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how do i search before 1837?

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Charles

Charles Report 13 Mar 2007 22:28

I have found familysearch dot org to be very useful. However, you still need to validate with the local records office. Also, many county Family History Societies published indices either on paper, diskette or CD. For example, I have Births/Marriages/Burials for Nottinghamshire as well as for most of the parishes of the Isle of Axholme in Lincs and Deaths for the Deaneries of Doncaster and Snaith & Hatfield in Yorks. This kind of information can take you back into the 17th century. However, it is not as comprehensive as post 1837 civil registration and it does require some financial outlay. Hope this helps.

Esta

Esta Report 13 Mar 2007 19:43

have you tried familysearch.org ?..........It's not 100% reliable and the information still needs to be checked but it's a good place to start online. Before1837 alot of the information is from Parish records which are usually hold in the parish that the event happened !...

KeithInFujairah

KeithInFujairah Report 13 Mar 2007 19:36

Diane, the birth indexes as you say start from 1837, prior to that information has to be taken from the parish records, these are held at the local records office to the events. Parish records contain baptism, marriage and burial dates, and these are the dates we go by prior to 1837. If you are lucky, the vicar may have actually put the birthdate on the baptism record, but not many did. Have you tried the IGI at www.familysearch.org ? The IGI contains some information on baptisms, marriages and deaths (not all) submitted by members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints or transcribed from the registers by the LDS.

Diane

Diane Report 13 Mar 2007 19:24

indexes only seem to start from 1837, how do i search prior to that?