References & Sources
This family history combines three layers of information:
1. A hand-written detailed document by William Whyte S.S.C. on the “Whyte, Ure & Adam families and their Forfar connections” based on extensive research by him in the early 1900’s.
2. Additional family information documented by:
Bruce Bell (NZ-based relative – see Adam family)
John Sydney Whyte (my father)
3. My research and analysis based on:
Family memories, official records, letters, documents, books and photographs;
Extensive Internet research;
Genetic DNA analysis;
Materials from the Angus Genealogy Service and the Numurkah & District Historical Society.
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William Whyte SSC
1857-1921

Scotland & Forfar - Key Publications
1. Angus Archives, local historical records (index only)
2. Pigot’s 1825 Directory – Forfar Through the Ages
3. Statistical Account of Forfar 1791/99 & 1843
4. Memorial of Angus and the Mearns by Andrew Jervise (1861)
5. Forfarshire, Land and People by Alex Warden (1880)
6. Groome’s Gazetteer for Scotland, Forfar 1882/5
7. The Royal Burgh of Forfar by Alain Reid (1902)
8. Forfar Directory 1904
9. The Forfar Pulpit (Alexander Lowson) (history of the church in Forfar)
10. Leather Industry in Scotland, by David Bremner (1869)
11. Spotlight on Forfar, a historical guided tour (Ken Bruce, 2001)
12. Numurkah (1979), by W. H. Bossence (Australia)
13. UCL research of surnames (www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames)
My main sources
1. Many Internet sites – too numerous to mention individually, although Wikipedia deserves a mention.
2. Births, marriages & deaths: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (General Register Office of Scotland). (Searches, using various spelling of Whyte, in the records of parishes of Forfar and Dundee, and the diocese records of Brechin and St Andrews.)
Old Parish Register Births/Christenings (1553-1854)
Old Parish Register Marriages/Banns (1553-1854)
Statutory Register Births (1855-1906)
Statutory Register Marriages (1855-1920)
Statutory Register Deaths (1855-1956)
Census Records: 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901
3. Scottish inheritances, wills & testaments
Testaments: www.scottishdocuments.com (up to 1901). Searches for various spellings of Whyte name
Retours of Services of Heirs (Scottish Genealogy Society): 1544-1699 (in Latin) & 1700-1859 (in Latin)
4. Forfar Town Council: Minute books – selected transcripts 1660-1690; Protocol Book of Thomas Robertsone, Index
5. Forfar church records
Parish Church & Forfar Cemetery, pre-1855 Gravestones lists
St John’s Episcopal Church records:
Church Burial Book 1733-60 & 1772-84; Church Magazine - Old-time Church Register 1754-1823
6. Victoria, Australia records
Births, Deaths & Marriages - www.bdm.vic.gov.au - Births 1853-1924; Marriages 1853-1942; Deaths 1853-1985
Victoria Public Records Office, Teacher and Immigration databases; Shipping lists 1839-1923
7. India Office, family history, including HEICS (British Library) - http://indiafamily.bl.uk/
8. Ancestry.com - to check, cross-check some of the above and analyse family trees
9 DNA/Genetic Analysis: Paternal ancestry - YSTR45 test + I1b2 tests; Maternal ancestry - mtDNA test, HV1 & HV2
William Whyte’s sources
1. St John’s Church Register
2. Forfar Burgess Roll
3. Diocesan Register
4. Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages
5. Forfar Burgh Records
6. Index of Testaments recorded
7. Tan works Cash Ledger 1716
8. Tan works Title Deeds
9. History of Forfar (Reid)
10. Register of Services of Heirs
11. Forfar Notables (Lowson)
12. Army Lists
13. Grampian Club Volumes
14. Forfar Incorporation of Cordiners (Shoemakers Guild) Extracts from Shoemakers Minute Books 1626-1846