Genealogy Chat

I have a John Arnold who I traced back via the censuses and therefore have his DOB c1801. I found his marriage via LDS and viewed the film but it only showed John Arnold (Widower) married Mary Ann Allington (Spinster) 12.02.1827. I have been unable to find his previous marriage.

I have also found a John Arnold baptism on Family Search with father Abraham and mother Mary plus siblings & another with parents John & Sarah both with a slightly earlier DOB. How can I confirm which couple are his parents.

What am I likely to find, and how will they confirm which if any are mine please.

Linda, have a look on the censuses at the place he says he was born, and try that parish reg. Of course if there were 2 born in the same parish about the same time then you could have a problem.
Huia.

There is also the possibility that he had the same or a similar occupation to his father. The baptisms usually give the occupation of the father.

Thank you each and all for your replies.

I don't know if I'm missing something here but even if I go to the church records how do I prove which of the two John Arnolds registered belong to me? There are at least two born same area & baptized at the same church!!!

I don't know any siblings or either parents names.

Linda,

Now you are getting into proper genealogy: you have to extract all the Arnold baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish(es) and try to put them into family trees. With luck one of your John Arnolds can be killed off or followed through in the censuses. Whatever you find, this is much more interesting and satisfying than abstracting items from ready-cooked data online.

Peter

Sorry if I'm a bit slow here but can anyone tell me the following please: To view the baptisms, marriages & burials in the parish do I have to go to the church in question (if it's still there) or is there a central body in each area which hold the parish records. Which ever way, do I have to telephone and make an appointment?
Linda

They should be at the records office for each county. (Have to admit, I'm not sure how the London area works, but - for instance - my ancestors are from the Ormskirk area but I go to Preston to look up their details because that's where the Lancashire office is. My maternal ancestors from Bottesford in Leicestershire, I found at the Leicester, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire Records Office in Wigston, near Leicester).

Usually they seem to come in the form of microfilm or a microfiche. I've never had to phone when I've visited - they give you a card that you can use again to get in, which you can use at the desk to view any original documents (if they have them there). It's a bit like a reference library really.

Here in New Zealand we go to the LDS and order in the film of the parish records for whichever church we require. It sometimes takes a month or more to get it, depending on how many other people are wanting that one, and then we have 4 weeks to look at it on the film reader in their rooms.

Huia.

Re Parish Records, I went to the Matlock, Derbyshire, Centre and spent all day there looking through microfiches for the Needham family. I found not a single one, though they were all born in Derbyshire, Tideswell, a major town in the 1700s and 1800s. and baptised/married/buried in the local C of E church according to the IGI. I was told that all the records were there on microfiche. I asked for help, was told they were too busy, and just directed to the drawers of microfilms to search through. As said, was there all day, and had not a clue what I was doing, just scrolling through records which seemed to be in no particular order, some births from 1800-1810, some marriages from 1790-1805, some deaths from 1770-1790, no apparent order to them. I was distraught.

I also went to Macclesfield Town Hall, where I was told all the records for Prestbury Parish Church were held (by Prestbury Parish Church as they were getting fed up with my constant enquiries). They could not find them for me. Well, they found something, I forget what, but I could not locate any of my Warhursts despite them being a huge family in the area and I know the grandparents were buried in the churchyard cos I have the grave papers.

Can someone tell me what I was doing wrong? Other people seem to have gone to local records offices and come home with buckets of stuff. I spend 16 hours getting nothing.

Please advise, as I have the whole country to search!

Margaret

On the bright side, Margaret, at least you know which records not to look at again. I've got a 3xgreat grandfather I've been looking for for ages - I have a father's name on his marriage certificate - and I have looked at the records for as many churches as I can think of to find his christening, but I still don't think I've found the right one.

Did the IGI records you found say they had been extracted or submitted? If submitted, they may have been copied down from the records or they may only be guesswork that the submitter hasn't verified. Sometimes Catholic records (or Methodist, or other "non-conformist" branches) are noted down in the local Anglican records because I think a marriage was only considered legal if performed in an Anglican church. (I have a few of mine who appear twice - presumably they had what would be like a "civil" service today in the Anglican church and a religious one in their own church?)

Other thoughts - is it possible that the family worshipped elsewhere because that was where their ancestors came from? (I've got a family who settled in Melling in Lancashire, but their baptisms and marriages are in the church records at nearby Aughton because that was where the mother came from.)

Or, have you looked at variant spellings? Looking at Warhurst, it could be misinterpreted any number of ways - Werrist, Warrust, Worhurst, Worrurst?

Von,
I have already ordered and viewed the microfilm at the LDS office. The only info. on it was the names of the couple, the date of the marriage and that John was a WIDOWER & Mary Ann a spinster. Nothing else at all not their fathers name, occupation etc.
Will the parish records be any different? I thought that the LDS microfilm were exact copies of the parish record!!

Sorry to set the cat amongst the pigeons, but If you are looking for a common name to an area, and more than one of the name has been born around the same time, then I don't see how it's possible to ascertain which one is your rellie. Yes, you can make a calculated guess, but it's still a guess.

You could look at wills on the National Archives site - there are several John Arnolds - might strike lucky

Peter

Linda - if the LDS had a film of the parish records, then the parish records won't be any different, apart from some variability in legibility depending on the quality of the filming. I wouldn't really have expected the fathers name, but maybe a parish of abode for the bride and groom, and (especially in the 19th cent) an occup for the groom, and maybe whether the marr was by licence or banns. There may or may not be witnesses, but if there are, and they don't have an obvious relationship to the couple, try checking other marriages - often the witness appears as a witness in half the marriages for that year.