Samuel and Zacharaiah Ferris- Reading

[nutkin]

I am looking into the Ferris family from Reading, Berkshire.  The progenitor of the family is Samuel Ferris who was born abt 1615 in Reading and married about 1647 to Jersuha Reed/Read.  They has a son Zachariah Ferris about 1648 who came to the American Colonies in the first wave of the Migration.  Zachariah married in Massachusetts to Sarah Blood and died in 1710 in Fairfield Connecticut.

Alot has been researched in the US and I have been able to get all kinds of documentation on the their colonial American lives but the trail ends when they are traced back to Berkshire.  Any help would be great.
- Kristin

[newbie]

Hello Kristin
I will be going to the Berkshire Record Office in January - any good? What exactly would you like me to look up for you?
Newbie

[nutkin]

Newbie.  Thank you for the offer.  I did post a few items on your lookup in the original posting.  I will paste below what I wrote.

Well, I hope to impose on your good nature.  I first have to say THANK YOU!!
I am looking for the Ferris family in Reading, Berkshire.  A bit of background is they came to the American colonies  by 1673 and a few books have been witten on them but they all end there and say very little about the English origin of the family.

I am looking for 3 birth references if you have time and there are indexes :
Samuel Ferris.  I believe his was born abt 1615 in Reading, Berkshire. He died  1679 in Reading.  He was an Anglican minister with Puritan leanings so I suppose this is why his son fled to the colonies.  I have an excerpt from his will which mentions his son in the colonies.
His wife Jerusha Read born abt 1620 in Reading.  They married about 1647.
Zachariah Ferris (their son) born abt 1648

Thank you very much!!! Happy holidays!- Kristin

[newbie]

Hello Kristin
Thanks for the message, I did pick up on your post re my offer Berkshire Look Ups but after I replied to this one!
oops.
So I will look for you when I next visit the Record Office probably in a week or so.
Happy Holidays,
Newbie

[newbie]

Hello Kristin,
I went to the Berkshire Record Office yesterday and did your look up.  The news is not good I'm afraid, but I have listed exactly what I searched for you  - for your records.

The Archivist at the Record Office was very helpful, as usual, there are many parishes for Reading but however for the time you are interested in there were 3 - St.Giles, St.Marys, and St.Lawrence

St.Mary's Vol. 1 Bound Volume 1538 - 1812 Transcriptions of Parish Registers
Checked Baptisms - 1600 -1617 no Ferris shown.
Then found an index !
Ferris  Index
Anne - p203, Catherine - 17, Elizabeth- 192, Francis - 184,
James - 12, Margaret - 3.
Have listed entries as thought they may be useful?
1552 Oct 10  Richard Shorter - Marga: Ferris   
1612 Aug 23 James Ferris - Elizabeth Coleman
1627 Nov 22 James Cooke - Catherine Ferris

1758 Nov 26 Burial Francis Ferris
1769 Nov 18 Burial Elizabeth Ferris
1784 Feb 1  Burial Anne Ferris
Checked for Samuel and Zacariah's baptism or marriage - none found.

I next checked St.Lawrence Transcriptions
Marriages 1605 - 1963   Baptisms 1646 - 2002 Burials 1605 - 1901

Baptism
1622 July 7 Edward  s o James Ferris
1619 Jan 24 James s o James Ferris
1616 Sep 1 Sara d o James Ferris

Nothing else found.

St.Giles 1564 - 1990 Baptism, 1564 - 1991 Marriages, Burials 1564 - 1990
 There is no transcription. Microfilm.
Unfortunately many of the early pages of the film are barely legible, some have suffered such damage that it was very difficult to make out anything,  I had problems trying to find the relevant years, I'm still not certain that I did.  I really just didn't feel competent to do this search on this microfilm the writing is extremely difficult to comprehend. I have read microfilm before but only back to 1700 parish registers this was just extremely difficult and I had to give up after about an hour - sorry. 
Newbie

[nutkin]

Newbie,

Thank you so very much for taking the time to help me.  You deserve another gold star.  Any information is great and those you listed might just be a branch of the tree.  I am very grateful for all you did!!
Thank you again- Kristin

[newbie]

Kristin,
I am sorry I had to give up, I won't forget though and if I feel more competent at understanding this style of handwriting I would have another go for you.
If it is important (and worth paying for) the Berkshire Record Office do offer a search service, as you know they are not in St.Mary's or St.Lawrence would it be worth a search by them in St.Giles?
Just a thought
Newbie

[nutkin]

I might be at that point where I need to pay a researcher.  I did that here in the US and it was invaluable what they found.  I think  I have hit that point with many in my tree.

Thanks again!!!- K