Parish Records and Family History Research

• The Parish Registers of baptism, marriage and death
• Churchwarden's Accounts
• Records of Vestry Meetings
• Documents detailing the activities of the Overseers of the Poor
• Tithe Records
• The Parish Constable's Accounts
• Documents relating to the repair and maintenance of the highways passing through the parish
• Pew rents
• A miscellaneous collection of documents relating to incidental events within the Parish.

Of these documents the most important are the Parish Registers (the PRs) of baptism, marriage and burial as they enable the family history researcher to trace family ancestors back through several generations. A word of caution, though, as just because you find a name that you're hoping to find, remember that siblings could have any number of children of their own sharing the same family forenames and born within days or weeks of each other in neighbouring parishes. Make sure that you check the records of adjoining parishes for more births or burials before coming to firm acceptance of that person as an ancestor in your family tree. Many of these registers date back to the late 1500s but there are noticeable gaps, especially in the years up to 1660, including the years of the Commonwealth.

To make sense of just what we might expect to find in the Parish Records we need to be aware of some key dates in history which affected how events were recorded. Parish Registers were first introduced in 1538 when parishes were required by law to keep written records of baptism, marriage and burial. Few of these early records, kept on loose sheets of paper, survive. Where they do remain, events were mixed together, details recorded were basic and scanty; and paper was expensive so every little bit of space, margins included, would be used. In 1597 Queen Elizabeth declared that these Parish Registers should be kept in parchment books, increasing longevity, and also required that earlier records, back to 1558, should be transcribed and included. Another requirement was that a copy should be made and sent annually to the bishop of the diocese; these were known as Bishops' Transcripts and provide another valuable resource for research as they can fill gaps where registers have been lost. The years between 1648 and 1660, those of the Commonwealth, are very sketchy as civil registration was introduced for a brief period and was not properly maintained. Some churches continued to keep their own registers, in defiance, but finding records for this period is sometimes impossible. Up until 1754 marriages took place in the parish church but many were also performed by itinerant clergy, in local chapels such as Peak Forest and in such strange places as the debtor's prison, the Fleet. In 1754 Lord Hardwicke's Bill came into force and declared that all marriages should take place in a licensed place, usually the parish church, and be preceded by the reading of banns or a special licence. Members of dissenting or catholic churches were also obliged to be married in the parish church and only Quakers and Jews were exempt. Printed register books were also required for recording purposes at this time although all records were still kept in the same book. Baptisms and burials could still be performed in the church of choice. The information detail recorded was still very much left to the incumbent and, depending on his enthusiasm and literacy or otherwise, varied between basic details of groom and bride to the addition of comments on their character, occupation and parentage. The provision of separate registers for baptisms, burials and marriages was introduced in George Rose's Act of 1813, with a requirement to provide certain specific details. In 1837 civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced which provided another set of indexed documents for the family historian to explore. However, the later Parish Records should not be discounted as these are available in local resource centres and libraries and the viewer can see the actual filmed entries of the register without the necessity of purchasing a copy of the certificate. Marriages still had to be performed in licensed places but catholic churches, dissenting chapels and churches of ease were granted licences, to perform marriages, in increasing numbers.

The Banns Book is also one of the Parish Records. These books record the reading of the banns in a church and can indicate if the marriage was to take place in a different parish.

The Bishops' Transcripts (the BTs) date back to 1597 and Queen Elizabeth and, where they survive, can usually be located in the diocesan record office. They can fill gaps where registers have been lost but, remember, in this copying process transcription errors can occur.

Continued on Page 3