Genealogy Chat

I'm not sure about Catholic churches, but a few weeks ago, my husband and I found forty new ancestors just by visiting the Parish church in the village of my 3xGt grandfather. We found out who the churchwarden was and made a phonecall to meet him in a day or two but he invited us to his house there and then - we were very fortunate that someone in their wisdom, many years previous, had typed out details from the registers and had made booklets of baptisms, marriages and deaths, in chronological order . All we had to do was to search for the surname. The churchwarden was as keen as us, so made an identical list in case anyone else ever asks him about the same people. I can't guarantee that all churches have this paperwork in place, but it is certainly worth a try - either by visiting the church or checking to see if the town/village/church has a website. This dear gentleman certainly saved us several months work - we intend going back as in 2 hours we only managed to cover about 130 years! I hope this brilliant experience of ours can help you or others.

Roman Catholic Churches don't usually deposit their completed registers at the county record office (which usually serves as the archive for C of E diocese but not RC). You would probably be best served to contact the church to find out if they still have their old registers and if not where they are kept and if they are available to view.

Thanks Pauline

Some churches do have a copy register opend on the day ( a bit like cematries) usually for marriages though. The best place is the local record office, failing that your local LDS church. Pauline

Can you go to a church where somebody was married and find out baptisms and where somebody was burried, would you need to have dates for these, Catholic Church in Gateshead