Before 1855, Church of Scotland registers recorded baptisms, wedding proclamations and burials, and those for East Lothian are held on microfilm at East Lothian Council Library Service's Local History Centre.

The records are not comprehensive, partly because people often could not afford to pay the fee for the transaction or did not think it worth the money; partly because some records were damaged or lost at some point over the years.Because there was no standard to which the recording clerks must conform, the information varies considerably from year to year and from parish to parish.

Handwriting can be difficult to read, especially the 17th century writing, which was very embellished, and in some cases the ink is so faded as to be virtually invisible.