Genealogy Chat

A great big thank You,
I feel as if a lot more doors are open, sometimes its just knowing where to look, particularly if its not your county.
I will keep you posted as to how I get on and many many thanks. regards. M

there are quite a lot of records for RC churches held at Lamcs Record Office

You could try looking at their catalogue to see if the relevant churhes and dates are there
(eg there are baptisms at Birchley from 1792-1912)

this link should take you directly to the RC church catalogue

http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?siteid=4528&pageid=30846&e=e

Basically, parish records are private. There is no uniform decision that the LDS can film C of E records and not RC records. The decision was more local, usually at the diocese level. There is one west country CofE diocese (Bath & Wells maybe) where the bishop wouldn't allow LDS filming of its bishops transcripts. This doesn't apply to CofE marrs, nor RC marrs post-1980ish. These are public registers, and one is entitled to get a certified copy of the entry from the current register (the copy certified by the record keeper). I think the cost is still 7 GBP per copy if gotten from the church, but there's also a search fee. Before 1980ish, the public record of an RC marr was the one kept by the registrar who would attend the ceremony. It was his register that the couple would sign to make the marriage legal. Old registers are usually deposited in some archive, typically the county records office.


There are now 3 RC dioceses for Lancs - Liverpool, Salford & Lancaster - the latter covers N of the Ribble + Cumbria. Liverpool covers Wigan, Ashton-i-M and Leigh - for current churches click on map at:
http://www.liverpoolcatholic.org.uk/index.php?p=1


Not that this is anything to do with RCs, but note that LancsBMD are retro-fitting the mum's MS to their birth index - they've gotten to abt 1860 for most subdistricts in Wigan RD.
http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/
(This info allowed me to identify 3 bros of my ex's g gran who died as infants and never appeared on a census.)

Public cemeteries often have an RC section - here's my ex's gg gran:

Wigan Cemetery (at Lower Ince) Records Index
Surname Forename Age Place of Death Date Year Notes Grave Cremation Religion
McCann Margaret 38 yrs 20 Queen Street 06-Dec 1857 E 665 R C
http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/cemetery.php?opt=cemetery


Wigan FLHS have several RC parish records on fiche - see Wigan Churches at:
http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/familyhistory/
I imagine the fiches were gotten from the Liverpool Records Office.

Hi SRS
many thanks for that I will them a try and let you know if I find anything. once again thanks. M.

They hold the records at the History shop (may be wrong but it may have changed it's name - it's not a shop. May e called Wigan Heritage service now) in Wigan.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/familyhistory/churches.php?opt=g#billinge

http://www.wlct.org/Culture/Heritage/lhistory.htm

I found this from another site (from 2004) which suggests that there are transcripts out there:

http://www.ukgen.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23090

http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Billinge/index.html

This tells you the periods that ST Mary's RC records exist, It looks about 1912. 1915 for marriages. However I can't see it being transcribed on the site yet. It seems to only come up with St Aiden.

Hi,
thank you for the information. The area I am interested in is in the Wigan and Leigh area, around Ashton in Makerfield, Ince and Billinge. Two relatives were married at the RC chapel at Billinge but I cannot find any birth/baptism records for either them or their mother ( there was no father) .
I reckon there is a record somewhere its just a case of finding where the church records may be kept. I will try the links you have kindly given me and see what I can find, will keep youposted if I find anything. Many thanks. M.

Here are some transcriptions (growing all the time) for St Anthonys in Liverpool

http://stanthonys-liverpool.com/general/aboutus.php

This is St Patrick's Liverpool from Lancashire OPC:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hibernia/bur/nic/nic.htm

This is Liverpool History projects where there is a fee for some records but a lot cheaper than buying certificates (please check the other online transcriptions first like St Anthonys)

http://www.liverpoolhistoryprojects.co.uk

This is a site that I've only just come across which covers Irish family history in Liverpool:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hibernia/

There's quite a few links within these sites too to other online records. I realise that you may not be researching Liverpool but it shows you that there are records out there.

Wigan world has an excellent record of burials for the Wigan area in cemeteries that also include non conformist burials such as catholics.

Locally, when a church closes the parish normally "merges" into a neighbouring parish and the records go to that church, but they can also be sent to the diocese.

It won't be easy tracing records, don't think you'll find much online. Where abouts in Lancashire are you trying to trace?

Hi, thanks for your replies.
I had a feeling this was going to be difficult!
I don't know if each church holds its own records but if they do then what I wonder happens to them if the church is no longer there!

the RC churches in Ireland appear to hold their own records - don't they do that over here?

They are really bad and hardly ever seem to release the records, don't think you'll have much luck. I can't even get my own baptism record from the church - they won't even answer my e-mails or letters!

Hi All,
A very Happy New Year to you all.
Please, does anyone know where to find parish records for catholic churches, in Lancashire?. When I try to locate people I believe to be catholic on family search or On line parish clerks, then I cannot find anything. I have in the back of my mind that someone once said that LDS had not been allowed access to RC parish records, mind you that could just be me having a "senior moment"
Thanks for any help you can give. take care. M