Genealogy Chat

Some counties have online parish clerks, who collect and publish parish data. try a google search for "OPC online parish". to see if your county is there and see what they've got. It varies a lot from site to site.

Thank you both - it seems that joining may not be worth my while, it is alot of money to pay for one possible result that came up on the free search - maybe I'll ask on the records board if anyone would be kind enough to do it for me! I am familiar with the LDS system for parish records and the 1837 on line site so it seems I might not benefit that much from a subscription. Thank you Sylvie

Sylvie BMD on ancestry site has same coverage as FreeBMD, but I prefer Ancestry's search form and results pages. This is also free on Ancestry's site. 1837 online has blanket coverage - though i still know people whose records aren't there - but you pay 10p to view each page and as it isn't fully indexed it can be expensive, depending on what names you are looking for. Parish registers - incomplete transcripts available on LDS site. I have found if you are very nice you can get local records offices to do limited searches for you if you are as specific as possible, otherwise I think you will need to make the trip to them. There are some parish records which are available on the Internet, I've found lots of Cornish & Norfolk relatives, but also whole areas [which I also need] completely non-existent. And of course, some parish records have been destroyed. I believe the Society of Genealogist' library in London has an extensive collection, so you might be able to do more than one area with one visit.

the births deaths and marriages are about the same as freebmd to be honest. the definitive BMD site is 1837online(.)com I only really use ancestry for the census returns, but they do also have useful things like pallots marriage index which has marriages prior to 1837 (found my gt gt gt grandfathers from 1810 on there, actually gives scans ofthe documents)

Thank you How are the BMD done then - is it better than FreeBMD - or does it cover a larger time period? Thanks Sylvie

Ancestry doesnt really have parish record information, its main content is census returns and BMD's. For parish records you're better off looking in the local record offices if you're able or contacting the family history society for the county in question.

I have all the census records I need but am short on PArish Record information, primarily in London. I am thinking of joining one of the Acestry sites - should I join .com (which seems to have a UK section} or .co.uk (which seems to be completely uk based) Or is the parish information limited and therefore not worth me joining at all? Is it worth the money? Thanks Sylvie