyll (Mainland). East Ardsley, Wakefield : EP Publishing, 1983. ISBN 0-7158-1008-1
• The Statistical Account of Argyleshire, by the ministers of the respective parishes. Edinburgh : William Blackwood 1845. [3], 728p.
• Both the first and the Second (New) Statistical Accounts have been digitised and made available online by Edinburgh Data and Information Access.
• The County of Argyll, edited by Colin M. MacDonald. Glasgow : Collins, 1961. 396p. (The Third Statistical Account of Scotland; v. 9)
• The description of the Isle of Lewis which appeared in the first Statistical Account is presented separately, along with the accounts covering the other islands off the west of Scotland, in a compilation volume: The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799, edited by Sir John Sinclair. Vol. 20. The Western Isles (of Ross, Inverness-shire and Argyll, with Bute). EP Publishing, 1983. ISBN 0-7158-1020-0.