View Full Version : Locating Parish Records
Jfremont
19-12-2004, 4:24 AM
I managed to find my family ancestors in the 1841 census located in Surrey, Newington. I found the street on a two different maps on either side of 1841 so am fairly positive I have the correct location which is in Walworth.
I would like to seek parish records to try to get information prior to 1837. I started by identifying the churches on the maps that are in the immediate area. Based on the civil registration certificates it would appear they would have attended the Church of England. Since I live in Canada, I have access to LDS records and they do show some possibilites. However, they do not have complete records. I would appreciate advice on the best way for me to access parish records short of hiring someone.
Thanks, John
Peter Goodey
19-12-2004, 11:57 AM
The simple answer is that the records are at the London Metropolitan Archives. If you provide some more information about exactly what you want to find out and what clues you have - apart from the 1841 census - to suggest that Newington is the area you'll find what you want, I'm sure people here can provide some more helpful advice.
By the way, did the 1841 census not identify the parish they were in at the time? Even if the actual page of the enumerator's book wasn't completed fully, the description of the district should pinpoint it pretty well.
You might find the 1851 census more helpful in terms of more accurate ages and birthplaces.
Jfremont
19-12-2004, 6:40 PM
Thanks Peter for your advice. The 1841 census gives the parish as Newington-District of St. Peter. I am in the process of searching the 1851 census. The family moved from the address in the 1841 apparently. The father died in 1849 so it is the only census where he shows up. I have looked at the IGI as the starting point but found nothing there.
John
Peter Goodey
19-12-2004, 7:58 PM
OK. That'll be St Peter, Walworth then. It was a 'new church' and dates only from 1825 or thereabouts. People moved around quite frequently in those days and in that sort of urban environment - often to give the rent collector the slip.
Geoffers
19-12-2004, 8:34 PM
I managed to find my family ancestors in the 1841 census located in Surrey, Newington. I would like to seek parish records to try to get information prior to 1837.
Just to make a small additino to the helpful replies from Peter Goodey.....As the 1841 census does not show a place of birth, you will need the 1851 census return to confirm the recorded place of birth of the parents and children - they may well have been born elsewhere and moved to the area which would mean that you need to check the registers for other parishes.
Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire
Jfremont
20-12-2004, 12:31 AM
Thanks Peter and Geoffers.
I will search the 1851 census first as you suggest. In other later censuses my ggrandfather listed his place of birth variously as Camberwell, Surrey, and Walworth. He would have been born aboutmessage=Thanks Peter and Geoffers.
I will search the 1851 census first as you suggest. In other later censuses my ggrandfather listed his place of birth variously as Camberwell, Surrey, and Walworth. He would have been born about 1830. I would like to find his birth record so as to prove who his mother is since his father married twice. I don't know whether the woman who probably is the wife based on age shown on the 1841 census is his mother or step mother.
I see that St. Peter's, Walworth is included in the IGI. I have been lead to believe that just because it is listed, it does not mean it is complete and that I should check the microfim. Am I correct?
Thanks again for your advice.
John
Geoffers
20-12-2004, 9:24 AM
I see that St. Peter's, Walworth is included in the IGI. I have been lead to believe that just because it is listed, it does not mean it is complete and that I should check the microfim. Am I correct?
Part 1 of 2.......
The IGI is an excellent guide, but is a transcription and so is subject to mistakes, also it does miss some entries from parishes which have supposedly been covered. So don't take what is written there as being accurate. Check the Parish Registers because they are the most original source usually available (Just once in a blue moon, a Day Book has survived in which the Vicar/Curate wrote notes from which he later compiled the register).
Parish Registers also contain more information than the IGI. The extent of the information included depends on the period and the cleric.
For baptisms 1813 onwards the detail is:
Date of bapt, name, surname, parents names, father's occupation, abode, cleric.
For burials 1813 onwards
Date of bur, name and surname, age, abode, cleric
Marriages 1813-1836
Groom and bride: Name, marital state, abode.
whether after banns or licence.
If a minor was involved, then who gave consent for the marriage
Date
groom and bride's signature or mark
witnesses signature or mark
continued......
Geoffers
20-12-2004, 9:34 AM
continued......
Marriages 1837 onwards are the original marriage certificate and contain exactly the same detail as those you obtain from the GRO.
Marriages 1754-1812 are the same as those for 1813 onwards.
Baptisms from about 1780-1812 are handwritten and usually follow a fairly standard layout:
Name, parents' names and surname (mother's maiden name), date of bapt. Occasionally there is also the date of birth recorded and whether the bapt was public or private.
Some entries are not baptisms but refer to a child being 'received into church' when he/she had been privately baptised at birth. The entries contain a similar amount of detail to baptisms and are most prevalent for the decade from 1783 onwards when a Stamp Act charged tax on register entries.
Burials can be variable in detail provided. All will have date, name and usually age (or for young children will simply record 'infant').
Prior to 1780 for bapt and burials and 1754 for marriages, the detail recorded is variable between different parshises. Some clerics provide an absolute Gold mine of information, others record very basic information the accuracy of which is debatable.
Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire
Peter Goodey
20-12-2004, 12:29 PM
John
Further to what Geoffers has said...
Everything in the IGI needs to be interpreted carefully. Those batches designated as "controlled extractions" are really the only ones of value to family historians (although you may want to treat "patron submissions" as 'probably unreliable clues' if you're really stuck - but remember that often they are no more than simply flights of fancy).
"Controlled extractions" are widely regarded as being as reliable as any index is. However, there is some evidence emerging that even these batches may have been adulterated with spurious entries. Be particularly cautious of any dates of death which might appear in christening entries.
Geoffers
20-12-2004, 3:55 PM
I see that St. Peter's, Walworth is included in the IGI. I have been lead to believe that just because it is listed, it does not mean it is complete and that I should check the microfim. Am I correct?
One last bit, there is a thread on the Norfolk forum which shows a small selection of some interesting entries from a few parish registers
http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1591
it gives an idea of the added detail that you may not find on the IGI.
Happy Christmas
Geoffers
Jfremont
20-12-2004, 11:32 PM
Thanks Geoffers and Peter for your helpful suggestions and information. I will review the parish regesters myself to be sure an entry was not missed in the IGI. I can see that in the London area I am interested in, it will a "needle in a haystack" search.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.