Shaugh Prior parish records

[RobinC]

I have been looking into the branch of my family tree regarding the Damerells and looking at the IGI, it seems they possibly lived in Shaugh Prior, Devon up to the first part of the 1700s.

Because of this, I ordered the parish records for Shaugh Prior and was disappointed to find that the IGI records do not match the parish records (which come in word or excel format and don't appear to be complete).

Is there any other way to marry up the IGI and parish records?

[Peter Goodey]

Hugh Wallis' site doesn't list Shaugh Prior as being included in the IGI. What IGI batch numbers do you have?

[Coromandel]

Robin, is this one of the entries you mean?
(from the IGI on old FamilySearch site)

Edward Damerell, bapt. 15 May 1741 Shaugh Prior, Devon
father: Richard Damerell
mother: Jane Lillycrap

If you look under 'Messages' it says:
'Form submitted by a member of the LDS Church....'

Such entries should always ring alarm bells!!! The information has not been gathered during the LDS 'extraction' programme to transcribe parish registers. Instead, it has been submitted by an individual member of the LDS Church. The accuracy of such entries varies widely: some are really just guesses. When there is a full date of christening as with the example above, one suspects that it does come from some sort of register (but not necessarily a Church of England one) . . . but it could be from a family Bible. The place is not necessarily accurate.

As to why the parish register copies you ordered appear to be incomplete it is difficult to judge. Do you mean that they don't cover the years you expect, or that entries are less detailed than you expect? It may be that the original parish registers have gaps for some reason (you could seek advice from the county record office: for example they should be able to tell you whether Bishops' transcripts are available). It may also help if you do some research on the history of the parish and the places of worship there.

Edit: sorry Peter, spent so long composing this that I didn't see your reply: the example I chose above is from Batch No. 5004827.

[RobinC]

The record that Coromandel posted is one I looked at.

The parish registers have either got lots of gaps or they haven't been completed fully!

[Peter Goodey]

As Coromandel explained, IGI submitted entries are not reliable.

Perhaps I've misinterpreted it but what you seem to be saying is that the IGI submitted entries are reliable but the parish register transcription that you have is not! Can you explain why you think this? And what exactly is the product?

[RobinC]

This is the product I bought:

www.parishchest.com/shaugh_prior_parish_registers__P7348

And this is an excerpt from it:

3.3.1761 Edward Damerel Bur Shaugh
29.2.1780 Grace Damerel Bur Shaugh
3.12.1811 Alice Damerell MDa5 h John; d at Burgham, Walkhampton; wife & mother 36 Shaugh
9.11.1811 Alice Damerell Bur Shaugh
30.3.1950 Amy Louise Damerell M h Thomas 65 Shaugh
24.11.1848 Betty Damerell M h Thomas 66 Shaugh
20.4.1983 Cecilia Emma Damerell M h John J 90 Shaugh
1.6.1615 Edward Damerell Mar Margarey Carne Shaugh

As you can see, the information is not in any particular order.

[Coromandel]

It seems to be a mixture of marriages, burials and monumental inscriptions - which is what is suggested by the blurb in the product description. The blurb says clearly what dates are covered for the marriages and burials. It does not claim to contain any baptisms.

As you can see, the information is not in any particular order.

In the list you have given the entries appear to be arranged alphabetically by spelling of surname, then within each spelling by alphabetical order of first names. However, it is difficult to be sure with just a few lines. Unless it is a read-only file you may be able to sort the entries by different fields.

I am not sure what the abbreviations such as 'MDa5' mean. Have you looked to see if there is a key somewhere to explain these?

[Coromandel]

3.12.1811 Alice Damerell MDa5 h John; d at Burgham, Walkhampton; wife & mother 36 Shaugh

You can see that gravestone in this photo:

http://www.
flickr.com/photos/tollhouses/4750281830/

[RobinC]

I am not sure what the abbreviations such as 'MDa5' mean. Have you looked to see if there is a key somewhere to explain these?

There is no key included to indicate what MDa5 refers to.

I know that there are no baptisms included but it still doesn't make it easy to read.

I also expected a lot more information than I got for the price, as the little information that is there is not really of any benefit genealogically speaking, especially to me as none of the Damerell names seem to be names that I have come across yet.

[Coromandel]

the little information that is there is not really of any benefit genealogically speaking

The transcribers can't add information that's not there in the originals. The registers may, like so many early registers, be very minimal: just "A married B" or "C was buried". The advantage of being a miserable old thing like me who expects the worst is that it's a pleasant surprise when there's some extra snippet of detail, such as an age at death. Yes, it can make things challenging for the genealogist, but you will just have to hope that there are clues in other sources (deeds, manorial records, wills, poor law records, apprenticehip records to name but a few). The effort you have to put in makes it much more rewarding when you do eventually find something. That's what keeps me going after 25 years researching my elusive ancestors.

none of the Damerell names seem to be names that I have come across yet.

At the moment you don't know if they're part of the same jigsaw puzzle as your Damerells . . . but it is probably worth keeping those puzzle pieces just in case. You often have to research lots of families with the same name before you get a clear picture of which ones are yours.

P.S. I meant to say though that it is really important that you check the information you've found in transcripts against the original registers. That's the only way to know how complete and accurate the transcripts are.