CITE BUILDER

Whilst we cannot offer any endorsement or recommendation of commercial services, Renfrewshire Family History Society has agreed to assist with highlighting the following commercial service which may be of interest or assistance to readers. 

To obtain a 20% discount code, RFHS members should contact
secretary@renfrewshirefhs.co.uk . 

Why Source Citations Matter

As family historians, we spend countless hours searching for records, analysing evidence, and building our family trees. But one of the most important parts of the research process is often overlooked—recording exactly where our information came from.

A good source citation allows you to return to the original record whenever you need to check a detail or review your conclusions. It also enables others to verify your research and assess the evidence for themselves. Whether you’re sharing your work with relatives, publishing a family history, or submitting research to a genealogy society, clear citations add credibility to your work.

Without proper citations, even the most exciting discoveries can lose their value. A birth date copied from a website or a photograph saved without recording its source may be difficult—or even impossible—to verify years later. Accurate citations help preserve your research and ensure that future generations can build upon it with confidence.

Many genealogists know they should cite their sources but find the process difficult or time-consuming. With so many different record types, it’s not always easy to remember the correct format or what information should be included.

That’s where Cite-Builder can help.

Cite-Builder is a web-based citation generator designed specifically for genealogists. With more than 1000 templates covering a wide range of genealogical records, it guides users through the process of creating clear, consistent, and professional source citations. Simply choose a template, enter the details from your source, and your citation is generated automatically.

You can find Cite-Builder at https://cite-builder.com. You can use it for free, using the Basic version which provides access to about 40% of the templates.  There is also a Premium version which gives access to all the templates, plus powerful additional features.  An annual Premium subscription is only AUD $35 (approx. £18).

Whether you’re documenting census records, parish registers, newspapers, probate files, books, or online resources, Cite-Builder makes citation writing faster and easier, allowing you to spend more time discovering your family’s story—and ensuring those discoveries remain reliable for years to come.

Many presbyterian church records other than those of the established Church of Scotland were made available.  These are catalogued at NRS under CH3

Visit the Scotland’s People website and, under Virtual Volumes, Search for a Volume, Church Court Records choose Introduction where you can read of the many schisms within the presbyterian church in Scotland.

Church Court Records Online lists those churches whose records have been published.  Use the NRS reference and enter it in Virtual Volumes Search to access what is there.

Records from Barrhead Associate and Canal Street Relief, Churches, Renfrewshire have been published; a tiny number of those which existed. 

Many have been lost, not been passed to archives or have had ‘restricted’ or ‘refused access’ imposed by the owners.  Some can be examined only at the searh room of the National Record of Scotland in Edinburgh or another archive.

HAVE YOU LOOKED AT SCOTLAND’S PEOPLE LATELY?

In April, 100,000 prison records for Ayr and Inveraray jails were made available.

Those from Edinburgh, Barlinnie (Glasgow), Perth and Largs have been online for some time; the dates vary but the ultimate is 1924. 

Under Prison registers, the site provides help in understanding what is there and how to search.

The record will give: –
Dates of entry, when examined and by whom (sheriff or magistrate etc.), when sentenced, sentence if convicted and outcome (fine paid or time served), names and any alias, number of times that they have been in that prison before, married or single, age, height, weight on entry, where born, late residence, where spent greater part of life, marks (scars, tattoos etc), offence, occupation, religion, education, apparent state of health on admission and more.

The majority of offences are – assault, drunk and incapable, breach of the peace and theft.  Most do not attract extra records but there may be more information on prisoners who committed more serious crimes or were more disturbed. 

Photographs exist in some cases.

If it relates to your family, see under Poor Relief and Migration Records, Crofters and Cottars (Napier Commission) which was the first crofting commission, set up in the 1880s and which came online at the beginning of November 2025.  Aberdeenshire, Nairnshire and Banffshire were excluded but otherwise the Highlands plus Orkney and Shetland constitute the crofting counties.