One of the stumbling blocks for any family historian is when ancestors have emigrated or married away from their birth parishes. Whether you are tracing a sibling of your ancestors from the UK, or tracing a line back to the UK, the problem is the same.

The Scottish Marriage Index (SMI) is built around a marriage where at least one spouse is Scots born. An entry in the index will usually give four family names. Most marriages listed took place outside Scotland, but some Scottish marriages are included where one spouse is well away from the parish of birth. Some contributors have sent considerable information, including marriages of the children of Scottish emigrants which help to link families back to their Scottish roots.

The Scots travelled far and wide in search of better or new and different opportunities for themselves and their families. Some saw their opportunities in the emerging industrial towns of Lancashire, many more tried their luck in one of the new worlds, from Canada and America to Australia and New Zealand, in Europe, Asia and Africa. Some had skills to offer, some did not.

Not all of these travellers stayed abroad. Some emigrants married abroad and later returned to Scotland. These are the Scots who can be most difficult to track down. Where did they go? What skills did they have? Who did they marry? Did they move around? Did they return to Scotland?

The SMI may be freely searched by surname and (optionally) forename and will produce a listing of the details of each marriage in which a person of that name is identified as either bride or groom. The details, where provided by the submitter, will include the birthdate, birthplace and parents' names for bride and groom and the date and place of the marriage. Where additional information is available, an email link will enable users to contact either the original submitter (if he or she has given permission) or MLFHS to pursue this.

MLFHS does not guarantee the accuracy of any information given but provides access to data as supplied by contributors worldwide.

Submissions to the SMI are welcomed. Information is entered via an online form. There is provision to accept information about the birth date, birth place and parents of bride and groom and whilst this is encouraged, if this information is not known, a marriage may still be submitted. However, an entry MUST include the full names of bride and groom and the date and place of the marriage for it to be accepted.

Submitters must also provide their name and email address so that the index manager can contact them in the event of an enquiry. Where permission is given, an email contact link will be shown when the marriage appears in a list of search results. We also welcome a postal address so that in the event of a change of email address we are still able to contact the submitter. Postal and email addresses will at no time be visible to those searching the index.