Genealogy Chat

Were birth, marriage and death certs issued before 1837? If not, how can I trace a family with any accuracy? I'd like to have documents showing who my relatives were......Deb:)

Thanks Reg. Can Parish records be obtained? Deb:)

No.........is the short answer. Before 1837, the only records were parish registers. And birth dates were seldom recorded.........only baptism dates. Reg

Some of them are on the IGI.........www.familysearch.org Reg

As well as the IGI, there are a few on Ancestry. Also try googling 'parish records' and the name of the place, you might find some online. You can sometimes buy them on CD or microfiche, it depends how many people you have from that area as to whether it would be worth paying for them. Other than that, they will be held at the County Records Office for the area concerned. Sam x

I too like to have documental evidence of ancestors - when I visit a records office I make a photocopy of the relevant entries in the registers. For those I can't reach most CROs will provide these by post for a reasonable charge if you are able to give them exact details or can give a narrow range to search. As mentioned the IGI (on the Familysearch website may have your parish of interest indexed, as may the local Family History society. If you can reach London the Society of Genealogists' library has a very good coverage of transcripts and indexes to parish records, and has quite a few original registers on microfilm or fiche. Until I can get a copy of the original entry I print off a 'certificate' from the IGI if they have the event as an extracted record (afraid I don't trust their submitted entries - far too many errors and downright fairy tales there)

...Not sure where Deb lives...somewhere in Australia. Do they have many LDS centres there? Gwyn

If ther LDS have filmed your parish, you can order the film to view at your nearest LDS Family History Centre for a small amount. Check on their website library to see what they have filmed (a lot more than is on the IGI) and for your nearest centre. OC

According to the LDS website.....they have countless centres in Australia Reg

There are LDS centres all over the world as far as I can tell! They are an absolutely invaluable resource for distance researching and I have relied heavily on the LDS FHCs for the last 15 years, to enable me to view prs etc for my counties of interest. OC

Yes, there are LDSC Centres all over Australia. I live just outside Brisbane and regularly check out Parish registers at a local LDSC centre. They are very helpful,it costs $5 per film ,my local centre takes about a week to obtain the film and they will keep it for 4 weeks for you.

If your family is in one of the following counties, the OPC (Online Parish Clerk) may be able to help: 'The on-line parish clerks projects provide a focus for the transcription of historical records at parish level. There are projects for the following counties: Cornwall Cumberland & Westmorland (seems to be currently unavailable) Devon Dorset Hampshire Lancashire Somerset Sussex Warwickshire Wiltshire ' and info from a different website: http://www.genogold(.)com/html/online_parish_clerks.html remove brackets 'The OPC Scheme has been running in a few areas for a while. It provides a way of giving folk a point of contact via the internet/email to request look-ups of baptisms, marriages, burials etc in specific parishes in the UK. The OPC’s may not reside in the places you need help on but they can usually offer a good first point of contact for the records of that parish - or point you in the right direction if they cannot assist you themselves. They are not employees of the parish nor aligned to the parish councils, merely family historian volunteers willing to disseminate information of any available records in that parish. Don’t forget this is a free service, offered by volunteers, who all have “other jobs” and commitments, so please be patient with your enquiries! A direct enquiry to the local church, family history society or records office is an obvious way of obtaining assistance, also.'

Thanks everyone for all your help. I didn't realise that there was so much I could do. Will definately look at obtaining copies of parish records. Deb:)

Nudging so I can find this thread again.