Parish Records - A Short Introduction

Parish Records are records of baptisms, marriages, and burials made by the Church. They are a valuable resource for researching your family tree because the census and official records of birth, marriage and death do not go back further than 1837. Parish records can extend your research back to the time of King Henry VIII.

The Phillimore transcripts of parish records go back as far as 1538 for some. W.P. Phillimore was a genealogist who started the job of publishing transcripts of early parish records in the 1890's. These normally end in 1812 or 1837. For the range of years covered you will need to look at the details for the county you're researching. Most of the Phillimore transcripts are of marriages and the complete collection is available from S&N Genealogy.

Other transcripts are published by societies or individuals. S&N Genealogy have published these parish records when permitted to do so or when the records are out of copyright, and are always looking to increase the range of the publications.

Parish Records - What are they and how can they help me?

What are Parish Records?

Parish Records are records of baptisms, marriages, and burials made by the Church. They are a valuable resource for researching your family tree because the census and official records of birth, marriage and death do not go back further than 1837. Parish records can extend your research back to the time of King Henry VIII.

How can Parish Records help me with my research?

These records can help you trace your family roots back through baptisms, marriages, and burials. Most parish records go back to the 1600s, and some even go back to the 1500s.

How do I know which records to search for?

A baptism record would usually give the name of the child, their parents, and where their parents lived. You can use this information to trace their parents, as their marriage record is likely to be in the same place where they live. The marriage record would give you the parishes of both bride and groom, allowing you to trace their parents in the parish, and so on.

What information can I expect to find on these records?

A Baptism record would usually give the name of the child, their parents, and where their parents lived.

A marriage usually gave the parish of origin of both parties, name, status (i.e. bachelor, spinster, widow etc.), ages, signatures or marks and those of two witnesses. Marriages are either by banns or by licence - banns are found in the parish register, the couple's intention to marry being read on three occasions in the parish churches of both bride and groom. The licences don't always survive, as they were usually handed to the bride and groom.

Burials usually include the name, date and place of burial, although later burial records (after 1813) included more information such as age and occupation.

Where can I get hold of Parish Registers?

You can order them on CD at http://www.GenealogySupplies.com/, or you can view the product list on our website by clicking here.

You can view them online them at http://www.TheGenealogist.co.uk/ for a subscription fee.

To read reviews of Parish Records, click here, or to find other related sites click here.

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