Family Tree Researchers Help Page
We receive many requests for help in trying to trace family trees from people all round the world. We regret that we are unable to make individual searches as the bulk of church records for all Church of Scotland Congregations prior to 1900 are held forty miles away by Her Majesty's Keeper of Records, Princes Street, Edinburgh in Register House which is next door to the Registrar of Birth, Death and Marriages. It is possible to research many records prior to 1885 using the internet and you should see the links below.
We are happy however to provide background information and geographical information about our own Parish and contact addresses for other local Parishes. Addresses of those you are researching as well as names and dates are important.
If you are intending to visit this part of Scotland then please see our advice for travellers page.
The Church of Scotland is Presbyterian in Church Government and this accounts for the largest percentage of the population historically. However in the 18th and 19th Centuries there was a large influx of both Protestant and Roman Catholic workers to the area from Ireland. Largely they found work in weaving, coal mining, the iron industry, the building of canals and railways. Often there are "Catholic" and "Protestant" spellings of the same surnames for example "McLaughlin" and "McLachlan".
New Monkland Parish Church was the original church in the area about 1640 when it was disjoined from Old Monkland (which from then on covered the area now known as Coatbridge).
In time through various splits and unions in the Church of Scotland, New Monkland Parish became smaller and the following congregations came into being:
Airdrie: West Parish Church (Originally the West Chapel).
Airdrie: Broomknoll Parish Church
Airdrie: Flowerhill Parish Church
Airdrie: Clarkston Parish Church
Airdrie: Wellwynd Parish Church(now united with West)
Airdrie: Jackson Parish Church (now transported)
Airdrie: South Bridge Street Parish Church (now gone)
Airdrie: St. Columba's Parish Church
Chapelhall Parish Church
Calderbank Parish Church (linked with Broomknoll)
Greengairs Parish Church (linked with New Monkland)
Longriggend Parish Church (now united with Caldercruix)
Caldercruix Parish Church
Glenboig Parish Church (now linked with Gartcosh)
However for many years afterwards the whole Registration District for Birth Deaths and Marriages including the above parishes was still known as New Monkland Parish though no longer in the Parish of New Monkland Church. This often leads to confusion by researchers.
The local cemeteries are mainly around New Monkland Church in the village of Glenmavis but there are also cemeteries at Clarkston and Wellwynd. A cemetery at Broomknoll has been paved over for a car park and the stones placed under the church hall. There is a Roman Catholic cemetery (St. Joseph's but locally known as Staneybraes) on the North side of Airdrie. There was also a cemetery at Chapel Street but the stones and remains were disinterred and transported to New Monkland Cemetery. When searching a cemetery you should be looking for stones of about the same years from when the grave was first used.
Further information from