Birth - historical searches

You can make an appointment with our Registrar in Dumbarton to carry out a General Search for a period of one hour at our office. This will cost £15.00 per hour or part thereof. You may take pencil notes or you may choose to purchase extract certificates at a cost of £10.00 each.

In West Dunbartonshire, you also have the option to purchase a paper copy of the digital image of the original entry in the register at only £1.00 each.

This only applies to historic records, the definition of which is:-

Births which occurred 100 or more years ago
Marriages which occurred 75 or more years ago
Deaths which occurred 50 or more years ago

Where do I start?

The best place to start is with your own birth certificate. This will give your parents' details. With only this small amount of information, you may be able to get back to your grandparents. All this is, of course, dependant upon your family events being registered in Scotland.

Having made an appointment for a General Search, it's a good idea to take all the family birth, death and marriage certificates you already have, or as much information as possible, with you to the registration office. This will help the Registrar to help you.

If you want to make an appointment or find out more information, contact us.

You might be interested to know that the West Dunbartonshire Library Service
also hold various historic documents which can help you to trace your family tree. Visit their family history pages to find out more.