Genealogy Chat

Thank you so much everyone for your very helpful replies. I think I need to do more preparation before I go on a visit but at least I know what I'm up against.

Sam from Stoke - actually the people I was planning to look for don't come from Birmingham but I'm fairly sure I read on a site (maybe the National Archives site at Kew?) that there are three locations that have all the archives - one of the sites was Birmingham, one was Bridgend in Wales and I can't remember the other.

I think I'll have to check again in case I've misunderstood.

Once again, thanks everyone for being so helful.

The main library in a town often holds parish records.
Not sure about contents of a reference library.- They probably vary.

Gwyn

Do Reference Libraries hold Parish Records?

I thought they were all kept in County Record Offices ?

Parish records are just that, - ie. the records of a particular parish. In a big city that will involve many parishes, which may then subdivide into different churches within the parish, each having their own set of records.
It might be a real test of patience trawling through in the hope of finding the people you need, but it is very rewarding to actually find them for yourself. I quite enjoy the challenge, but you need to go armed with any addresses you know. The census page heading often tells you the parish name,so that might be a guide.
Think too about occupations.
If you know that your men were involved in a particular trade,find out where that trade was centred and start at those parishes, remembering that at one time people tended to live fairly local to their employment.
Reference libraries vary as to dates. Locally here I can't find anything later than c.1907 on film in the library for many parishes. Look to see if any transcriptions have been made. These are very helpful as a guide, but I would advise then checking any that you find of interest.

Gwyn

I'm assuming that the relatives that you want to look up actually come from Birmingham?

Parish Records are usually on microfiche or film so you would normally need to book a reader before you go. They are not indexed in any way so you also need a good idea of where and at which church the baptisms and/or marriages took place. Then it is a case of trawling through the appropriate film to find what you want.

Also, marriages pre-1837 don't usually give the fathers names, you wil just get the name of both bride and groom, whether they were of the parish or not and the witnesses signatures.

It may vary but the parish records in my local Archives go upto c1930.

Sam x

Thanks Jonesey - I was just wondering whether anyone else on here had been to a reference library and could get their personal experience of how to go about it.

Morning everyone,

Can anyone point me in the direction of how to go about this? Both hubby and I have some people born pre 1837 so we would like to look up parish records to see when born or married and find out who their fathers were.

We are planning to go to Birmingham Reference library but could do with knowing what info we actually need to be able to do this. As long as we have a name and know the person they married or their child's name and a pretty good idea of the area will this be sufficient for us to trace them?

Can you only find old records or would I be able to trace great aunts and Uncles records for children who were born after the 1911 census date?

Is it easy to do?