The Old Parish Registers cover the period from c. 1550 up to 1854.
The indexes here have been sorted by parents, in the case of Births, by forename in the case of Marriages, this was too allowing for easier checking.
Please note that due to spelling differences and the inclusion of frame references the sort isn't perfect.
The files have been stripped to the essentials, but even with that the Dun Births was almost too large to deal with, hence they have been divided into four sections divided alphabetically
A search can be made using Ctrl + f key (windows)
OPR Deaths
ScotlandsPeople carries the following on the OPR Deaths: -
Do not expect too much from OPR death & burial records.
The amount of information recorded can be variable
and most entries contain very little detail. More often
than not you will find only the name of the person
who has died, with a date, and sometimes even just
the surname. Such paucity of information can make it
extremely difficult to pinpoint the correct person.
In the case of a mortcloth hire, there is usually a
record of the payment made. Some parishes had several
mortcloths for hire, of varying quality, including
a childs one and the fee will vary accordingly. Sometimes
you will find extra information. Besides the name of
the person who has died, the date of death and/or date
of burial, you may find the name of a relative (e.g.
spouse, father), the place or parish of residence,
and sometimes the occupation of the person/father/spouse.
A few registers will give cause of death and some age
at death. There may be more detail recorded on the
death/burial of important and well-to-do members of
the parish. There is a link to a sample image in the
Dun Deaths.
Dun is a comparatively rare name now in the UK; with only 129 appearing on the 2005 Electoral Roll.
It became clear that Dun had suffered the same fate as Ker and Scot with fashion adding an extra letter.
I was particularly interested in finding examples of when this change occurred – a comparison of births for the same family for Dun and Dunn show births being entered in the same family as Dun and Dunn with Dunn prevailing.
The graph shows male marriages from prior to 1700 to 1850 which clearliy shows this trend.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has an example of this change in their family.