Genealogy Chat

I would appreciate if someone to explain a little about parish records and searching pre 1837. regards Jayne

Hi Jayne Parish Records are of Baptisms (although sometimes a date of birth may be given), Marriages, and Burials. Burials are close to the date of death, but Baptisms can be anything from a few days to years after a date of birth. Marriages before 1837 were required to be in a Church of England, except for Quakers and Jews. Back to 1812 you will get fairly similar information on them to that in 1837, but less information on earlier records. Burials were mainly in Church of England Churchyards prior to 1837, but some nonconformists and Roman Catholics had their own burial grounds. Baptisms took place in nonconformist and Roman Catholic Churches as well as the Church of England. Church of England records can go back to Elizabethan times, although not all early records have been preserved, and of course quite a lot of Churches are of a later build date. Nonconformists were tolerated from the Toleration Act of 1689. However the Catholics had to wait until the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, so you won't find very many of their records going back to earlier times. You can search quite a lot of indexed records of births and marriages, and a few deaths, on the IGI (International Genealogical Index) complied by the LDS (Latter Day Saints, or Mormon Church). For full accuracy these need checking against scanned or microfilm or microfiche versions of the originals, which can be found at county record offices and principal libraries. Be aware that individual members of the Church have provided additional data in the Ancestral File records. Some of this is guesswork, inventing people who "ought" to have existed because they hadn't time to work out the correct information. There is a National Burial Index, but the current version is singularly incomplete. There are many local indexes and transcripts of Parish records of varying quality. The Genuki wwebsite gives access to some of these pieces of information, or to suppliers of the documents. Good luck in your searches. Stan

Thankyou very very much Stan, that is extremely helpful Happy New Year regards JAYNE

Find out where your nearest LDS Records Office is and you can then order the parish records you want for a small fee (about £3). They keep them at the records office for you and you can view them whenever you want for about 3-4 weeks. You have to make an appointment fist but it's well, well worth it. Good luck.

Thanks for that Janet, how much of an area do the records cover. I know this might seem a silly question but haven't got into parish records yet. regards Jayne

In the early 16th Century it became a requirement that each Parish maintain a register of Births Deaths and Marriages. Some Parishes complied straight away and some delayed for a few years. There were no formal Books supplied for the purpose and early Registers are sometimes a jumbled up mass of info, while otheres, where the Incumbent was perhaps a more conscientious individual, had decent records from the start. At various times copies of these registers were sent to the Bishop (Bishop's Transcripts). The preservation of these records over the last 500 years was also a bit hit and miss as some Churches kept them in damp conditions, some were destroyed, and some were lovingly cherished. Good luck with your research, Jim

Amazing info Jim thanks regards Jayne