Scottish Roots is a small team of experienced researchers. Tony Reid has had many years' experience as an amateur genealogist and family historian. He was head of the Library and Reference division of the European Parliament in Luxembourg. He has particular interest in the use of computers and information technology for the genealogist.

Stuart Reid is an honours graduate in Communication Studies and is also an experienced researcher having used the records at New Register House for 14 years.

Although civil registration did not start in Scotland until 1855 (eighteen years after England), the information given on Scottish certificates is generally more comprehensive. For example the Scottish marriage certificate can provide a mass of interesting information:-
Date and place, religion, full name, age, status, address, occupation for both parties. It should also give the names and occupations of their parents.

Before 1855 all records were grouped according to parish - there are just over 900 Scottish parishes in total.
Records vary greatly from one parish to another in availability, quality and legibility. Nevertheless, Old Parish Register constitute the main source of information prior to the mid-19th century.

One of the features of Scottish Roots is that we would not necessarily restrict ourselves to the previously-described 'classic' sources. It is not possible to describe here the very wide range of other sources which might be used in our investigations. The major ones are tombstone inscriptions, testaments (wills), obituaries in local newspapers and Post Office directories.