Parish Number - 105
Births: (Film # 990713 [2] ) 1788 to 1854
[A note in the LDS Catalog states that there are only eight pages of irregular entries for the period 1788 to 1819, with one for 1830 and one for 1836. The older records are said to have been destroyed by fire. In this circumstance, Kirk Session records might provide some useful information.]
Census: 1841 (Film #1042639), 1851 (Film #1042066), 1861 (Film #103835)
1871 (Film #103999), 1881 (Film #203424), 1891 (Film #208640)Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, 1868
"MOY AND DALAROSSIE, an united parish… It contains the post-office of Moy, 12 miles south-east of Inverness. It is bounded by Calder, Ardclach, Duthill, Alvie, Dunlichity and Daviot. Its length from north-east to south-west is about 30 miles; and its mean breadth is about 5 miles. It entirely consists of two glens and their hill-screens, that of the upper part of the river Findhorn, extending from end to end of the parish, and constituting its main body, - and that of Loch-Moy, and the rivulet Funtack, opening into the southern part of the former, and coming down upon it from the north-north-west. The glen of the Findhorn, or Strahtdearn, so called from Earn, the Gaelic name of the river, is strictly a close mountain-vale, broadly screened with ranges of the Monadhleadh mountains, and
possessing an average breadth, across its low grounds, of only about 3/4 of a mile. Numerous recesses or tiny lateral glens bring down to its river the tribute of their mountain-brooks; they are, for the most part, cultivated over half-a-mile or more from their mouth; and, owing to their having been made the retreats of herds of cattle during the heat of summer, they bear the name of shielings… The lesser chief vale of the parish, or the glen of Moy, is only about 4-1/2 miles in length, near its head lies Loch-Moy, about 1-1/2 miles long, and half-a-mile broad; a beautiful sheet of water, whose immediate scenery, compared to the general irksomeness of the glen, has occasioned it to be described as resembling a gleam of sunshine on a cloudy day, yet one that renders the adjoining waste darker and more dreary. A hanging forest of birth and pines surrounds it, and has a beautiful appearance… "-Kirk Session Records
The Kirk Session of a parish consists of the the minister of the parish and the elders of the congregation. It looks after the general well-being of the congreation and, particularly in centuries past, church discipline within the parish. These records can sometimes provide invaluable information that is available nowhere else. An example would be the case of an illegitimate child. In many cases, the fornication resulting in the birth of the child would be a matter of church discipline and would thus be recorded in the minutes of the Session. It has been known ot occur that the parish register recorded the name of the mother of an illegitimate child in error, such error being brought to light by examing the Kirk Session records dealing with the birth of the child. There is also a possibility that other valuable information concerning the parents might be contained in the Kirk Session records. Kirk Session records are generally held at the Scottish Record Office in Edinburg. These records have not in most cases beeen microfilmed by the LDS Church.
The following information on availability of Kirk Session records for this parish was taken from the Miscellany of the New Spalding Club, vol.1, Aberdeen: 1890
* Minutes: 20 December 1741 to 18 July 1803
* Minutes: 3 December 1780 to 12 December 1785
* Minutes: 24 July 1790 to 7 January 1791
* Minutes: 31 August 1807 to 1890
