Genealogy Chat

Im quite new to the next stage of research ie pre reg and no igi nos. etc. I have a whole stack of relatives from suffolk. Are the parish records for suffolk all held in suffolk or are they held (or copies held at kew). I could get to kew but suffolk is not an easy one for me. Sorry to sound so thick but I cant understand where thses records are and dont want to waste a trip to Kew only to find theres nothing there to help this line of investigation.

do you know which churches you are interested in? if you do then you could google the church name and often you can find a tel no for that church. I have done this in the past & the churches have been very helpful & told me where the old records are currently stored

Judith If you go on Genuki and put the name of the place/village/church you are interested into the search box it will tell you where the church records are held. If the registers are closed (ie: full up and no longer used) they are usually held at the County Records Office and again Genuki should tell you where that is. You may be lucky and find the people you are looking for on the IGI but this information needs to be taken with a pinch of salt and needs to be proven through the parish records as above.

Suffolk parish records are held at one of the three county records offices - Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft, with copies on microfilm often available at the other offices (eg Barrow registers at the neares office which is Bury but microfilm copies at Ipswich. There are no copies of these at Kew but if you can get to London the Society of Genealogists library has printed transcripts of many Suffolk registers, and microfiche copies of a fair number as well. You can either join the SoG or pay a fee to access the library for the day.

many thanks for that advice guys will try these avenue many thanks for your time Judy

Parish registers are held at a) county records office - Suffolk has 3. b) Society of Genealogists library has an extensive collection, though you have to pay to use the library if you aren't a member. Details of exact holdings are on their website. c) local family history societies often have transcriptions etc. d) some are on www.familyhistoryonline.net - though check the county lists of databases first before you buy - its on a payperview basis. Suffolk has quite a few on the site. d) you can order microfilm of various parish registers at your nearest LDS family history centre. e) if you can get to London but don't want to pay the Soc of Gen you could try the Hyde Park LDS centre. It's opposite the Science Museum in South Kensington and free to use, though they welcome donations. I was able to find masses of baptisms, marriages and burials when I went there. nell

many thanks to you for all your advice. Youve given me plenty of good leads here. Thanks for your time and good luck with your own research